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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
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| 33607003582668 | Juvenile Fiction | KLAGES | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
In 1943, 11-year-old Dewey is going to live with her father in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He is working on a top-secret government program with other eminent scientists. No one knows how the gadget is about to change the world. Scott O'Dell Award 2007.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5 Up-Winner of the 2007 Scott O'Dell Award, Ellen Klages's impeccably researched novel (Viking, 2006) is set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, between 1943 and 1945. Dewey Kerrigan, age 11, has been bounced from her parents to her grandmother. When her grandmother can no longer care for her, the girl joins her father at a secret military location. Her father works with preeminent scientists in Los Alamos, racing to research, develop, and build the ultimate military weapon. Work at Los Alamos forces Dewey's father to travel and a colleague agrees to keep Dewey, who adapts to the new situation, the community, and the school. Her brilliant, inquisitive mind endears physicists ("fizzlers") and chemists ("stinkers"), but alienates classmates and Girl Scouts. Dewey excels at math, science, coded messages, and junkyard explorations. Subtle debate between the scientists about the possible failure or measurable success of the project is haunting. Accomplished actress Julie Dretzin's narration is unhurried, relaxed, and inviting. Discussions of physics, mathematical function, cultural boundaries of gender and race, censorship, and the vulnerable child raised by a single parent make this exceptional story even more fascinating. Public and school libraries and homeschooling families should add this audiobook to their collections.-Suzanne Johnson, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Klages makes an impressive debut with an ambitious, meticulously researched novel set during WWII. Writing from the points of view of two displaced children, she successfully recreates life at Los Alamos Camp, where scientists and mathematicians converge with their families to construct and test the first nuclear bomb. Eleven-year-old Dewey, the daughter of a math professor, is shunned by the other girls at the camp due to her passionate interest in mechanics and her fascination with the dump, which holds all sorts of mechanisms and tools she can use for her projects. Her classmate Suze is also often snubbed and has been nicknamed "Truck" by her classmates (" 'cause she's kind of big and likes to push people around," explains one boy). The two outcasts reluctantly come together when Dewey's father is called away to Washington, D.C., and Dewey temporarily moves in with Suze's family. Although the girls do not get along at first (Suze draws a chalk line in her room to separate their personal spaces), they gradually learn to rely on each other for comfort, support and companionship. Details about the era-popular music, pastimes and products-add authenticity to the story as do brief appearances of some historic figures including Robert Oppenheimer, who breaks the news to Dewey that her father has been killed in a car accident. If the book is a little slow-moving at times, the author provides much insight into the controversies surrounding the making of the bomb and brings to life the tensions of war experienced by adults and children alike. Ages 9-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Excerpts
Excerpts
Treasure at the Dump Dewey took a final bite of her apple and, without taking her eyes off her book, put the core into the brown paper sack on the ground next to her. She was reading a biography, the life of Faraday, and she was just coming to the exciting part where he figured out about electricity and magnetism. She leaned contentedly against Papa's shoulder and turned the page. Today they had chosen to sit against the west wall of the commissary for their picnic lunch. It offered a little bit of shade, they could look out at the Pond, and it was three minutes from Papa's office, which meant they could spend almost the whole hour reading together. "Dews?" Papa said a few minutes later. "Remember the other night when we were talking about how much math and music are related?" Dewey nodded. "Well, there was a quote I couldn't quite recall, and I just found it. Listen." He began to read, very slowly. " 'Music is the hidden arithmetic of the soul, which does not know that it deals with numbers. Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting.' That's exactly what I was talking about." "Who said it?" Dewey asked. "Leibniz. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. He was an interesting guy, a mathematician and a philosopher and a musician to boot. You'd like him." "Can I borrow that book when you're done?" "I don't think you'd get far," he laughed. He turned and showed her his book, bound in very old, brown leather that was flaking off in places. The page it was open to was covered in an odd, heavy black type. "It's in German," Dewey said, surprised. That explained why he had read so slowly. He'd been translating. "So is Leibniz a Nazi?" "Hardly. He died more than two hundred years ago, long before there were any Nazis." He shook his head. "Don't make the mistake of throwing out a whole culture just because some madmen speak the same language. Remember, Beethoven was German. And Bach, and--" The rest of his sentence was interrupted by the shrill siren from the Tech Area. He sighed. "Time to go back to my own numbers." He closed his book, then leaned over and kissed Dewey on the top of her head. "What're you up to this afternoon?" He stood up, brushed the crumbs from his sandwich off his lap into the dirt, then brushed the dirt itself off the back of his pants. Dewey squinted up at him. "I think I'll sit here and read for a while. A couple more chapters anyway. Then I'm going to the dump. Some of the labs are moving into the Gamma Building, now that it's done, and people always throw out good stuff when they move." He smiled. "Looking for anything in particular?" "I don't know yet. I need some bigger gears and some knobs and dials. And some ball bearings," she added after a short pause. "I'll show you at dinner if I find anything really special." "Deal. We're just analyzing data this afternoon, so I may actually get out at 5:30. If you get home before me, put the casserole in the oven and we can eat around seven." He tucked his book under his arm. "Okay." Dewey watched him walk around the corner of the building, then turned back to her book. Excerpted from The Green Glass Sea by Klages, Ellen Klages All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.