The Green Glass Sea

The Green Glass Sea

by Ellen Klages 

"Dewey is an especially engaging character, plunging on with her mechanical projects and ignoring any questions

 about gender roles." 

- School Library Journal

"...The characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for 

history classes." 

- Booklist

         THE GREEN GLASS SEA is about a 10 year old girl, Dewey Kerrigan, who has a keen interest in mechanics and engineering; in the opening scenes she is studying a manual to make a radio. After her grandmother has a stroke, she boards a train to Los Alamos, New Mexico - even before this town was on a map, due to it being still top-secret. The year is 1943, and the United States culture was obsessed with winning the war. With no other family to care for her, Dewey travels from St. Louis to New Mexico to join her prestigious scientist father on "the hill". He is working on a project they ominously call "the gadget" meant to end WWII. In this setting, we follow Dewey as she weathers many tribulations of young life, especially as she turns out to be a square peg in a round hole in this military town. She is astute, kind, and able to make a good friend and settle in, despite hating life changes and getting along with the adult scientists better than kids her own age. She is also resilient in the face of trials such as negative encounters with her peers, and the death of her father. The novel also follows the life of Dewey's new best friend, Suze, who also the daughter of a scientist of the "gadget" that remains a mystery - gradually becoming revealed to be significant to world history. The chapters rotate the focus on both Suze and Dewey, so readers come to understand and relate with both characters. On Suze's birthday they visit the site the "gadget" made in the earth, and "stepped out onto the green glass sea. The strange and twisted surface crunched and cracked beneath their feet as if they were walking on braided ice". Thus, the characters faced the ambiguity of the "gadget" - brilliant, beautiful, dangerous, horrific, and literally world-altering. 

      The book contains accuracy on different levels - including historical detail, and emotional precision - in that the emotional portrayal of Dewey and Suze ring true - readers can identify with their trials with their peers and their families.  The historical accuracy comes in part through detail of the location itself - businesses, food, gadgets (such as the radio Dewey is building) and local settings on "the hill" remain a consistent texture within the narrative.

     The book does not include a table of contents, index, or bibliography, but does include an "Author's Notes" section that explains more historical information about the site of the story. The author also suggests some resources for further learning including books, a CD-ROM and a DVD. The author also acknowledges people and places that she is indebted to for the creation of the book. 

     Many children of age to read this novel (around the 4th grade) may not have a lot of previous experience with learning about WWII, the 1940's, or the atomic bomb. This is a good opportunity to teach further on these topics. One fun activity to enrich children's knowledge of this topic is to make a small newspaper. Children - working as "journalists" - must research and write a small column on a topic related to 1940's America. They will write a small column about what is going on. Then, the pieces of writing should be collected, edited, and put in newspaper form, and printed for the children to be proud of and take home. For children who are already studying WWII, this novel is a great tie-in for a history lesson about WWII and the atomic bomb. Children can be divided into teams to research both side of the issue. Ask children to consider if the atomic bomb have been dropped in Japan to end the war. After children have researched both sides of the issue, they can present factors in debate style. The conversation could be open or moderated, but should allow for children to think critically about the issue and change their minds at any time. This can be followed by a short paper or further research into this war ethics question. 

       The Green Glass Sea has received many awards and accolades including the 2007 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature, and the 2007 New Mexico State Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Klages, Ellen. The Green Glass Sea. New York, NY: Viking, 2006. ISBN 978670061341