Ever heard of Barefoot Gen? (That name's pronounced with a hard g, like gallon).
Hadashi no Gen, as it's called in Japanese, was a comic/manga serialized in the super popular Shukan Shonen Jump magazine way back in 1972. It's been retold three times in live-action feature films and received an English language animated version, too.
It tells the story of a six-year-old boy's remarkable survival of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and continues his story in the aftermath of the attack. Artist/writer Keiji Nakazawa himself survived the Hiroshima attack but tells Gen's story as only partly autobiographical. His memories of that day remain as vivid as ever, though, and he includes those details and sensory experiences in the book. Nakazawa and his family weren't involved with the Japanese military or World War II; they were simple townsfolk who had an atomic bomb dropped on their hometown.
San Francisco publisher Last Gasp picked up the rights to publish Barefoot Gen in English back in the '90s and has been quietly publishing it ever since. Last Gasp is nearing the last hours of a unique Kickstarter campaign aimed at bringing this haunting, moving and incredibly important story to schools across the United States.
Last Gasp's Kickstarter goal is to print 4,000 copies of a brand new hardcover edition and distribute it to as many school libraries as they can. The idea is to promote peace by not letting this moment in history be forgotten — especially the human cost of targeting civilian populations with weapons of mass destruction.
At the time of this writing, the Barefoot Gen Kickstarter campaign has just surpassed its goal of $36k, but there's still time to contribute. Additional funds will likely go toward surpassing the publisher's 4,000-copy goal.
If you'd like to nominate your school as one of those chosen to receive Barefoot Gen, you can do that here.
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