Anya Flees the Fallout: A Chernobyl Survival Story

Girls Survive

by Erin Falligant, Soia Di Chiara Manetti (illustrator)

Twelve-year-old Anya has a good life with her family in the town of Pripyat, not far from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But then, one night, an explosion lights up the night sky—and something about the flames doesn't look right. Anya's father, a firefighter, is called to the plant, and soon the seriousness of the situation grows. What went wrong at the plant? What is the government not telling them? And will Anya and her family survive the fallout that follows? Readers can learn the story of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster from nonfiction backmatter, including a glossary, discussion questions, writing prompts, and more in this Girls Survive story.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Animals

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2024

About the author

As an American Girl author and editor, Erin Falligant has developed books across a number of series, including Angelina Ballerina, Hopscotch Hill School, and American Girls Short Stories. While writing Braving the Lake, a story with more than 20 endings, she had great fun imagining the many paths the story could take. She views the Innerstar University™ books as “wonderfully challenging to write and a great teaching tool for readers, who can read the stories again and again to find out how the decisions they make lead to different outcomes.” Ms. Falligant has a master's degree in child clinical psychology and coaches Girls on the Run, where she helps girls build self-confidence and create paths of their own near her home just outside of Madison, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Tracie Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn. This was a wild story.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anya’s family has a comfortable life in Pripayat where her father works as a firefighter. They are looking forward to the May Day festivities coming up. But when a fire starts at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Anya’s father is called to put out the flames, and no one realizes just how dangerous or serious things are about to get. Soon Anya and her mother and brother are evacuating, leaving behind their stubborn grandfather Dido who refuses to leave his farm and their dog, Bear, who isn’t allowed to evacuate with them. Their father has been sent to Moscow for treatment because of radiation burns. Will they ever be together again or able to return to their home?

This book really brings to life how sudden the evacuation came on the average person in Pripayat and how the repression of information by the Soviet government made it so that people really didn’t understand how much danger they were in. The book has Anya and her mom and brother go to stay with an uncle who is a nuclear scientist and he has insider knowledge of what kind of danger they are in and how to treat their clothing and such to be safer. Anya’s brother so staunchly believes in the government that he refuses to listen to some of the things his uncle tells him. It was a clever way for the author to educate readers on the dangers that the average person wouldn’t have known about and why some would have refused to believe the truth even if they were told. The book ends just a few weeks after the event, so we don’t get to see the long-term effects on residents of Pripayat, but the back of the book touches on them.

Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: One of the other firefighters dies off page of radiation poisoning.
Ethnic diversity: The characters are all Russian/Ukrainian.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: Anya’s brother is pretty brainwashed by Soviet teaching. Anya’s forced to abandon her pet dog and it is mentioned that soldiers may kill some of the pets left in Pripayat. Anya’s family has to abandon their home without knowing they can never go back.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main thing about all these Girl survive books is that the girl feels like she’s been plucked from a nearby third grade (or fifth grade, or whatever). She always seems a bit baffled by how things work in the past or in whatever foreign place she finds herself. This comes up very clearly here.

I hope Anya grows up healthy. And that her brother isn’t too bad off.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dog lives.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are so good!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great story but oh my ! Reliving Chernobyl is hard.

[Elexndra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library borrow

[Tami Hungerford · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all loved this!! But of course we are somewhat obsessed with the whole Chernobyl kerfuffle. I didn’t even know these “girl survive” books existed.

[Robert D · Rating 4 out of 5]

70ish pages of historically accurate Chernobyl trauma fictionalized through a 12-year olds eyes, some illustrations.

Not for a “sensitive” reader, but as far as children’s kit goes pretty good.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In This Girls Survive book Anya lives in Pripyat not far from the Chernobyl nuclear plant where her father works. When a fire causes an explosion, her father is seriously burned. The Soviet government kept the seriousness of the situation from the people. Anya and her family are bussed to her uncle’s home in Kiev. Their uncle is a scientist and expert on nuclear ration. He tells family they must, shower, take iodine pills and stay inside. Anya knows her uncle is telling the truth, but the government keeps lying to their people. Anya finds a way to warn the people of the danger by writing posters, and starting her own newspaper.
The book had a lot of disturbing details of what long term effects radiation can cause and may be scary for some kids. I do think it good to talk about the lies and punishment some governments inflict on the people with your kids.