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A review by librariandest
Countdown by Deborah Wiles
5.0
Wow, what an experience this "documentary" novel is! The novel is broken up by photos, quotes, and essays from and about the 1960s. I thought it sounded kind of gimmicky, but it really brought the period alive in my imagination as I was reading. Well done, sirs and madams of Scholastic.
I'm giving this a full five stars for the combination of the originality of the design and the solid, compelling storytelling. The story is driven by Frannie's fear of nuclear annihilation combined with everyday growing up stuff. Frannie's older sister seems to have a secret life that Franny decides to investigate a la Nancy Drew. Franny's uncle suffers from PTSD and draws unwanted attention to her family. Franny has trouble with her best friend and crush on a boy at school. All the while the country is collectively holding its breath while JFK contemplates nuclear war.
I actually read another children's book recently that deals with the Cuban Missile Crisis ([b:This Means War|6659577|This Means War!|Ellen Wittlinger|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275781716s/6659577.jpg|6854331] by Ellen Wittlinger), and this one was much, much better. My only criticism of Countdown is that the mechanics during the climax of the book didn't logically make sense to me. Franny gets caught up in a scary situation, and I didn't really understand how it happened. It didn't take away from the overall quality of the storytelling, though.
I'm giving this a full five stars for the combination of the originality of the design and the solid, compelling storytelling. The story is driven by Frannie's fear of nuclear annihilation combined with everyday growing up stuff. Frannie's older sister seems to have a secret life that Franny decides to investigate a la Nancy Drew. Franny's uncle suffers from PTSD and draws unwanted attention to her family. Franny has trouble with her best friend and crush on a boy at school. All the while the country is collectively holding its breath while JFK contemplates nuclear war.
I actually read another children's book recently that deals with the Cuban Missile Crisis ([b:This Means War|6659577|This Means War!|Ellen Wittlinger|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275781716s/6659577.jpg|6854331] by Ellen Wittlinger), and this one was much, much better. My only criticism of Countdown is that the mechanics during the climax of the book didn't logically make sense to me. Franny gets caught up in a scary situation, and I didn't really understand how it happened. It didn't take away from the overall quality of the storytelling, though.