The Green Glass Sea

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Bibliography

Klages, Ellen.  Read by Julie Dretzin.  The Green Glass Sea [CD].  New York: Penguin Putnam/Recorded Books.  2006.  9781428146396

Summary

In the midst of World War Two, life is difficult for all Americans.  This is particularly true for eleven-year-old Dewey Kerrigan.  After being abandoned by her mother as a toddler, Dewey has spent many years in the care of her grandmother while her father, a well-known and respected mathematician, has moved around the country teaching and working for the government.  After her grandmother suffers a stroke, Dewey is reunited with her father in Los Alamos, New Mexico where they live on a top-secret military base with scores of other mathematicians and scientists developing some type of “Gadget.”  Life on The Hill is a dream for Dewey; living with her father and being surrounded by brilliant men and women who are able to answer all her questions about math, science and machines without concerning themselves with her gender.  Her happiness on The Hill is interrupted when her father is requested to work in Washington, once again leaving her in the care of others.  This time however, it is not her grandmother but a family she hardly knows with a daughter who dislikes Dewey…and they are sharing a bedroom.

Analysis

Julie Dretzin expertly reads the seven unabridged CDs that make up this audio book.  Dretzin is a well-rehearsed and experienced performer, having acted on Broadway.  Her experience and expertise are easily heard through the multiple voices she creates, giving each character their own distinct sound.  A mental picture of Dewey is easy to create when listening to her small and uncertain voice talk about complicated mechanics and science concepts.  The confidence of a world-renowned mathematician comes through in her father’s voice, while at the same time capturing the uncertainty and stress of the project he is working so hard on.  There are no additional sound effects, beyond music to indicate the beginning and end of each CD, but the reader needs no additional noise, between Dretzin’s reading and Klages words a clear understanding and mental movie are created.

The Green Glass Sea is a perfect balance of fact and fiction.  The themes running through the book of family love, peer acceptance and following your dreams ring true in any time period while the feel of the fifties is captured through discussions of war, popular activities like “grabbing a Coke” and use of phrases such as “spiffy.”  The top secret nature of “The Project” keeps technical science talk to a minimum, however all the hints and overheard conversations are accurate.

The story itself is engaging and compelling, both to the intended young adult audience as well as to older readers.  Younger readers will easily connect with Dewey, who is confident in her ability and preferences, but lacks social graces with her peers.  Many young readers will be able to relate to her, sympathizing with her pain about being teased and understanding her interest in things her peers just don’t appreciate.  The mystery project that all the scientists and mathematicians are working on will keep kids wondering, while the code words used to describe the project will engage and entertain.  Girls, especially those interested in math and science, will find the social attitudes about women in these fields intriguing and unfair and will develop a new appreciation for how far society has come.

Older readers with a deeper understanding of World War Two will enjoy a peek into the daily lives of the civilians who worked endlessly to create the first atomic bomb.  Through the eyes of Dewey, we are able to see how life was for these brilliant minds, their motivations and hesitations about creating the most destructive force known to mankind.  The inner workings of the base and how the children of the project lived are subjects rarely touched on by historians and provide a new angle to an old subject. 

Awards and Reviews

*Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction- 2007

*Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature – 2007

*One Book, One Nebraska for Kids – 2009

“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....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.” –Publisher’s Weekly

“Dewey is an especially engaging character, plunging on with her mechanical projects and ignoring any questions about gender roles. Occasional shifts into first person highlight the protagonist's most emotional moments, including her journey to the site.... After the atomic bomb test succeeds, ethical concerns of both youngsters and adults intensify as the characters learn how it is ultimately used. 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.” –School Library Journal

 Connections

Ellen Klages biography

The Penguin Educator’s Guide for The Green Glass Sea

Have students read WhiteSands, Red Menace, Klages continuation of the story.

Research the Manhattan Project, then look for historical facts included in the The Green Glass Sea.

Read another story of World War Two, such as Number the Stars or The Diary of Anne Frank.  Compare the lives of the girls, who were alive at the same point in history.  

Have students write a letter from Dewey to a child in Hiroshima after the bombing.  Have students reflect on how Dewey would feel about the dropping of the bomb and what she would want to convey to its' victims.