BIBLIOGRAPHY
Klages, Ellen. The Green Glass Sea.2006.Read by Julie Dretzin.Recorded Books, LLC.2007. ISBN-10: 1428146393 ISBN-13: 978-1428146396

PLOT SUMMARY
Dewey Gordon is a ten-year-old girl who loves inventing electronic devices and reads a book for boys about mechanics. Her father, a Harvard mathematician, is working for the government on a top secret project, so Dewey is living with her grandmother. Her grandmother suffers a stroke, so Dewey is shipped out on a train to meet up with her father in Los Alamos, New Mexico – a top secret location that does not exist on the map. With apprehension, Dewey worries about the unknown until she is reunited with her dad. She finds a wonderful place that is a treasure trove of discarded electronics in the dump yard for her inventions, and she realizes she is the happiest she has ever been.

Suze Gordon is another girl who lives on “the Hill”, which is what they call Los Alamos, where both of her parents are scientists – working on the same project as Dewey’s dad. Due to Dewey’s dad being called to Washington for meetings the girls are brought together and Dewey will be staying with the Gordon’s until her dad comes back to “the Hill”. This does not make Suze happy, since Dewey is considered a strange girl and she doesn’t want to have to be associated with her. Suze is not as popular as she would like to be and eventually the girls become friends. They share a unique life during a very changing world.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The Green Glass Sea is an awesome historical fiction story. I believe this should be incorporated in school curriculum required readings, not just for middle school, but also for high school. The facts about World War II, the Manhattan Project and the sacrifices that these scientists and their families experienced can be compared to events that we are faced with during the present. The struggles that children go through coming of age, trying to find out who they want to be, while dealing with the pressures of peers and family, are the same for each generation.

Ellen Klages’ writing helped me to understand the frustrations of the living conditions in Los Alamos, the quality-of-life in general during this time, the music, and the cars. I was also able to understand the frustrations of the scientists while making the bomb, as well as the controversy they endured over the ramifications and repercussions of making something so powerful. This is a very powerful book which caused me to experience so many emotions including laughter, anger, surprise, new knowledge and tears. I will encourage the reading of this book.

I chose this book in unabridged audio format. I was very pleased with Julie Dretzin’s performance in narration. She brought the characters alive by expressing their personalities, experiences, emotions and the setting of the story through her talent as a story teller.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8–Two girls spend a year in Los Alamos as their parents work on the secret gadget that will end World War II. Dewey is a mechanically minded 10-year-old who gets along fine with the scientists at the site, but is teased by girls her own age. When her mathematician father is called away, she moves in with Suze, who initially detests her new roommate. The two draw closer, though, and their growing friendship is neatly set against the tenseness of the Los Alamos compound as the project nears completion. Clear prose brings readers right into the unusual atmosphere of the secretive scientific community, seen through the eyes of the kids and their families. Dewey is an especially engaging character, plunging on with her mechanical projects and ignoring any questions about gender roles. Occasional shifts into first person highlight the protagonist's most emotional moments, including her journey to the site and her reaction to her father's unexpected death. After the atomic bomb test succeeds, ethical concerns of both youngsters and adults intensify as the characters learn how it is ultimately used. Many readers will know as little about the true nature of the project as the girls do, so the gradual revelation of facts is especially effective, while those who already know about Los Alamos's historical significance will experience the story in a different, but equally powerful, way.–Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In November 1943, 10-year-old budding inventor Dewey Kerrigan sets off on a cross-country train ride to be with her father, who is engaged in "war work." She is busy designing a radio when a fellow passenger named Dick Feynman offers to help her. Feynman's presence in this finely wrought first novel is the first clue that Dewey is headed for Los Alamos. The mystery and tension surrounding "war work" and what Dewey knows only as "the gadget" trickles down to the kids living in the Los Alamos compound, who often do without adult supervision. Although disliked by her girl classmates, "Screwy Dewey" enjoys Los Alamos. There are lots of people to talk with about radios (including "Oppie"), and she has the wonderful opportunity to dig through the nearby dump for discarded science stuff. However, when Dewey's father leaves for Washington, she is left to fend off the biggest bully in Los Alamos. The novel occasionally gets mired down in detail, but the characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for history classes. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

CONNECTIONS
Ellen Klages
http://www.ellenklages.com/
Sequel to The Green Glass Sea
Klages, Ellen. White Sand, Red Menace. ISBN-10: 0670062359 ISBN-13: 978-0670062355
Nonfiction Science Books
Klages, Ellen. The Science Explorer. (with Pat Murphy, et. al.). ISBN-10: 0805045369 ISBN-13: 978-0805045369
Klages, Ellen. The Science Explorer Out and About.(with Pat Murphy, et. al.). ISBN-10: 0805045376 ISBN-13: 978-0805045376



AWARDS/HONORS
Winner, 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Winner, 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature
Winner, 2007 New Mexico State Book Award (YA)
Finalist, 2007 Quill Awards (Young Adult)
Finalist, Northern California Book Awards, 2007 (Children's)
Finalist, Locus Awards, 2007 (Best First Novel)
Book Sense #1 Children's Pick - Winter 2006/2007
One Book, One Nebraska for Kids - 2009
2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award Master List, (Illinois)
2008 NeNe Award List (Hawaii)
2008 Bluegrass Award Master List (Kentucky)
2007-08 Maine Student Book Award List
2007-08 Isinglass Teen Read List (New Hampshire)
2009 Rhode Island Teen Book Award List
2008-09 South Carolina Junior Book Award List
Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly
Starred Review in The Horn Book
A Horn Book Fanfare selection
A Junior Library Guild selection
A Scholatic Book Club selection