The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages copyright 2006
Dewey reaches into the top of her sock and pulls out the little card. She scoots over on the seat until she is sitting right next to Papa, his body between her and the men with guns and the danger signs and the barbed wire. What if they find something wrong with her pass and take her away, away from Papa again?
Her hand shakes as she gives the card to the guard. The man looks at it carefully, looks at her, then hands it back. He waves them through the gate.
They drive around a curving dirt road flanked with pine trees. "Welcome home, Dews," he says as they pass an open area with a lot of partially finished buildings. He puts one arm around her shoulders and kisses the top of her head. "Welcome to Los Alamos."
Dewey Kerrigan lives in a world of secrets. Her father, a math teacher at Harvard before the war, has relocated to a place in New Mexico that doesn't officially exist, and works on a project known only as "the gadget." What isn't secret is that Dewey is not like other girls, and not just because she has to wear a special shoe to compensate for a shorter leg. She's an inventor, an young scientist who combs through the dump for gears, knobs, and other pieces to create her own gadgets -- from a radio to robotic toys. When Dewey's papa is summoned to Washington D.C., Dewey is taken in by the parents of her school nemesis, Suze, further complicating the lives of both girls.
This domestic drama, set against the backdrop of the race to build the atomic bomb, carefully handles the quintessential issues of being the outsider, being a girl who is good at science and math, the meaning of family, and the ethical issues surrounding war. Ellen Klages creates a vivid picture of life on "the Hill" for the many men, women, and children who lived isolated from the world from 1943 to 1945, while imbuing the story with all the social customs and interests of the 40s -- comic book heroes, radio broadcasts, popular music, and slang. A Newbery Honor book and the winner of the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction, this fascinating debut novel marks an auspicious beginning to what I hope is a long and successful writing career for a new author with a unique voice.
Her hand shakes as she gives the card to the guard. The man looks at it carefully, looks at her, then hands it back. He waves them through the gate.
They drive around a curving dirt road flanked with pine trees. "Welcome home, Dews," he says as they pass an open area with a lot of partially finished buildings. He puts one arm around her shoulders and kisses the top of her head. "Welcome to Los Alamos."
Dewey Kerrigan lives in a world of secrets. Her father, a math teacher at Harvard before the war, has relocated to a place in New Mexico that doesn't officially exist, and works on a project known only as "the gadget." What isn't secret is that Dewey is not like other girls, and not just because she has to wear a special shoe to compensate for a shorter leg. She's an inventor, an young scientist who combs through the dump for gears, knobs, and other pieces to create her own gadgets -- from a radio to robotic toys. When Dewey's papa is summoned to Washington D.C., Dewey is taken in by the parents of her school nemesis, Suze, further complicating the lives of both girls.
This domestic drama, set against the backdrop of the race to build the atomic bomb, carefully handles the quintessential issues of being the outsider, being a girl who is good at science and math, the meaning of family, and the ethical issues surrounding war. Ellen Klages creates a vivid picture of life on "the Hill" for the many men, women, and children who lived isolated from the world from 1943 to 1945, while imbuing the story with all the social customs and interests of the 40s -- comic book heroes, radio broadcasts, popular music, and slang. A Newbery Honor book and the winner of the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction, this fascinating debut novel marks an auspicious beginning to what I hope is a long and successful writing career for a new author with a unique voice.
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