This is the first audiobook I've ever listened to! I must say, I enjoyed sitting back and listening to the story being read to me for a change. :)
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Bibliographic Data
Klages, Ellen. 2006. The Green Glass Sea. New York: Penguin Young Readers Group. ISBN: 1428146393. Narrated by Julie Dretzin. Unabridged; 7 CDs.
Plot Summary
After her grandmother has a stroke, young but very smart Dewey Kerrigan moves to live with her father on a secret military base in New Mexico in the early 1940s. He’s a mathematician working on a project referred to as “the gadget.” Dewey loves building gadgets herself, and enjoys living in an environment full of highly intelligent adults until the day her father has to leave the base on an important trip. She then has to move in with a family living on the base, the Gordons, until he returns. Their daughter Suze picks on Dewey along with the other girls on the base, so Dewey just tries to get along with her. Over time, the two girls learn to appreciate each other’s unique abilities. Then Dewey learns there’s been a car accident, and her father is dead. With no family to care for her, what will the future hold for Dewey?
Critical Analysis
Written for ages 9-12, this story is set in Los Alamos, New Mexico on a military base during the testing of the first atomic bombs. Most of the adults Dewey Kerrigan meets are either military or scientists on the base, and she thrives in an environment where her love of building is encouraged for once by people other than her father. While she loves living on the base, Suze Gordon longs to return her family's home in Berkley. The two girls provide good contrasts on how they perceive life on the base, and in general. The author does an excellent job of setting the scene, helping the reader take a mental stroll through the base as if really there. Suze complains how everything is military green and wants colors, and how she can't go shopping or anything, while Dewey revels in the freedom of being able to go anywhere on base at will safely, even at night.
As the girls adjust to their temporary base homes, the adults work tirelessly to get "the gadget" to work. Klages helps set the mood by telling the reader how their ranks and professions are never directly referenced for security reasons, so the kids give nicknames like "stinkers" for chemists and "fizzlers" for physicists as code. While adults reading this book will probably realize immediately what "the gadget" is, many children readers will likely wonder along with Dewey and Suze what the adults on base are trying to make.
Many historical figures and events are mentioned in this book, making the reader feel a part of the time period. I was surprised when Dewey eats a bowl of Kix because I didn't realize it was already around in the 1940s. The author did her homework, and includes little songs kids would have sang during that time period. It's easy to get lost in the 1940s listening to or reading this book.
Having Dewey's father die in a car accident seemed like a random and unnecessary plot twist to throw in, but otherwise the story flowed well. I think the two children's friendship could have grown without killing off Jimmy Kerrigan. However, the story does deal with several issues children might face, like bullying and trying to fit in, so this may have been another life issue the author wanted to address. Dewey is told she'll live with the Gordons when they leave the base, as she has no family to go live with now.
The book takes its name from the tested bomb's blast area, which left a 75 acre sea of green glass on the sandy desert surface. The Gordons take the girls to see it at the end of the book. I can imagine stepping out onto it with the girls and looking across that expanse of superheated sand. Mr. Gordon brings a Geiger counter to check radiation levels to make sure it's safe before he lets the girls roam around. Details like that make the story feel factual and real. The story ends with Suze listening for music on the radio, but only finding news reports talking about a place in Japan called Hiroshima. Not finding any music, she turns off the radio, saying they can listen to the news any time.
I found listening to the audio CD a wonderful experience, and this book lends itself well to being read aloud. This story will definitely make you feel as if you've traveled back in time for a few hours.
Awards
- 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
- 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature
- 2007 New Mexico State Book Award (YA)
Reviews
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: "Accessible prose and Dewey's consistently childish concerns and activities skew the novel to a relatively young audience. … the view of the Manhattan Project through the eyes of two out-of-the-loop children is an intriguing entrée to this somber piece of history, and interested readers may investigate further and flesh out the rest of the story."
The Horn Book: "Klages evokes both the big-sky landscape of the Southwest and a community where ‘everything is secret’ with inviting ease and the right details, focusing particularly on the society of the children who live there. . . . Cameo appearances are made by such famous names as Richard Feynman (he helps Dewey build a radio) and Robert Oppenheimer, but the story, an intense but accessible page-turner, firmly belongs to the girls and their families; history and story are drawn together with confidence."
Connections
Enrichment Activities
There are many enrichment activities to learn about the Los Alamos Manhattan project, the bombing of Japan during World War II, and American scientists of the 1940s (like Robert Oppenheimer, mentioned in the book).
Los Alamos Manhattan project:
Bombing of Japan:
Robert Oppenheimer:
Richard Feynman
Related Readings
- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad, 2010)
- Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2010)
- Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2010)
- Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez (Yearling, 2010)
- All The Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg (Scholastic Press, 2009)
- Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus (Amulet Books, 2010)
- Chains (Seeds of America) by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum, 2010)
- The Boy Mechanic: 200 Classic Things to Build (Boy Mechanics Series) by The Editors of Popular Mechanics (Hearst, 2006)
- Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages (Tachyon Publications, 2007)
