The last kite

It was shortlisted for the 2021 Carnegie Medal, shared the 2021 Book of the Year Award, and won the Warwickshire Schools Library Award. Mizuki, a Japanese teenager, is concerned for her grandfather, who is clearly deeply troubled by something. He says he has never gotten over something that happened in his past, and Mizuki gently persuades him to tell her what happened. We cut to 1945, Hiroshima, where Mizuki's grandfather is a teenage boy talking at home with his friend Hiro. Moments later, the horrific atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. What follows is a poignant account of the blinding flash, the terrifying search for family, and the human and material devastation. There is also a deeply moving and human storyline as the two teenage boys bravely search for and find Keiko, Hiro's five-year-old sister. But then Keiko gets lost when Mizuki's grandfather has no choice but to leave her in a safe place while he goes to seek help... And despite a desperate search in the aftermath of the bomb, leaving origami-folded paper cranes for Keiko with his address everywhere the survivor might be, he can't find her... A powerful novel, and despite its harrowing subject matter, hope lies at its heart.