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The Green Glass Sea

( The Gordon Family Saga #1)

Ellen Klages

4.03 · Rating details · 6,581 ratings · 978 reviews

It is 1943, and 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan is traveling west on a train to live with her scientist father, but no one, not her father nor the military guardians who accompany her, will tell her exactly where he is. When she reaches Los Alamos, New Mexico, she learns why: he's working on a top secret government program. Over the next few years, Dewey gets to know eminent sc ...more

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Hardcover, 324 pages

Published October 19th 2006 by Viking Books

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Average rating 4.03 ·

Rating details

· 6,581 ratings · 978 reviews

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Oct 15, 2007 Lisa Vegan rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: highly to anyone who enjoys novels, to all 9 & up including adults

Shelves: orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids, reviewed, childrens, z2008, fiction, favorites, historical-fiction, readbooks-female-author-or-illust, novel, young-adult

Some time needs to elapse for me to see if this book makes as much of an imprint on me as it now seems, but this is one I might consider for my favorites shelf.

In this novel everything so vivid: the feelings and thoughts and actions of the characters, the many descriptions of food, the train ride, the community, the terrain, the record albums, so much, all of it.

The author is a terrific storyteller, and this is a perfectly crafted book.

I loved the main character Dewey. In real life I would have ...more

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Aug 19, 2018 Jane Lebak rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book, it strikes me, is everything wrong with children's literature. As an adult book it would be a four-star book, but as a children's book it's a 2-star book.

OPINION-FILLED REVIEW BELOW:

Summary: two awkward girls meet at the army base in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project and eventually become friends.

That's the whole plot, right there. ^^ The characters are good, but children who are reading stories aren't really in it for the lush landscape descriptions or the deep introspections o This book, it strikes me, is everything wrong with children's literature. As an adult book it would be a four-star book, but as a children's book it's a 2-star book.

OPINION-FILLED REVIEW BELOW:

Summary: two awkward girls meet at the army base in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project and eventually become friends.

That's the whole plot, right there. ^^ The characters are good, but children who are reading stories aren't really in it for the lush landscape descriptions or the deep introspections on what adults might be thinking. The book survives at all because of the glancing references to things adults would know but children, the target audience, would not. Richard Feynmann shows up, and he's a nice guy. Do kids know who he is? Well maybe if they're reading this book as a companion to a unit on World War II. But otherwise, no, it falls flat. He shows up on the train in the beginning, is nice, and then never shows up again.

Without that kind of nudge-nudge-wink-wink at the adult reader, the book would have no reason to exist. Moreover, the author is working hard to create an idealized childhood in the confines of what we consider to be hellish and nonidealized (a good idea) but that's not something a nine year old reader is going to care much about. Nine year old readers want adventures, not a theoretical construct of idealized childhood. They want a clear ending, not the story kind of petering out to a stop because we've finally reached the location where the title takes place.

Who enjoys that? Adults do. Adults will say, "Wow, in the shadow of the bomb, these children are free and create something of their own paradise." And adults will say, "Oh, we know the horrors of the A-bomb" and "we get all these references." And when people are sitting around deciding literary awards for children's fiction, who's on the panel? A group of nine year olds and ten year olds who had to read this book as part of their unit on WWII? No, it's a group of editors, literary agents, and literary authors who discuss the consciousness-raising aspects of the work without saying, "If Grandma Julia wraps this up and gives it to Susie for Christmas under the tree, is Susie going to like it?"

And that's the kicker: an adult looking for a Christmas gift might pick out this book because it's award-winning etc etc, and then if the kid attempts to read it, the kid feels meh about it. Nothing really happens in the story as far as the kid is concerned because the real work is taking place in the subtext, the context, the themes, and the tone.

The main characters are eleven. I've been told repeatedy by editors that kids read upward (sigh) meaning they must think the ideal audience is nine or ten years old...?

Books like this kill children's love of reading. This is the reason people will come to me unprovoked and say, "I don't read, but I know I should." This is the reason people stare at me in line at the Post Office if I'm reading while waiting. Reading is a chore; it's something you do because it's good for you; it's like flossing or doing sit-ups. There are no hobby flossists, and they find it equally weird that there are hobby readers.

(BTW, the easy comparison here is The Book Thief, which is a great book. Also with a child protagonist; also set during WWII; also with adult themes etc etc etc; but not directly aimed at children even though I know children who've read it multiple times. The Book Thief also had more going on plotwise. That's a great book, so go read The Book Thief instead. The other potential comparison would be Lord of the Flies, except the childhood society the kids construct isn't developed enough to make it a sociological study of human nature. In fact, after Suze confronts the bully, nothing happens as a result of it. But I was forced to read Lord of the Flies in grammar school AND middle school, and I hated every minute of it both times. Hah.)

I read this as an adult and found it interesting; I will not pass it along to any of my kids even though they're readers. ...more

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Nov 10, 2008 CLM rated it really liked it

Shelves: childrensbooks, historicalfiction, series, friendship, 20th-century, orphans

It was foolish of me to think reading one chapter late last night was a good idea. I read the whole book, and sobbed. It was late enough when I started. Sigh.

What an unusual topic, and how vividly depicted and beautifully written. I loved Dewey's interaction with real people, not overdone but very convincing. Lots of little touches were fascinating, as for instance, the difficulty applying to college from a school that didn't exist, or the casual description of a five cent package of Koolaid as ...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Rebecca marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: age-middle-school, age-juvenile-fiction

I need to read this book! The paperback version includes the author's Scott O'Dell acceptance speech, which has one of my favorite statements about historical fiction:

"A lot of people think history is boring. It's just names and dates and facts that you have to memorize for a test...Up until last October, I was primarily a science fiction writer. Which means I'm in a unique position to recognize that this -- [holds up The Green Glass Sea] -- is a time machine. Because that's really what we want ...more

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Dec 13, 2008 Luann rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Luann by: Lisa Vegan

Shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult, war, shelf-a-thon1, 2009, ms-rec, orphans, american-history, odell-award

When I was in high school, I did an extra credit report on Oppenheimer, "Little Boy," and "Fat Man." It was all new to me, and so interesting and horrifying that I have always been very interested in that area of history. This is a work of historical fiction about the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb and their families. It is told from the point of view of the children, who were not given many details of the highly classified project and thus not many details make it into the story. The ...more

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Mar 06, 2008 Sarah rated it it was ok

Shelves: childrens-fiction, realistic, north-america, historical, wwii

I really wanted to like this book. Really. Unfortunately, I didn't. The historical setting of Los Alamos was intriguing, but I had qualms with the plot and its predicatbility. It moved rather slowly for me and also didn't say enough about how devastating the Gadget was.

*spoiler*

I couldn't understand for the life of me why the Gadget's effects of creating the Green Glass Sea were supposed to be a fitting last connection between Dewey and her father. This turn of events didn't sit well with me a ...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Rachael rated it liked it

Shelves: hisorical-fiction, y-a

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When I picked up this book, I was SO excited to read it because while I've read a lot of novels set during WWII, I've never really thought about the scientists (or their families) who worked on developing the "gadget." The unusual nature of the setting, and the "casting" of Dewey Kerrigan, a techie little girl who has spent so much of her childhood alone, really intrigued me. And there were aspects of this book that I liked, but given my anticipation, I was disappointed in this book.

Why? I thoug When I picked up this book, I was SO excited to read it because while I've read a lot of novels set during WWII, I've never really thought about the scientists (or their families) who worked on developing the "gadget." The unusual nature of the setting, and the "casting" of Dewey Kerrigan, a techie little girl who has spent so much of her childhood alone, really intrigued me. And there were aspects of this book that I liked, but given my anticipation, I was disappointed in this book.

Why? I thought the ending was way too ambiguous, with no real explanation of the aftermath of the bomb being dropped on Japan. In reality, this event changed the whole world! The book jacket says that Klages is working on a sequel-- will she deal with that, or skip ahead? I also thought it strange that in 3 places, Klages switches from writing in past tense to writing in present tense. Is there some deep meaning in that or is it just bad editing?

Additionally, it's just a personal preference of mine, but I didn't like that Dewey had to endure so much tragedy while Suze's life, though not perfect is not nearly so affected by the war. Dewey is such a likeable character, and I wanted her to have the happiness she deserved. Without giving too much away, Klages' handling of Dewey's emotional reaction to the biggest tragedy is sensitive and realistic, but the author really doesn't handle *any* of the legal or logistical/formal repercussions. To me, that hurt the credibility of the "plot twist."

I think this book is listed as YA, although the publisher lists it as for ages 9 and up. So as I read this, it was very striking how every adult in the book seems to smoke and/or drink alcohol on a regular basis. I've never noticed that so much in a children's or YA novel before. It felt jarring and strange, even if it fit the time period. Certainly my grandparents, who were close to the ages of the parents in this book, smoked and had their cocktails. But it just seemed really odd that so much attention was paid to it. Was she just trying to illustrate how stressed out all these scientists were?

Finally, it really irritated me how often Suze's parents took the Lord's name in vain. It just really didn't seem necessary to me. ...more

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Jan 07, 2010 Emily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wwii, second-childhood

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (Please note: since I'm assuming that only someone who has read the book would want to read a review hidden on account of spoilers, I'm not going to spend anytime describing the book's premise.)

Would have given this one 3.5 stars if I could have. The ending, with the trip to the green glass sea, and then the announcement on the radio turned off at the last moment, still haunts me. I've perused a few of the other reviews, and noticed that many people fault this book for not putting across more fo (Please note: since I'm assuming that only someone who has read the book would want to read a review hidden on account of spoilers, I'm not going to spend anytime describing the book's premise.)

Would have given this one 3.5 stars if I could have. The ending, with the trip to the green glass sea, and then the announcement on the radio turned off at the last moment, still haunts me. I've perused a few of the other reviews, and noticed that many people fault this book for not putting across more forcefully the devastation the atomic bombs wrought, but the fact that Klages barely touches on the horror of atomic warfare -- which the characters in the book are of course largely ignorant of -- ironically makes the book more powerful in its subtlety. Perhaps someone ignorant of the events of Aug. 6th (or Aug. 5th in the time zone in which the story is taking place) would glide right over the ending and be unmoved by it. It does require the reader to bring some knowledge to the book for it to really work. On a similar note, one reviewer thought it was wrong or at least inappropriate for Dewey to take a piece of the glass and to think of it as her father's last gift to her, but again, I found this to be subtle and heart-breaking. I didn't need to be told that atomic warfare is bad. I know that. And this is a story told from Dewey's point of view, and as chilling as the thought of that glass is, at the same time her father's genius and the abstract beauty of science are a part of it. It's complicated and devastating, just like life.

So why didn't I give this book more stars? Because I found the plotting quite predictable. When the good bye between Dewey and her father was so emotional and drawn out, I knew right then he wasn't coming back. When Suze flung her arm around Dewey as they rounded the corner with the wagon, I knew the mean girls would be right there, and bingo, there they were. Suze's sudden blooming into an artist also did not seem convincing to me. And sometimes I found myself wishing that the author had a lighter touch and just a glimmer of a sense of humor. For these reasons, and because the ending of this book was so utterly perfect in its chilling way, I'm not sure I'll be seeking out the sequel. ...more

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Aug 20, 2008 J rated it really liked it

Dewey’s dad is a scientist and ever since WWII began, he’s been helping the government with a top secret project. When Dewey’s grandma has a stroke, she travels by herself to a secret military base in New Mexico. Even though she’s only ten years old, she has always liked math and science and making her own little projects from stray gears and nuts and bolts. Along with her leg brace and glasses, this makes her an easy target for other kids to pick on her.

At the new base where she lives with her ...more

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Aug 02, 2013 Sheila rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-aloud, historical-fiction, world-war-ii, young-adult, my-5-stars

I think we have a winner for my rarely given, 5-stars of love rating!

What a great book! What a great book for girls! I read this aloud to my daughter, and we both greatly enjoyed the story of Dewey, a science loving girl, who goes to live with her father, who is working on a government project for the war in Los Alamos, New Mexico, a place that doesn't officially exist.

The mystery and the secrecy that was Los Alamos, The Manhattan Project, "the gadget", and the Trinity test is brought to life t ...more

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May 24, 2019 laurel [suspected bibliophile] rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fic, middle-grade, audiobooks, 2019-read

3.5 stars

1944. After her Nana has a stroke, Dewey finds herself traveling across the country to New Mexico to meet her father at his mysterious research facility. There, she meets mean Suze, who bullies her in order to look cool to the other girls. Things heat up when Dewey's father has to go to Washington, DC, for a while and Dewey is forced to stay with Suze. Can these two enemies set aside their differences?

I wanted to like this book a whole lot more than I did. I think it's because I'd alrea ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Morgan Dhu rated it really liked it

Ellen Klages' YA historical novel Green Glass Sea is a wonderful read. Set during World War II, it is the story of ten-year-old Dewey Kerrigan, whose mathematician father has been recruited to work on the top-secret program to develop a nuclear bomb.

Dewey's mother left the family when Dewy was a baby, and she has grown up being shuffled between her father and her maternal grandmother - but now that her father is settled for the time bring in Los Alamos and her grandmother has been incapacitated Ellen Klages' YA historical novel Green Glass Sea is a wonderful read. Set during World War II, it is the story of ten-year-old Dewey Kerrigan, whose mathematician father has been recruited to work on the top-secret program to develop a nuclear bomb.

Dewey's mother left the family when Dewy was a baby, and she has grown up being shuffled between her father and her maternal grandmother - but now that her father is settled for the time bring in Los Alamos and her grandmother has been incapacitated with a stroke, Dewey rejoins her father and tries to make a life with him in the closed community of scientists, engineers, technicians, military personnel and their families that make up the core of the Manhattan Project.

It's not easy for Dewey to fit in. She's short, needs glasses, and wears a shoe with a lift because one leg is shorter than the other due to a childhood injury. And she isn't all that interested in typical "girl" things - she's a born scientist and engineer, and spends her free time tinkering with gears, radio parts, and other useful things she finds at the Los Alamos dump.

Still, Dewey is happy to be with her father - until he's called away on business and she has to stay with the Gordons and their daughter Suze. Suze - tall and solidly built, with a creative mind and an artist's independent spirit - doesn't fit in either, but she wants to. She misses her home in Berkeley, and she resents the time her parents spend working on the project, something that affects her more than most other kids because both her parents are scientists. And she resents having to live with "screwy Dewey."

In Green Glass Sea, Klages portrays the reality of life at the heart of the war effort, where secrecy is paramount and building "the gadget" that it is hoped will win the war is on everyone's mind.

By telling the story through the uncritical eyes of a child, Klages is also able to explore issues of class, gender and race in the late 1940s, amidst the fervour of war. From the social distinctions on base reflected in who is housed where, to war propaganda that is focused on Hitler when referring to the European theatre, but on "Japs" as a group when dealing with the Asian theatre, to the peer pressure on Suze and Dewey to be "normal girls," Green Glass Sea is an unflinching look at wartime society in the U.S.

But it is in the characters Dewey and Suze that the book gives the young audience it is intended for its greatest gift. As they come to know and feel comfortable in the things that distinguish them from the other girls, and develop a friendship that empowers them both, they become role models for every girl who is drawn to a different set of interests and goals from those society sets out for her.

...more

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Dec 31, 2016 Hanne T rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sonlight, favorites, historical-fiction, 2016-read, highschool

OMGNS THIS BOOK YALL
*waves frantically in the air and shoves in everyone's faces*

Never mind that it was a school book--it's now on my favorites shelf. Why?

Well...
It's historical fiction, WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY THE BEST
Then, it's WWII, which I'm a sucker for...
And then, it's sciency, which makes everything the besttttt
AND THEN, it's friendship and girls and people and wwii and EVERYTHING
And that ending was soooooo well planned and play omgns

And then the kicker.
It. Made. Me. Cry.
*mic drop*

AND GOODREAD ...more

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Apr 12, 2020 Connie Johnson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This story has it all and l zipped through it. Dewey is such a strong, quiet character, and I enjoyed getting to know her.

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Jan 10, 2013 TheBookSmugglers rated it liked it

Shelves: not-really-feminist, awesome-girls, mg, science

In 1943, 11-year-old Dewey is on her way to spend some time with her mathematician father after her grandmother suffers a stroke and can no longer take care of her. Her father has been absent since the beginning of the War and now lives at Los Alamos, working on a secret project which is only referred to as “the gadget” throughout the book. The Gadget is of course, the atomic bomb and Los Alamos is the secret location of the Manhattan Project.

There, Dewey is left mostly to her own devices – quit In 1943, 11-year-old Dewey is on her way to spend some time with her mathematician father after her grandmother suffers a stroke and can no longer take care of her. Her father has been absent since the beginning of the War and now lives at Los Alamos, working on a secret project which is only referred to as “the gadget” throughout the book. The Gadget is of course, the atomic bomb and Los Alamos is the secret location of the Manhattan Project.

There, Dewey is left mostly to her own devices – quite literally too, since Dewey has a love for all things mechanical and loves inventing new things. But life is not particularly easy because most of the other kids (especially the girls) want nothing to do with Dewey. At the same time, her classmate Suze is equally shunned for her (large-ish) size – and the two girls end up becoming friends.

I recently read and had my mind blown away by a short story written by Ellen Klages in the Under My Hat anthology which promptly made me want to read another story from her. I did a bit of research and came across The Green Glass Sea, an award-winning historical novel featuring Girls! Science! The Atomic Bomb! and how could I NOT want to read this? Really.

There is a lot to admire here and a lot that is downright cool about it. I mean, Dewey is friends with Richard freaking Feynman and calls J. Robert Oppenheimer, Oppie. And it’s like, HERE girls, you can have the Physics Dream Team playing just outside your door.

Similarly, it is great to see the two girls finding out their interests in life are ok, even if they are girls – one is an artist, the other an inventor, both extremely creative. The book also shows how incredibly important role models are to children and in that sense, the relationship between Suze’s mother – a chemist working on the project – and Dewey is great because of their shared interest in scientific pursuits. Another thing that the book does really well is to show that historical moment when most people believed that the bomb was absolutely necessary to finish the war with Japan (Historians think it wasn’t) as well as the scientists’ working on the project increasing hesitation about using the bomb.

That said, I had two major problems with the novel. Problem numero uno: really, how freaking tragic can you get? Dewey has had a terrible time – first of all, her mother was a drunk who dropped her downstairs when she was a baby resulting on one slightly shorter, weaker leg. Her father is away all the time, her grandmother has a stroke and THEN as soon as life is starting to look up, her father dies in a car crash leaving Dewey orphaned and the latter chapters of the book are tense with a grieving Dewey believing she was all alone in the world. Ok fine, yes: tragedy happens and it’s cool that this book doesn’t shy away from it. But this to me just feels like a very old-fashioned MG in which main characters must suffer unspeakable contrived tragedies in order to grow and Learn About Life. Or something. Not to mention that the characters are stuck in this personal tragedy and this effectively overshadows the tragedy of the atomic bombings. In fairness though, the focus here is the personal and from the perspective of children.

Problem numero dos: As much as I loved her, it is clear that Dewey( and to some extent Suze too ) is an excepto- girl (TM Jodie): she is an exceptional girl who excel at something (science) that is not traditionally feminine (especially at the time) and who is elevated above all the other girls in the novel who all end up being villains described as girly-girls.

Something that made me really uneasy about the novel is how any signs of traditional femininity are portrayed negatively. All three “heroines” of the novel and the ones we are supposed to relate to and root for because they are better – Dewey, Suze and Suze’s mother – and are described as either ugly or big and there is one particular point made about how Suze’s mother doesn’t wear make-up or jewellery. Dewey and Suze even make a point of saying that no girls are allowed in their club. The problem isn’t as much with the perception the girls have of themselves or even with the fact they are not what is perceived as traditionally feminine but with the fact that girls are every other female character in the novel – often beautiful, with their “girl-voices”, interested in boys and who do not share the same (portrayed as better) interests as our main characters – and who are all villains and bullies. I love reading stories about girls who doesn’t conform to a certain idea of femininity but not to the expense of all others.

Unfortunately then, I was a bit disappointed with The Green Glass Sea. ...more

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Feb 27, 2010 Ch_jank-caporale rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

I was uncomfortable reading this book because of the title and the subject matter. I've been to Los Alamos and know about the green glass of the title. Geiger counters were not very accurate back then, and scientists didn't know which levels of radiation would have lasting effects. I cringed at the end of the book, knowing not only what the radio report on Hiroshima would mean for the world, but what the shoe box full of green glass would mean for Dewey and the Gordons. Whew! Hard one to finish I was uncomfortable reading this book because of the title and the subject matter. I've been to Los Alamos and know about the green glass of the title. Geiger counters were not very accurate back then, and scientists didn't know which levels of radiation would have lasting effects. I cringed at the end of the book, knowing not only what the radio report on Hiroshima would mean for the world, but what the shoe box full of green glass would mean for Dewey and the Gordons. Whew! Hard one to finish for me.
Dewey is an eleven year old loner. Her father, a scientist, is her only parent and he is gone much of the time, leaving her with neighbors and friends to fend for herself. Dewey is not interested in "girly" things; she's an inventor and would rather spend her time tinkering with radios and gears, reading, or making things. When she has to move in with the Gordon's because her father is in Washington, D.C. on secret business, she has to share a small room with Suze Gordon, a classmate at school. Suze wants so much to fit in with the girly-girls at their school that she makes fun of "Screwy Dewey" every chance she gets; but she's also considered an outsider because she's not small and dainty and she likes to make art out of things she finds. The girls are not friends; in fact, Suze hates being forced to share her room and Dewey regards Suze as one of the many unpleasant people her father has forced her to learn to live with. But of course, they find commonalities and eventually forge a fragile friendship which will face several difficult tests.
The slow growth of the girls' friendship is set against a backdrop of the work their parents do on the Manhattan Project. Everything is accepted as "acceptable" since sacrifices are made for the "war" effort, even though the war, from where they sit sipping cokes and eating steak, is far from real. In many ways, Dewey suffers the consequences of the war more than any of the other characters: she is orphaned because of it, she's become an immigrant of sorts, and her skills as a mathematician and inventor will only be valued in a community of scientists- once the war is over, she will be an outsider again.
Klages peppers her story with details about the dress of the times, the fascination with comic books, cokes, and tree houses, and the stark setting of Los Alamos in New Mexico of the 1940's. It isn't overtly obvious that Mrs. Gordon is the one to come home and do all the cooking, or that she remains behind while her husband attends the testing. Even female scientists knew their place. What is apparent is the secrecy with which the Project was handled, and the excitement of working on something so new and so powerful that even those working on it didn't know the consequences of what they'd created. Near the end of the book, several tensions begin to appear between Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, especially as they reference the "burned spots that looked like like little animals, like a bird or a desert mouse stenciled black against the hard, flat ground" (312). Hiroshima is mostly alluded to, intending the reader to know the background and outcome of the reference. That puts the book into the center of a social studies curriculum, begging for informational support materials to contextualize all that has happened.
I enjoyed this book for the honesty of the characters and soft openings for questions about America's decision to use the Atomic bomb. In my mind, I think Klages didn't go quite far enough.
...more

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Mar 13, 2009 Arminzerella rated it it was ok

Shelves: gutsy-girls, realistic, borrowed-from-the-library, 1940s, historical-fiction, science, juvenile-fiction, 2009-caudill-nominees, manhattan-project, nuclear-bomb

This work of historical fiction tells the story of the Manhattan Project through the eyes of some of the children who might have experienced it by proxy as their parents (scientists affiliated with the project) worked on it in secret.

Dewey Kerrigan comes to live with her father in New Mexico when she is eleven. She’s small for her age and doesn’t fit in well with other kids. Also, one of her legs is longer than the other due to a childhood accident. She’s really smart, though, and fascinated by ...more

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Aug 25, 2019 Maren rated it it was ok

There were things I liked about this book. The day-in-the-life narrative of children in Los Alamos was interesting historically. The characters, while pretty one dimensional, were endearing. I almost could have given it one more star, but because it was kind of simplistic (both the cliched characters and plot) it made me wonder how well researched this was, or if this was just what the author imagined it would be. Also, I really disliked the ending, the spoiler is really mild (I'm sure you know ...more

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Jun 12, 2008 Jess rated it liked it

Shelves: z_08, middle-grade, historical-fiction

Dewey (11) lives in a town which can't be named. Her father, a scientist, works on a "gadget" (along with hundreds of others) that can't be discussed. Welcome to daily life in the Manhattan project.

Characters the reader can relate to with understandable and clear prose. Readers get the feel of what it's like for children living in Los Alamos while their parents build the Atom bomb.

Klages has a good grasp on what it's like to be a kid when it comes to: not being privy to information, the relation ...more

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Aug 07, 2016 Amanda rated it liked it

Shelves: us-history, historical-fiction, world-war-two

An educational read for me in the form of a simple adolescent story. I've read on multiple occasions about how Hitler rounded up brilliant and elite German minds to work under his reign, but was ignorant to the American civilian scientists who were brought together to work in this secret community on The Manhattan Project. I had never before read about the making of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos, or Trinity and the Green Glass Sea. This little book strongly supports the author's statement that his ...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Steve rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Standing in the gift store of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History - a fun and geeky store in a terrific small museum (in Albuquerque) - I asked an employee (who obviously loved working in the store) for a book recommendation. This is what I bought as a result (intending it as a two-fer, hoping that one or both of my sons might allso read it), and it was a pleasant surprise. On one level, this is a comfortable, easily accessible fictional historical snapshot - through the eyes of t ...more

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Jan 11, 2018 Kaylee rated it liked it

I feel like this is a book that teachers in middle school make you read when you are learning about the home front in ww2 in America. It wasn’t bad, but I never felt truly connected to any of the characters, the closest I got was the mom.

Also what was up with all of the “we arent like other girls!” stuff?? It was such a big theme in the second half of the book. I understand that this book was trying to inspire young girls to get involved with arts and science, but shitting on other girls becaus ...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Licha rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: children, book-club-pick, historical-fiction

I did not particularly care for it. It wasn't bad, it just didn't go anywhere for me. I wish the story had been completely told from Dewey's perspective as she was the most likeable character in the book. Being that this was a children's book and was somewhat written as a historical fiction, I felt it could have gone into more detail about the making of the atomic bomb and some of the historical figures mentioned in the book.

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Nov 07, 2019 writegeist rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A wonderful kid's-eye-view of the history-changing events at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, as a cloistered community of scientists, mathematicians, and their families live together and work toward the goal of creating the first atomic bomb. As you can imagine, we only see things peripherally as the project was secret, especially for the children, but real historical figures make their appearances. I won't spoil who they are.

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Jan 07, 2009 Margaret rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-read, historical-fiction, 2007-read, children-s-and-ya-fiction, authors-kl

It's November 1943, and budding inventor Dewey Kerrigan is on her way to New Mexico to live with her father. When she arrives, she finds that she'll be living in Los Alamos, where her father is involved with a secret project which has something to do with the war. I liked this a lot: the writing is lucid, and the depiction of the time and place is absorbing and convincing.

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Aug 31, 2014 Grace rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was more like 4.5 stars, but still really good! The story line was very intriguing, keeping my interest through the whole book. The topic of the book was something that we had never really learned about in any social studies class, and I found it to be very interesting. Overall, I think that this was a very good book, and one that many people could easily enjoy.

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Jul 02, 2016 OwlBeReading rated it really liked it

This was a pretty good historical fiction book. I don't know if I'm going to read the second book because this one ended on a very good note. All of the characters continued to develop throughout the story which was good. At times it was slow so rafts why it has a four and not a five out of five stars. Overall easy read!

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Jan 12, 2019 Laura (Book Scrounger) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1940s, owned, 4th-to-middle-grade, world-war-2

3.5 stars

Very interesting idea for a story, focusing on two girls who (gradually) become friends in Los Alamos while their parents work on the first atomic bomb during WW2. Many of the scenes were somewhat slow and detailed, but clearly a lot of research went into this.

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May 18, 2018 Shawna Shade rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

I am a huge fan of Historical Fiction and I can easily justify my binge reading because I am also learning history, even though sometimes authors spend less time on the history part and more time on the fiction part in some books. Thankfully, the author of The Green Glass Sea did her research. The fiction element of the story I did not enjoy as much only because the story of Dewey - the main character- is so sad and I am a sucker for happy endings, however, there is rarely a happy ending when wa ...more

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Oct 09, 2019 Nancy rated it really liked it

I heard about this book when I visited the Nuclear Science Museum in Albuquerque, NM. I also visited Los Alamos, although at the time had not read this book. Since then, I have also read Atomic Farmgirl (a memoir) and even visited the setting of the book, Hanford, Washington. Both of these books are about young girls who grew up immersed around nuclear science during WW2. I REALLY enjoy reading about this era and topic. I hope this is just one of many similar books I will try and find.

I really ...more

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About Ellen Klages

Ellen Klages

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Ellen Klages was born in Ohio, and now lives in San Francisco.

Her short fiction has appeared in science fiction and fantasy anthologies and magazines, both online and in print, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Black Gate, and Firebirds Rising. Her story, "Basement Magic," won the Best Novelette Nebula Award in 2005. Several of her other stories have been on the final ballot f ...more