Bomb (Graphic Novel): The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

by Steve Sheinkin, Nick Bertozzi (Illustrator)

Overview

A riveting graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning nonfiction book, Bomb—the fascinating and frightening true story of the creation behind the most destructive force that birthed the arms race and the Cold War.

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned three continents.

In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists, led by "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer, was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.

New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin's award-winning nonfiction book is now available reimagined in the graphic novel format. Full color illustrations from Nick Bertozzi are detailed and enriched with the nonfiction expertise Nick brings to the story as a beloved artist, comic book writer, and commercial illustrator who has written a couple of his own historical graphic novels, including Shackleton and Lewis & Clark.

Accessible, gripping, and educational, this edition of Bomb is perfect for young readers and adults alike.

Don’t miss out on these exciting true stories by Steve Sheinkin, perfect for all historians!

● Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

● Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown

● Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America

● Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

● Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War

● The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

● Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (A Newbery Honor Book–also available in Graphic Novel!)

● The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery

…and more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250291042
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	01/24/2023
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	90 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Steve Sheinkin is the acclaimed author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction histories for young readers, including Bomb, Fallout, Undefeated, Born to Fly, and The Port Chicago 50. His accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal, and three National Book Award finalist honors. Sheinkin lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children.

Nick Bertozzi has written and drawn many comics over the years, including Becoming Andy Warhol, The Salon, Lewis&Clark, and the New York Times bestselling Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey. Bertozzi has won multiple Harvey and Eisner awards, the highest honors in comics. He lives in Queens, New York, with his wife and daughters.

Steve Sheinkin is the acclaimed author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction histories, including Fallout, Undefeated, Born to Fly, The Port Chicago 50, and Bomb. His accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal and Honor, and three National Book Award finalist honors. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children.
Nick Bertozzi has written and drawn many comics over the years, including Becoming Andy Warhol, The Salon, Lewis&Clark, and the New York Times bestselling Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey. Bertozzi has won two Harvey and has taught Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts since 2003. He lives in Queens, New York, with his wife and daughters.

Editorial Reviews

A Texas Maverick Graphic Novels Reading List Pick

2024-2025 Dogwood Final Reading List

2024-2025 Denny O'Neil Official Final Reading List

"[T]he author expertly juggles multiple plotlines to tell a coherent tale at breakneck speed... A heady whirl of science and spycraft made even more immediate (and frightening) by strong visuals." —Kirkus, starred review

"In this haunting, dramatic graphic novel, the original Sheinkin book about the Manhattan Project is seamlessly transformed into a new format." —The Bulletin of the Center of Children's Books, starred review

"Sheinkin’s work of award-winning narrative nonfiction is here sharpened by the author’s own graphic adaptation—and portrayed through Bertozzi’s skillful cartooning." —Horn Book, starred review

"Sheinkin and Bertozzi take the story of one of the most significant events in recent world history and make it accessible to all readers, regardless of background knowledge." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Triumphant, thrilling and, at times, heartbreaking... [Bomb] offers an accessible way to learn about one of the most significant inventions in human history." —Shelf Awareness

"Sheinkin once again shows his versatility with this simple yet powerful format shift." —Booklist

"[Makes] the complicated science and politics behind the development of the first atomic bombs understandable." —School Library Connection

From the Publisher

★ 2022-09-28
A graphic version, losing none of the original’s high drama, of Sheinkin’s 2012 award-winning account of the supposedly secret Manhattan Project.

It’s a big story, but the author expertly juggles multiple plotlines to tell a coherent tale at breakneck speed, with all the significant encounters, quotes, and technological breakthroughs intact and a prose afterword to wrap up loose ends. Using a mix of emotionally intense face-to-face exchanges and silent reaction shots in his realistically drawn scenes, Bertozzi creates a properly cinematic flow as he portrays, on the one hand, the development and cataclysmic use of the first two atomic bombs and, on the other, how the Manhattan Project’s secrets were collected and transported from Los Alamos to the Soviets. Two figures stand out in particular from the teeming cast (which is not quite all-male, as several women played important roles on both sides): Harry Gold, a reluctant courier whose prominence is boosted here by several newly added scenes, and Robert Oppenheimer, who headed up the project’s research team and whose appalled recollection of a line from the Bhagavad-Gita in the wake of the Trinity test explosion—“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”—remains the Atomic Age’s most powerful and (probably) prophetic motto.

A heady whirl of science and spycraft made even more immediate (and frightening) by strong visuals. (Graphic history. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews