I’ve researched the atomic bomb from many different angles, but never from this one. “The Green Glass Sea” is told from the perspective of the children who live in Los Alamos, whose parents are the scientists who built the bomb.
Dewey Kerrigan is nearly eleven when she comes to Los Alamos. Her father has been away working for the Army for years, and her mother abandoned them when Dewey was just a baby, so Dewey has been living with her grandmother. But when her grandmother has a stroke, Dewey comes to live with her father on The Hill, as Los Alamos is called by those who live there.
Suze Gordon has lived on The Hill for some time, but that doesn’t mean she fits in there. Heavier than the other girls and not as fashionable, she’s teased relentlessly. When Screwy Dewey, the new girl, comes along, Suze thinks that if she teases Dewey like the other girls do, then she’ll fit in better.
Dewey’s father and Suze’s mother work together in the lab, and when Dewey’s father is sent to Germany to help decode some plans, it makes sense, to the parents, for Dewey to come stay at the Gordon’s house. Both girls hate the plan, but the more time they are forced to spend together, the better friends they become. When Dewey’s father is accidentally killed, the Gordons tell her she can stay with them indefinitely. Together they make a trip out to the Trinity site and see the devastation left by the test, and together they wonder just what will happen when the bomb is dropped.
I enjoyed this look at history from a different perspective. I learned a great deal and was entertained as well. While this book is labeled as being for younger readers, I’d call it a young adult novel, and one that parents would appreciate as well. It does have a small amount of language, but nothing I found offensive.
(This book was published in 2006 by Viking.)
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