From Publishers Weekly
In 1946, Taylor (The Cay) served aboard the USS Sumner, part of a naval team that set the stage for post-war atomic and hydrogen-weapons testings near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific-experiences at the crux of this heart-wrenching novel. As Taylor tells it, the Bikini natives live simply in accordance with age-old customs, taking all they need to subsist from the land and the sea. World War II intrudes when Japanese soldiers establish a weather station in their pristine village. Then, when U.S. Marines capture the island in the "Battle" of Bikini (a misnomer, since the Japanese killed themselves rather than be taken prisoner), the islanders hold a celebration. Little do they know that the same government that has liberated them from the hated Japanese will shatter the peace forever, convincing them to vacate their idyllic residence, placing them in the media's invasive, insensitive spotlight and rendering their homeland uninhabitable. Three very real and likable characters-a courageous 14-year-old boy; his outspoken uncle, who after years away returns to the island with insight into modern society; and the island's perceptive schoolteacher-underscore the tragedy. A haunting, soundly researched work. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10?Sorry Rinamu is a teenager who lives on Bikini Atoll. Shortly after the Americans liberate his island in 1944, the Americans decide to use it as a site for atomic testing. With the promise that people could return to their island in two years?and contrary to the objections of Sorry's Uncle Abram, who argues that it would never again be safe to inhabit?the islanders agree to the plan. When Abram dies suddenly, Sorry vows to fulfill his uncle's intention to stop the tests and is joined by several others. But a serious misjudgment leads the young man and his companions to be blown up during the test. Taylor takes readers on an absorbing excursion, offering vivid descriptions, rich details of Micronesian culture, and a poignant contrast between the peaceful tranquility of the Marshall Islands and the industrialized West. The plot moves briskly with the tension of heroic confrontation. Readers will be challenged with the issues of war, the ethics of nuclear weapons, and the destruction of ancient cultures.?Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UTCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7^-10. Sorry will soon turn 14, the traditional age for becoming a man on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. The Japanese occupation has made his life and the lives of the other islanders more difficult, with the constant threat of violence and demands for food. The "kindly" Americans who rescue the island from the Japanese decide that the place will be perfect for testing their new weapon, the atom bomb. The islanders agree to move for a time to another island while the Americans make their preparations, but Sorry and his uncle are convinced that the move is not as temporary as other islanders believe. When Uncle Abram dies of a heart attack, Sorry decides to carry out his uncle's plan: he will paint his boat red and stop the bombing. At the beginning of each chapter, Taylor enumerates a step in the history of the bomb, building tension by presenting historical facts side by side with the fictional tale until the book's devastating conclusion. He ends with a "factual epilogue" that describes the results of the first bomb test, the failure of the new island to support the Bikinians, and the islanders' aborted attempt to return to their home in 1969. Taylor avoids the pitfall of making the islanders saintly and their life idyllic, letting readers know that they were ordinary people whose heritage and home were stripped from them. An author's note tells about Taylor's own visit to Bikini as an officer on the USS Sumner at the time the island was being prepared. Writing simply but powerfully, he has passed his memories on to generations who only associate bikini with swimsuit. Susan Dove Lempke

Book Description
Shortly after the first atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, World War II came to and, and the terrible reality of the atomic age began . . .

Sixteen-year-old Sorry Rinamu has lived on the Bikini Atoll in the western Pacific all his life. Now the United States government wants to use his home as a site for atomic weapons tests. The islanders are told that they must leave weapon tests. The islanders are told that they must leave the island in the interest of world peace but can return when the island in the interest of world peace but can return when the land is safe again. Sorry doesnt believe the story. He is sure that radioactive fallout will poison the warm blue waters and beautiful white sand beaches, and Bikini Atoll will be lost to its people forever. Sorry knows that he has no choice but stop this disaster before it starts -- even if it means standing alone against the U.S. military, and risking his own life to save his ancestral land.

Card catalog description
In 1945, when the Americans liberate the Bikini Atoll from the Japanese, fourteen-year-old Sorry Rinamu does not realize that the next year he will lead a desperate effort to save his island home from a much more deadly threat.

About the Author
Theodore Taylor was born in North Carolina and began writing at the age of thirteen as a cub reporter for the Portsmouth, Virginia Evening Star. Leaving home at seventeen to join the Washington Daily News as a copy boy, he worked his way toward New York City and became an NBC network sportswriter at the age of nineteen. Mr. Taylor is the author of a dozen books for young readers, among them the award-winning The Cay. He lives in Laguna Beach, California, with his wife, Flora.

ANNOTATION

In 1945, when the Americans liberate the Bikini Atoll from the Japanese, fourteen-year-old Sorry Rinamu does not realize that the next year he will lead a desperate effort to save his island home from a much more deadly threat.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 1945, when the Americans liberate the Bikini Atoll from the Japanese, fourteen-year-old Sorry Rinamu does not realize that the next year he will lead a desperate effort to save his island home from a much more deadly threat.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

WWII changes traditional ways of life in the Bikini Atoll forever in what PW's starred review called "a haunting, soundly researched work." Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

Children's Literature - Jyotsna Sreenivasan

This unusual novel tells the story of the 1946 atomic bomb tests on the island of Bikini through the eyes of a teenage boy. Sorry Rinamu and his fellow islanders feel grateful to the American soldiers for defeating the Japanese, who had been mistreating them. Two years later, when the islanders learn that the Americans want to test their horrific new bomb in Bikini atoll, the islanders do not feel they can refuse to relocate. But Sorry's uncle Abram devises a protest plan: he will paint a canoe red and sail it into Bikini atoll right before the bomb is to drop. He hopes the airplanes will see the canoe and stop the bombing. When Abram dies suddenly, Sorry, schoolteacher Tara Malolo, and Sorry's grandfather Jonjen carry out the plan themselves-with the result that they are killed instantly when the bomb hits. The book is interspersed with an atomic bomb timeline and a factual epilogue that details the hardships the islanders faced after the bomb. Author Taylor, who was a deck officer during the Bikini testing, has written a fascinating novel that brings home the absurdity and tragedy of the atomic bomb tests.

The ALAN Review - Donald R. Gallo

Sorry Rinamu and his family are happy to be rid of the Japanese soldiers who had occupied their small Pacific island in the early 1940s. But in 1946 they learn that their home on beautiful Bikini Atoll will become the testing ground for American atomic bombs. They must leave their peaceful ancestral land, though authorities have promised they will be able to return in two years. When sixteen-year-old Sorry learns about the potential effects of radiation, he feels he must do something to stop the planned testing. Theodore Taylor, who was an officer on one of the U.S. ships that prepared Bikini Atoll for the atomic explosions, has affectionately recreated the tranquility and beauty of that remote place along with the feelings of loss and betrayal that the natives faced. In light of recent French nuclear testing and the protests thereof, this story is particularly poignant.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-Sorry Rinamu is a teenager who lives on Bikini Atoll. Shortly after the Americans liberate his island in 1944, the Americans decide to use it as a site for atomic testing. With the promise that people could return to their island in two years-and contrary to the objections of Sorry's Uncle Abram, who argues that it would never again be safe to inhabit-the islanders agree to the plan. When Abram dies suddenly, Sorry vows to fulfill his uncle's intention to stop the tests and is joined by several others. But a serious misjudgment leads the young man and his companions to be blown up during the test. Taylor takes readers on an absorbing excursion, offering vivid descriptions, rich details of Micronesian culture, and a poignant contrast between the peaceful tranquility of the Marshall Islands and the industrialized West. The plot moves briskly with the tension of heroic confrontation. Readers will be challenged with the issues of war, the ethics of nuclear weapons, and the destruction of ancient cultures.-Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT

BookList - Susan Dove Lempke