White Sands, Red Menace

By Ellen Klages

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Era: Post-WWII America

In this sequel to The Green Glass Sea, science nut Dewey is living with her friend Suze's family, the Gordons, after her father is killed. The whole group was working on the atomic bombs that were dropped in Japan and now that the war is over, Mr. Gordon brings the family to the town of Alamogordo, New Mexico to experiment on German V-2 rockets and see if they can be sent into space. Suze and Dewey try to settle into a new town, uncomfortable with how the world seems to be viewing atomic power as something to embrace, not as something that destroyed people and lives. And while tensions rise between Mr. and Mrs. Gordon and how they disagree about the atomic bomb and its ability to change the world, Suze and Dewey learn about prejuidice, romance and the meaning of family in this small New Mexican town. A slow-moving but involving story about an often overlooked time in American history.