Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build — and Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon is a gift for several kinds of readers: history buffs, nascent physicists, thriller fans. It’s also a gift for schools and teachers aiming to embrace the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Crossing the curriculum in surprising directions, Bomb is the kind of nonfiction book the Common Core requires: in-depth, well-documented nonfiction about significant ideas and events that asks readers to do more than passively absorb information. I’m haunted by the last lines of Sheinkin’s book, where he notes the ongoing nature of the embrace between humans and weapons: “It’s a story with no end in sight. And like it or not, you’re in it.”
In an attempt to help teachers and librarians build collections for schools using the Common Core standards, the Horn Book is publishing a quarterly supplement to Notes from the Horn Book called — catchily — Nonfiction Notes from the Horn Book, which debuted last month. It comes for free and with no extra work on your part to Notes subscribers; in case you missed it, you can find the Fall 2012 issue here and keep up with our ongoing nonfiction coverage at http://www.hbook.com/notes-from-the-horn-book-newsletter/nonfiction-notes-from-the-horn-book/.
Roger Sutton
Editor in Chief
About Roger Sutton
