School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-It's 1962, the height of the Cold War, and Franny Chapman and her family live in Camp Springs, Maryland. It's near her father's work as a pilot at Andrews Air Force Base and unnervingly close to Washington, DC. It's a turbulent time when the threat of a nuclear war is all too real and the Civil Rights Movement is disturbing the status quo. Listeners are immersed in the era through the words of 11-year-old Franny in Deborah Wiles's novel (Scholastic, 2010), compellingly performed by Emma Galvin. Franny's life is filled with concerns, triumphs, disasters, family, and friends, and it is all made real in Galvin's nuanced and credible reading. Commercials, clips of speeches by President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., news broadcasts, song lyrics, and more are interspersed to further bring the era to life and augment the emotional turbulence. Franny shares what she learns in school through her research for reports (e.g., background on Pete Seeger and Fannie Lou Hamer), which takes her out of character. Younger students may need additional background to make sense of the period inserts, but Franny's experiences and emotions will resonate with listeners. This piece of historical fiction is the first title in a projected trilogy.-Maria Salvadore, formerly Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wiles heads north from her familiar Mississippi terrain (Each Little Bird That Sings) for this "documentary novel" set in Maryland during the Cuban missile crisis. Eleven-year-old Franny, a middle child, is in the thick of it-her father (like Wiles's was) is a pilot stationed at Andrews Air Force Base. Wiles palpably recreates the fear kids felt when air-raid sirens and duck-and-cover drills were routine, and when watching President Kennedy's televised speech announcing the presence of missiles in Cuba was an extra-credit assignment. Home life offers scant refuge. Franny's beloved older sister is keeping secrets and regularly disappearing; her mother's ordered household is upended by the increasingly erratic behavior of Uncle Otts (a WWI veteran); and Franny's relationship with her best friend Margie is on the brink as both vie for the same boy's attention. Interwoven with Franny's first-person, present-tense narration are period photographs, newspaper clippings, excerpts from informational pamphlets (how to build a bomb shelter), advertisements, song lyrics, and short biographical vignettes written in past tense about important figures of the cold war/civil rights era-Harry S. Truman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Pete Seeger. The back-and-forth is occasionally dizzying, but the striking design and heavy emphasis on primary source material may draw in graphic novel fans. Culminating with Franny's revelation that "It's not the calamity that's the hard part. It's figuring out how to love one another through it," this story is sure to strike a chord with those living through tough times today. Ages 9-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Eleven-year-old Air Force brat Franny Chapman stars in Wiles's documentary novel about shifting friendships, first crushes, and family loyalty, set during the volatile days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In this audio version, Galvin voices each of the book's many characters convincingly: Franny, emotions roiling; her mother, all brusque efficiency; Uncle Otts, ever unpredictable; and Margie, who goes from loyal friend to betrayer and back. It's a shame for the audience to miss out on seeing the printed book's many expertly placed archival photographs. However, performances of the speeches, news headlines, propaganda, and slogans -- Duck and Cover! -- do enhance the story, and the actors are up to the task (a so-so JFK impersonation notwithstanding). Background sound effects, including typewriters clacking and newsreels ticking, nicely underscore the time period while effectively enhancing listeners' "this just in!" experience. elissa gershowitz (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* More than a few books have been written about growing up in the early 1960s, but Wiles takes her story, the first in the Sixties Trilogy, to an impressive new level by adding snippets of songs and speeches and contemporaneous black-and-white photographs to the mix. Drawing on her own experiences during this turbulent time, Wiles' stand-in is 11-year-old Franny Chapman. Living near Andrews Air Force Base, close to Washington, D.C., Franny and her classmates are used to air-raid drills, where they practice how to duck and cover. Worries about a nuclear disaster become concrete when President Kennedy announces Russian missiles are in Cuba, and the tension ratchets up for 13 days in October 1962. But, at the same time, life goes on, and while rumors of war swirl, Franny must also deal with family issues, including a shell-shocked uncle who embarrasses her, an older sister with secrets, and a best friend who has eyes for someone else. Dealing with fear is one of the book's themes, and the dramatic ending takes this issue on in both macro and micro terms. Wiles skillfully keeps many balls in the air, giving readers a story that appeals across the decades as well as offering enticing paths into the history. Many readers will find this on their own, but adults who read bits and pieces aloud will hook kids. They'll eagerly await the next installments.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
