The Green Glass Sea

 

Bibliography

Klages, Ellen. The Green Glass Sea. New York: Viking, 2006. Print. ISBN 9780142411490

Plot Summary

Abandoned by her mother as a baby, Dewey lives with her grandmother through most of her childhood until Nana’s stroke sends her to a retirement home. She travels by train to New Mexico to live with her father who has taken a job in the Manhattan Project, building the first atomic bomb. Dewey is ecstatic having her dad in her life again. Compared to Nana’s restrictions, she loves the freedom she has at the top secret military camp named Los Alamos. When her father has out of town business, she must stay with another family. They have a daughter who has not been very nice to Dewey, but they learn they may really need each other. Dewey learns her father died in an accident. She is beyond grief and worried about where she will end up next.

Critical Analysis

Several real people are woven smoothly into the story with fictional characters. The riveting drama surrounding Dewey and the main characters is fictional, but realistic in the context of the overarching military mission. In the story, everyone on the project calls it the gadget, and at the end they are all watching the testing of the first bomb which are accurate events in the historical accounts. Dialogue is realistic and true to the characters without overuse of dialect. Thorough description of New Mexico’s mountainous desert and military structures gives authenticity to this inviting story of new relationships amidst the exciting Manhattan Project. Klages researches this historical time period and supplies source notes for readers.

Dewey is a character everyone can empathize with. Her intelligence is amazing, but everyone has felt the sting of loneliness at some point which Dewey receives her fair share of. The kids on the complex are also characters readers will identify with from bullies to stuck-up girls to adventuresome boys. Suze is the misunderstood bully who does a lot of growing up of her own. Klagues keen storytelling style weaves history and drama together in a natural flow. Readers will want to see that Dewey survives her emotional upheaval in these intense times. In a timeless theme, both girls learn the value of friendship through their ordeals. Suze’s parents argue about the bomb afterwards, leading to themes involving the ethics of how to use this new technology.

Awards and Review Excerpts

2007 Scott O'Dell Award

2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award

2007 New Mexico State Book Award

From Booklist: “The novel occasionally gets mired down in detail, but the characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for history classes.”

From Publishers Weekly: “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.”

From 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' historical significance will experience the story in a different, but equally powerful, way.”

Connections

Pair with a nonfiction title, Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal -- the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon ISBN 9781596434875 for a chance to learn more about the creation of the first atomic bomb and some of the real characters that were in the book.

Read this to students before events such as science fairs to inspire creation and invention.

Students may create collage art from the story setting or from another scene such as the testing of the bomb or a friendship scene.