ワタシゴト（読みもの）
Watashigoto: 14 Years Old in Hiroshima
カテゴリー: Japanese Children's Books、おすすめ！日本の子どもの本、読みもの／chapter books and novels
『ワタシゴト～14歳のひろしま』（Watashigoto: juyon sai no Hiroshima）
修学旅行で広島の原爆資料館を訪れた中学３年生が主人公の、5つの短編が収められている。
「弁当箱」は、お弁当を作ってくれない母親を持つ俊介と、見栄えのいいお弁当を作る母親を持つ凛子が、原爆で真っ黒に焦げたお弁当箱を見学する。俊介は、凛子が義理の母が作るお弁当に違和感を抱いていることを知る。
「ワンピース」は、みさきが、焦げて血のついたワンピースを見学する。そして、幼い時にママに縫ってもらって一度も着なかった自分のワンピースを思い出す。
「くつ」は、優等生の雪人が、派手な靴をはいて修学旅行に参加し、資料館でぼろぼろの靴を見学する。
「いし」は、石に特別なこだわりを持つ和貴が主人公。修学旅行の事前学習で、屋根瓦が原爆の熱でどのように変化するのかを実験し、資料館で実際に被災した瓦を見る。
最終章「ごめんなさい」は、資料館に入ることができないあかりが主人公である。
カバーの折り返しに、「渡し事＝記憶を手渡すこと 私事＝他人のことではない、私のこと」と書かれている。悩みを抱える子どもたちが、資料館のモノと出会い、そのモノの持ち主を自分の境遇と比較し、想像することで、原爆の被害を実感を持って追体験する様子が描かれている。（土居）
| 出版社 | 汐文社 |
|---|---|
| 初版年 | 2020年 |
| ISBN | 9784811327273 |
| ページ数 | 128頁 |
| サイズ | 20×14 |
| 対象年齢 | 13歳から |
| キーワード | 修学旅行 原爆資料館 |
Watashigoto: 14 Years Old in Hiroshima
This is a collection of five stories about 14-year-olds on a school trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
In “Lunchbox,” Shunsuke’s mother never makes him a lunch, and Rinko’s makes her ostentatious ones. In the museum, they see a lunch box charred black when the atomic bomb fell, and they talk. Shunsuke learns Rinko feels uncomfortable with the lunches made by her stepmother.
In “Dress,” a girl named Misaki got injured before the trip and has come in a wheelchair. She views a dress in the museum. Bloodied and charred, the dress nonetheless makes her think of a dress her mother sewed her when she was small, which she never wore.
In “Shoes,” honor student Yukito has a cheeky younger sister. Yuto has come on the trip in some fancy shoes; at the museum, he sees some destroyed shoes displayed with comments by the younger sister of the deceased.
In “Stone,” Kazuki keeps a rock collection. During studies before the trip, he had experimented to learn how roof tiles would respond to the heat of the atomic bomb. At the museum, he sees actual roof tiles from the blast.
In the final story, “I’m Sorry,” Akari was five years old when she got caught in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and let go of her friend’s hand. She is unable to enter the museum no matter how she tries. Outside the museum, she meets an old woman who also feels sorry toward her friend, who died in the atomic bombing.
The inside flap of the front cover explains that Watashigoto, the title of this collection, can mean the act of passing on a memory, or it can mean a person’s own private matters. As one reads, one can clearly imagine students with their private struggles going on this trip, encountering others’ memories, and making the atomic bomb a part of who they are. (Doi)
- text: Nakazawa, Shoko | illus. Sasameya, Yuki
- Chobunsha
- 2020
- 128 pages
- 20×14
- ISBN 9784811327273
- Ages 13 +
School trip, Atomic bomb museum