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 skyand 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.