Cold War on Maplewood Street

Cold War on Maplewood Street by Gayle Rosengren. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015. Highly recommended for ages 8-12.

War was something that happened in other countries, not here in the United States. Not in Chicago on Maplewood Street (p. 21).

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a televised address to  the American people about the discovery of Soviet nuclear tipped missiles in Cuba and his response to that threat: a naval blockade of the island. In the tense days that followed, U.S. and Soviet warships sped to the island and the two Cold War superpowers stood “eyeball to eyeball”. The world hovered at the edge of a nuclear precipice.

As the story in Cold War on Maplewood Street unfolds, we meet sixth grader Joanna who loves her dog, Dixie, horses, and mystery books. She lives with her single mom in a basement apartment. Her beloved older brother, Sam, is in the Navy and her best friend, Pam, lives upstairs.  She is attracted to the new student in her class, Theo, but too embarrassed to talk to him. However, Joanna has a lot to worry about. A latchkey child, she’s home alone frequently after school and fears that robbers may break into her basement apartment. She wonders about the strange lady in the upstairs apartment who always seems to be watching Joanna from her window ...  could the old lady be a spy? She misses Sam, but won’t write to him or read his letters, because he broke his promise to her that he would never leave like her father did. One of the popular girls in school is having a boy-girl party that Joanna’s mom feels she’s too young to attend.

President Kennedy’s televised speech triggers unpleasant memories of her father and the disastrous last visit she had with Sam. As tensions mount between the two superpowers, fears at home grow. People begin to stockpile supplies and students practice air raid drills at school. Joanna worries about her brother’s safety and she finally begins writing to him. But he does not reply? Has he given up on her? Or is his ship involved in the  blockade?

Want to know more? Please see my full review at Good Reads with Ronna. Thanks to Ronna Mandel for letting me keep the review copy for my library.

Move over Moose, Lizzie's got something to say

Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko. Penguin/Random House. 2015. Recommended for ages 8-12.

Lizzie Kennedy,13, lives in a house on her aunt and uncle’s fashionable Nob Hill estate with her widowed father and her brother, Billy, 16, once her best friend, but now surly and secretive. Their beloved servants, Jing and Maggy, also reside with them.

A brief prologue gives the readers some insight into Lizzie’s world at the dawn of the 20th century and the ominous developments to come:

“In the Palace Hotel, electric lights blaze as ladies in shimmering gowns and gentlemen in black waistcoats waltz in a ballroom gilded with gold.

In the bay, a steamer from Honolulu is fumigated, scrubbed, and smoked … and given entry to the port of San Francisco.

At the dock … rats slip off the ship. They scurry onto the wharf and climb the sewers to Chinatown …”

Thanks to her aunt and uncle’s wealth, Lizzie is able to live a fairly privileged life. However, her strict and proper Aunt Hortense insists that she attend finishing school. Lizzie is not interested in becoming a society lady. She’d prefers science to etiquette, and, much to Aunt Hortense’s chagrin, enjoys assisting her doctor father with his house calls

Stories begin to surface about the large numbers of dead rats found in Chinatown, and soon that community is quarantined. Despite her father’s and her uncle’s insistence that there is no plague and the quarantine is unjustified, Lizzie has her doubts. One day she discovers that Jing has smuggled his son Noah out of Chinatown and has secretly hidden him in the servants quarters. However Jing is now missing. Did he get caught up in the quarantine … or something worse? Stunned by the discovery that Jing has a secret life, she promises the frightened boy that she’ll help keep his secret and try to find out what has happened to his father.

As dead rats and plague rumors mount, Lizzie boldly attempts to determine the veracity of the plague rumors and secretly undertakes some dangerous trips to Chinatown to find Jing.  Her friendship with Noah and her trips to Chinatown, help her realize the gender, racial, and class inequalities which exist in her society.  When Lizzie realizes she can’t find Jing on her own and illness strikes close to home, help comes from some surprising quarters ...

Please read my full review at Good Reads with Ronna. Thanks To Ronna Mandel for allowing me to review the book and keep the copy for my library.