The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages
Historical fiction
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Feynman, Jim Ottaviani & Leland Myrick
Graphic nonfiction
Booktalk: This week we have a double feature: two books about the invention of the atomic bomb during World War II.
Our first book is the novel The Green Glass Sea. Dewey, a big-time science geek, is thrilled when her father is assigned to Los Alamos, New Mexico to work on the atomic bomb. She figures everyone else there will be scientists’ kids who are just as excited about math and experiments as she is, but she quickly figures out that her new classmates are just like the old ones: they just want to talk about movie stars while Dewey would rather hang out at the dump looking for parts for her inventions. When Dewey’s dad has to go to Washington D.C., Dewey is stuck staying with the nastiest girl at school. She and Suze will have to figure out how to get along – and how to share the attentions of Suze’s scientist mom – if they’re going to make it through the war in one piece.
Up next is Feynman, a graphic novel biography of Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist – and a great
comedic writer, to boot. Drawing on Feynman’s own writing, this book combines plenty of math and physics with funny anecdotes about Feynman’s life at work and at home. Feynman shows us that scientists work hard AND play hard, and it’s a great read about a fascinating person.
Similar titles: Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb is a great nonfiction pairing, if you haven’t read it yet. For another book about life on the home front, read the real-life diary Home Front Girl (92 MOR)