Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. World War II, which took place between 1939 and 1945, was the largest conflict in history; as many as 80 million people died, mainly in Europe and East Asia. What do you know about the war? Why was it fought? What stories have you heard?

Teaching Suggestion: Though the book describes The Race to Build a Bomb during wartime, the war itself gets only brief mentions. It might be useful for students to understand more about why the combatants were fighting and how much pressure each country was under at the time. In answering, students can consider what they have learned in history classes, from historical movies and books, and perhaps through family history.

• Encyclopedia Britannica’s “World War II Summary” briefly summarizes the causes, the war, and the outcomes.
• This timeline highlights important events of the war.

2. What is an atomic bomb? What effect did the bomb have on World War II and later? What do nuclear weapons mean to us today?