Seattle Public Library
The Children Reading List
THE CHILDREN: BEYOND THE THEATER
Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of books, music, and films to enhance your experience of the show!
The Children
by Kirkwood, Lucy
Book - 2017
The script of The Children, for your reading pleasure.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
A Play
by Albee, Edward
Book - 2006
The Children’s Rose, Hazel, and Robin’s tension-laden interactions are similar to (but not quite as shocking as) those featured in Albee’s infamous play.
Oryx and Crake
A Novel
by Atwood, Margaret
Book - 2004
Set in the near future, this post-apocalyptic novel explores an Earth ravaged by ecological and scientific disaster. First in a trilogy.
Manual for Survival
A Chernobyl Guide to the Future
by Brown, Kate
Book - 2019
Brown's research led to the exposé of a chilling cover-up of Chernobyl's true effects on both humans and the environment.
Silent Spring
by Carson, Rachel
Book - 2002
"First published in 1962, Silent Spring alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of indiscriminate use of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water." – Publisher’s copy.
Fukushima
The Next Wave
Streaming Video - 2014
Reporter Mark Willacy visits the contaminated zone surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was destroyed in the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The power plant catastrophe in The Children is modeled after the real-life Fukushima disaster. Stream this video at Access Video with your library card and PIN.
Midnight in Chernobyl
The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
by Higginbotham, Adam
Book - 2019
"While Chernobyl often gets portrayed as a small piece within the larger collapse of the USSR, this work aims to reset that notion by pointing out that the disaster solidified mistrust toward the Communist Party and Soviet system and that the recovery costs bankrupted the Soviet economy."--Library Journal
Fukushima
The Story of A Nuclear Disaster
by Lochbaum, David A.
Book - 2014
Leading experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists team up with a journalist to determine exactly what led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
March Was Made of Yarn
Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown
Book - 2012
Published a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, this anthology contains 18 essays and stories by Japanese authors reflecting on this devastating event and its aftermath.
A Tale for the Time Being
by Ozeki, Ruth L.
Book - 2013
An author in the Pacific Northwest discovers the diary of a Japanese teen named Nao in ocean debris, possibly from the 2011 tsunami and subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster, which has washed ashore near her British Columbia home.
On the Beach
by Shute, Nevil
Book - 2010
Still a bestseller years after its publication in 1957, On the Beach is a moving and realistic portrait of ordinary people facing the nightmare of nuclear war.
When the Wind Blows
DVD - 2010
Based on cartoonist Raymond Briggs’ 1982 graphic novel, this classic anti-war animated film depicts an elderly British couple attempting to survive a nuclear holocaust by following advice found in government pamphlets.
