I often don’t
follow up with sequels, mostly due to lack of time. But I’m really happy that I picked up White
Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages (823 K661W FIC) the sequel to The Green Glass Sea (823 K661G FIC).
We pick up
with Dewey Kerrigan and the Gordon family after they’ve move from Los Alamos to
Alamogordo, New Mexico after the end of World War
II. Dewey is feeling very comfortable
with the family who has taken her in after her father was accidentally killed
by a car. Dewey and Suze have grown closer
and it’s a delight to read about their
relationship, especially as they work together building a very
inventive, mechanical wall, with
each girl doing her own thing.
Dewey is the inventor who loves all things mechanical and Suze is a
budding artist who looks to understand her world through her art work.
There are
many secondary storylines that engage and preoccupy our two main characters:
Suze’s growing friendship with a Hispanic girl and awareness of racial
inequality, Suze’s jealousy over Dewey’s closeness with her mother, Dewey’s
concern over her own birth mother’s reappearance in her life after abandoning
her when she was two, Mrs Gordon’s concern and activism to raise awareness
about the horrors of the nuclear bomb, Mr. Gordon’s increasing excitement as he
works further with nuclear technology building rockets to protect the United States
from Communist USSR, a growing distance between Mr. and Mrs. Gordon based on
their positions about nuclear technology, and an ethical dilemma involving
Nazis now living in the US and helping the Americans build rockets.
Whew! This
sounds like a lot but it all works seamlessly, just the stuff of everyday
living for two pre-teen girls with the usual parental background noise layered
with a bit of current events of the time.
I love the
science and art connections of this book.
The family relationships seem real and caring. The resolutions to some of the storylines
also ring true with no pat answers and concessions being made. The writing is strong and draws us into this
time period with ease.
I highly recommend this novel for the middle grades.
I also recommend Countdown by Deborah Wiles
(823 W648C FIC) that deals more directly with the cold war of the 1960s.
Check out today's Nonfiction Monday event at Capstone Connect . Looks like an interesting round up of nonfiction children's literature.
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