Deborah Wiles and her books have been a store favorite for quite some time with her beautiful books Love, Ruby Lavender, Each Little Bird That Sings, and Aurora County All-Stars.
But with her new book Countdown, Wiles takes a different approach to literature. Set in the early ’60s, this book is filled with pictures, quotes, and song lyrics from the time period that give you a feel of what would have been important to our characters. Just look at that beautiful cover! The whole presentation of the book is fantastic and the book itself is physically heavier than normal because of the quality of the paper and pictures. So on to the story, which is just as beautiful as the physical book. Franny Chapman is eleven in 1962. She practices hiding under her desk for bomb drills, writes a imaginary letter to Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and really just wants peace for everyone. She worries constantly about her family: her big sister Jo Ellen who just started college and now gets secretive letters and never comes home, her dad who is in the Air Force and could have to go fight any moment, her Uncle Otts who lives with them and has begun to have flashbacks of his stint in war, her younger brother who has trouble dealing with the changing and dangerous world that seems to be closing in on them, and her mom and how she is handling all of this. As you can see, Franny has a lot on her plate. So when her best friend stops being her best friend and she realizes she has a crush on her neighbor, things get really complicated for our softspoken protagonist. When the Russian begin to assemble nuclear missiles in Cuba in what is now known as the Cuban missile crisis, Franny can hardly keep it together for her family. With courage she doesn’t even know she has, Franny not only pulls through, but pulls her family through as well.
If you can’t already tell, I love this book. The presentation, the story, the whole package feels like an instant classic. It is a great book to introduce kids to history or historical fiction. A kid could read this alone and get a wealth of information, but I think the best way to read this book would be in conjunction with adult discussion. Wiles lays everything out for the audience, but even I have learned more recently by talking to people who lived through the 1960s.
I am really looking forward to talking to Deborah about her book on Wednesday, the 25th at 5:00 when she comes to sign. Come hear the discussion and join in the fun!
Comments are closed.