Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

Published in 2012, Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon is a nonfiction science and military thriller for middle grade readers about the World War II race between the Allies and Germany to develop an atomic bomb: Whoever builds it first will win. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union tries to steal bomb-making information from the US.

Bomb won a Newbery Honor and the Sibert Medal. Multiple-award-winning author Sheinkin writes history books, both fiction and nonfiction, for young readers, including the Time Twisters series and a graphic novel series, Rabbi Harvey, about an Old West sheriff.

Bomb includes photographs and 17 pages of notes. The ebook version of the 2012 edition forms the basis for this study guide.

Content Warning: The book includes graphic descriptions of wounded and dead persons after a nuclear attack, as well as references to suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

As Hitler’s armies move into Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938, German scientist Otto Hahn discovers that uranium, when exposed to certain kinds of radiation, splits apart and releases energy. Physicist Lise Meitner figures out the underlying principle of nuclear fission and concludes that uranium could form the core of a super-bomb.