Countdown [Hardcover]

 

 

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Reason for Reading: I enjoy historical fiction but the amount of photographs and media images in the book was what intrigued me the most.

If anybody had told me I was going to absolutely love a book that's main historical setting was the Cuban Missile Crisis I would have said "Sorry, I don't even read that kind of political book" then the next thing I'd say would be "BTW, what is the Cuban Missile Crisis?"

The book takes place over the last few weeks in October, 1962 and is somewhat autobiographical using the author's personal life and memories to tell the story of growing up in the sixties. Taking the author's place is Franny Chapman, an ordinary girl with a little brother who can do no wrong in her parents' eyes. It's the story of Franny's life; her best friend is starting to avoid her and becoming friends with a girl whose mother is divorced who Franny is not allowed to have anything to do with. Her uncle, great uncle really, lives with them as he raised her father, but he is slipping into dementia, calls everyone soldier and is embarrassing the whole family to the neighbourhood. Franny's father is in the Air Force and always going off on trips seeming never to be there when the worst family crises arise. Franny's older sister, who is in college, is up to something mysterious, something she has disagreed with their mother about, and then one night she just doesn't come back home.

The background is the height of the cold war. The children are inundated with the "duck and cover" routine should a nuclear bomb hit. They have practice drills and watch in class movies to make sure that instinctively they know what to do. The Bay of Pigs has ended and there is talk of the Russians attacking with a nuclear bomb. Then President Kennedy comes on the TV and explains the situation in Cuba involving the Russians and nuclear missiles aimed at the United States. The media quickly label this the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also spread throughout the book are the rumblings of the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. As the book ends, I believe the set up has been made that the background of the second book will be Civil Rights.

The story is just simply fantastic. I read the book in a day as I just couldn't put it down. The relationships between all the children were very real and the attitudes and lifestyle of the sixties shone through making the story very authentic. A very unique aspect of this book, which has been called a "documentary novel" is that in the middle of the ongoing story it will suddenly turn to a non-fiction essay on a person who has been mentioned. These are very interesting and flow right along with the story feeling perfectly natural in their placement. We learn of both Jack and Jackie Kennedy this way, along with Harry S. Truman, Pete Seeger, Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer and others.

What makes this book truly amazing though is the combination of text with photographs and graphic media. Every so often, there is a graphic section which enhances the story telling through photographs, quotes, headlines, cartoons, posters, song lyrics and much more. These follow the storyline and political events are introduced through the graphic media before it becomes a part of the textual story which really enhances and makes clear the understanding of otherwise potentially difficult topics. But the photos also just immerse you in the culture and era with sports events, space accomplishments, popular singers and stark photos of reality.

I've never read anything quite like this before and think the combination of text and media has been put together brilliantly and with a compelling, well-written story this is a fantastic book. I am eagerly await the second book!

It's 1962. It's all about your collection of 45's, boy/girl parties, TV dinners, and McDonald's. JFK is president, the Civil Rights Movement is just beginning, and Communists are evil.

Franny is eleven years old and in the fifth grade. She has an older sister who is just starting college and a younger brother who dreams of becoming an astronaut. Her father is an Air Force pilot who flies out of Andrews Air Force Base, her mother is a busy, bossy homemaker, and her Uncle Otts is crazy.

As Franny struggles to make her way through fifth grade, she has the added challenge of dealing with the fear of every American - the threat of nuclear war. Bomb shelters and air raid drills are part of daily life in her community. It was bad enough that the Communists were threatening the U.S. from the Soviet Union, but now there's the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Russians have set up shop in Cuba and have installed nuclear missiles. They are pointed at and capable of destroying major cities all over the country.

Life for Franny is all about succeeding in school, pleasing her parents, putting up with the frustration of her siblings and irritable best friends, and at the same time, learning the "duck and cover" drills and survival skills necessary to live through an atomic blast. Life isn't easy for a fifth grader these days.

COUNTDOWN is a fascinating account of one young girl's experience during the early 1960's. Author Deborah Wiles takes readers deep into the time period through Franny's thoughts and emotions. Wiles makes Franny come alive as she describes her fear, her hopes and dreams, her guilt, and her pleasures. Mixed in with her story are factual accounts of the tumultuous times, political speeches, advertisements, and survival instructions that provide an accurate timeline of the period.

COUNTDOWN is history come to life for both teen readers of today and readers who have personal memories of those trying times. Don't miss this one.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

When my 9 year-old daughter said, 'Mom, I don't think I'll ever find a book as good as Countdown,' I pointed out to her that we'd read many books she loved and there would be others. She replied, 'Yeah, but Countdown made me think.' To me this summarizes how powerful this book was in hooking my daughter and me as we were transported to a different era. Interspersed throughout the novel is footage of the events that took place during the Cuba crisis in 1962 as it parallels the momentous events that are also happening in 11 year-old Franny Chapman's life.

Franny is living during the period when John F. Kennedy is president of the USA and the threat of a nuclear war between her country and Russia is very real. So real in fact that they are taught and trained at school what to do in case of a bomb attack. These events affect her family; her father, a pilot in the US army, her uncle, a war veteran who suffers relapses from the 1914 war he fought, her older sister who goes to college and is touched by the radical changes in society, and her Mom who has to keep her cool throughout. In addition, Franny finds herself at odds with Margie, her best friend while trying to deal with school and home issues. The entire story takes place in the span of two suspenseful weeks, and my daughter was addicted. She said she loved imagining what would happen next, and although the ending was not quite what she expected, this book is still one of her favorites.

I want to point out that Franny's mom is a smoker, and I explained to my daughter that in the 60s the dangerous effects of smoking were unknown. Smoking was popular then and was allowed in places not allowed today. Between this topic and all the others brought up in this novel, my daughter and I had many enlightening conversations.

Blending this story with anecdotes, quotes, news coverage and mini-biographies of prominent people of the 1960s made reading this novel unlike any others we have ever read. What a great way to get a history lesson! Deborah Wiles succeeds in bringing this time period to life. We even looked up on the Internet some of the songs mentioned and my kids fell in love with Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Remember that one?

My daughter and I are happy to note that this is the first book in The Sixties Trilogy. We eagerly look forward to the next one. If it's anything like this one, it will be a sure hit.

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