The Green Glass Sea

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Klages, Ellen. 2006. THE GREEN GLASS SEA. New York: The Penguin Group.  ISBN 0-670-06134-4

PLOT SUMMARY

Dewey Kerrigan and Suze Gordon live in Los Alamos, a town in New Mexico that doesn’t officially exist in 1943. With an entire city hiding in the mountains of New Mexico, life is more than confusing for Suze and Dewey.  Both Dewey and Suze have parents working on the Manhattan Project, though it is only know at the time as “the gadget”.  The girls are outcasts in the small community, though they together couldn’t be more different.  Although the girls initially dislike each other, the uncertainty of life in Los Alamos proves that nothing can be predicted in such confusing times.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book provides a perfect window into life in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.  The girls, though set almost seventy years ago, feel alive and real.  Their feelings of isolation, fear, friendship, and confusion are timeless emotions.  Suze and Dewey are certainly girls from their time though, with phrases like “oh my stars and garters” and “she knew her onions” seamlessly creating the feeling of 1940s Americana.  Los Alamos is described in such a way that a reader could almost walk down the streets to the PX to get an ice-cold Coke in a green bottle.    

The girls learn about friendship and loss, two themes that have not lost their relevance in all these years. Modern day teens will recognize the confusion of knowing something bigger than them is happening, without having all the details.  And the readers will realize that friendship can occur between the most unlikely of people.  Ellen Klages provides background information and books for further reading about the Manhattan Project.  In the end, Klages has created a timeless novel, in a time where actions taken had much larger consequences than anyone could imagine.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Winner, 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Winner, 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature

Winner, 2007 New Mexico State Book Award (YA)


Publishers Weekly: “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.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Many readers will know as little about the true nature of the project as the girls do, so the gradual revelation of facts is especially effective, while those who already know about Los Alamos's historical significance will experience the story in a different, but equally powerful, way.”

CONNECTIONS

The Manhattan Project is probably not well known amongst most readers, so a discussion about the atomic bomb, Hiroshima, and the guilt felt by Mrs. Gordon and other members of the project should be explored.

Follow up with Dewey and Suze in:

Klages, Ellen. RED SAND, WHITE MENACE. ISBN 978-067-006235-5

Other books:

Hersey, John. HIROSHIMA. ISBN 978-0679721031  

Zindel, Paul. THE GADGET. ISBN 978-0440229513