Illustrator: none
Genre: Historical Fiction
Subgenre:
Themes: family and friends, abandonment and reunion, death and grieving, science and art as means of expression, language of math, coming-of-age
Characters:
~Primary: Dewey Kerrigan
~Secondary: Suze Gordon, Drs. Gordon, Jimmy Kerrigan, Charlie, Jack, Richard Feynman, Robert Oppenheimer
Awards:
~Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Date of Publication: 2006
Publication Company: Puffin Books
Summary: Dewey Kerrigan is almost eleven years old, and she is finally about to be reunited with her father, a mathematician working in Los Alamos, New Mexico. World War II is still being waged, and Dr. Kerrigan is doing his patriotic duty by working on “the gadget,” a weapon that will help the United States win the war. Dewey is happy to be living in Los Alamos, both because she has her father back and because she is surrounded by adults who can answer her questions about science and mathematics. Dewey does not have as much luck making friends her own age, since physical and intellectual differences set her apart from her classmates. Despite her differences, however, Dewey makes an unlikely new friend who helps her survive the changes that war brings.
Recommendation: The Green Glass Sea is a wonderful book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in Los Alamos and how life was like for families there. In schools, I think that this would be a good book for gifted students to read and for students with physical disabilities, because they would be able to relate Dewey, the main character, perhaps more than they feel like they can relate to students in their own classes and neighborhoods.
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