Bomb - Looking for Newbery (2013 style)

I first heard about Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

over at Heavy Medal blog as they are narrowing down their mock Newbery list.  I must not have been paying close attention this year because this book definitely was not on my reading radar.  I read it over break, and I really, really liked this book!!!!  It frequently read like a spy novel, which is one of my favorite genres.  Many of the scientists' names were familiar, but this really taught me a lot about the specific players in building the atomic bomb; I was not aware how scientists from all around the world were involved.  The research and organization the author had to do to put this book together had to be intensive!

I am seriously considering this as a NF read aloud with my classes.

My only concern was, and maybe it's because I read it on my Kindle, I had a hard time keeping track of the characters at times because there were so many people involved - either in the actual making of the bomb or the spying for information about the bomb.  Scientists and spies all over the world.  But it did make for quite the page-turner.

It is fun to see a nonfiction book like Bomb be so well-written that it is considered "distinguished" enough to make some mock Newbery lists.  It reminds me of Amelia Lost in that respect.  And it has already been selected as a National Book Award finalist.  Who knows what might be next?