Running with Cosmos Flowers; The Children of Hiroshima

Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 2014. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good. 152 pages. Illustrations (some in color). U.S.-Japanese Chronology, 1854-1956. Glossary. Signed on half title in Japanese and English by Shizumi (may be inscribed). Born in Hiroshima, Japan, three years after the end of World War II, Shizumi Shigeto Manale's numerous artistic endeavors are dedicated to promoting multicultural understanding and acceptance. As a world-renowned dancer, choreographer, author, and film producer, she has devoted her entire life to art and cultural expression. Running with Cosmos Flowers, her first English-language novel, shares a topic with her documentary film Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard, which has been screened at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and the National Press Club. Manale served as the artistic director of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, and directed a children's dance company that performed for President Clinton at the White House Millennium Celebrations. Richard Marshall's career has included posts as the head speechwriter for the State Department's Human Rights Bureau, the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the Administrator of the Agency for International Development. Shizumi Shigeto Manale and Richard Marshall's delicate and heartrending narrative details the life of a young girl living in a town near Hiroshima after the bombing in 1945 and offers a message of hope and cultural understanding. The narrator, Hanako, brings an empathetic perspective to this story as she experiences a range of emotions-from fear, confusion, and grief to hope and joy. Photos scattered throughout the text remind readers that the story is based on historical fact. Because of the often graphic content, this book would make an excellent tool for the classroom, to help children better comprehend this tragic event.