The misery of war remains for many long years as scar tissue in the minds of children deeply traumatized by it. And yet, there are not many works of fiction or nonfiction that have conveyed the confusion and pain felt by such children.

In Japan, perhaps Akiyuki Nosaka's 1967 novel, "Grave of Fireflies," the heartrending story about a boy and his little sister caught up in the U.S. firebombing of Kobe in 1945, describes war's all-out assault on children best.

Now Chikuma Shobo has published, in a Purima Shinsho edition, a powerful work of nonfiction, Kazutoshi Hando's memoir about the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo, "15-sai no Tokyo Daikushu."