The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit

Told in first person plural, TaraShea Nesbit’s The Wives of Los Alamos is an unusual book about an unusual time in American history, the development of the atomic bomb during WWII. This book needs an unusual reader, too.  Basically, it should be someone who is willing to embrace the novel’s collective voice – and that does take some getting used to since it describes the individual experiences as if they were all shared.  Booklist’s starred review says that what this novel achieves “with no real plot and no real main character is astounding.” Here is an excerpt:

“Some of our husbands left first. We watched them disappear into train terminals, through the doors of unmarked black sedans, down airport runways, and we were left behind, overwhelmed. We called our friends from the phone booth and they met us at the train station or at our house with a loaf of bread, or a chicken casserole and a flask….We wanted to tell them everything we knew and everything we worried about – how scared we were and how excited.  We wanted to ask their advice about what to bring to the Southwest – dresses, shoes, lotions – but we could not.”

The author, a professor of creative writing and literature, said that one of her goals in writing this book was to encourage her readers to learn more about the research efforts for the atomic bomb.  She succeeded with me!  I explored several articles and books, including the award winning Bomb by Steve Sheinkin. And while it helped to have some perspective on the scientific work, I was totally intrigued by TaraShea Nesbit’s insights into the difficulties faced by these young, generally well-educated wives who were sent to the desert and kept from fully sharing in their husbands’ work. Ever since I read a preview copy of The Wives of Los Alamos, I have been recommending the book to faculty –someone even ordered it for her own mother-in-law who had been at Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the 1940s.

I have also asked students to consider The Wives of Los Alamos for Junior Theme.  As Nesbit says,“It would be great if readers notice parallels between these women and that time and the present day” and that is exactly one of our essential questions.

I have mentioned elsewhere suggestions for students that focus on war and the 20^th century.  The images of the isolated “town” in The Wives of Los Alamos had me recalling When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka.  In addition, students could easily choose from (or pair with) recent publications like War Brides by Helen Bryan (2012) and A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith (2014).  These last two books, while written in a more conventional voice, also tell the story of groups of women reacting to war-time issues (surviving on the WWII home front in Britain and WWI Gold Star mothers travelling back to France in the 1930s, respectively). Overall, I would highly recommend Nesbit’s book, both for book groups (its amazon page has some discussion questions) and literature circles. It is sure to spark conversation about moral issues, including privacy and secrecy, about women’s roles, about forming community at wartime, and about its own literary style.

Two recommended reads

The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight by Jennifer Smith is fresh, even frothy and whimsical, despite dealing with difficult family issues, including a parent’s second marriage.  I agree with the School Library Journal review which said, "This novel has a simple premise, but it is packed with detail, emotion, and likable characters." 

 

An incredibly quick read, I enjoyed the teasing dialogue between the two main characters, could certainly feel as though I was aboard the airplane, and envied the travels through London.   The European setting is reminiscent of Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes, but Jennifer Smith intersperses flashbacks and limits her story to an eventful 24 hours or so.

High school in the States is the setting for the soon to be published (March 11) Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski. I laughed over this book, initially choosing to read it because of the "goofy" premise: "We used to be average NYC sophomores. Until our homeroom went for flu shots and suddenly we could hear what everyone was thinking."  Sound silly?  It is, but it also effectively causes the reader to pause and think about those "secrets" we may not want to share and others' thoughts we may not want to hear.  This is a very funny, entertaining book.  

Pick up either one when you are looking for something light. Both of these titles will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, Catherine Murdock, and Meg Cabot. The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight is on this year’s list of nominees for the Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award.  I hope that Mlynowski’s Don’t Even Think about It makes the nominee list in the future, too.

Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson

     Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson continues the story of Jeremiah and Ellie, two teenagers in a relationship that pushed cultural boundaries and levels of acceptance, even in progressive New York City.  Unfortunately, tragedy befalls Miah, which, in turns, impacts so many who loved Miah. 

     The silver lining of tragedy is that it brings people together, and may establish and/or strengthens bonds.  Ellie finds comfort and a special friendship with Carlton, a good friend of Miah, and a renewed, special relationship with Miah’s mother. The grief they experience is raw, yet,around their sadness, glimmers of hope can be heard in their words because of what and who they are to each other.     

     The voice of others close to Miah are heard, and these, too, are real, true to themselves, and reflect the experiences and realities to which we, the reader, can relate. Woodson’s stories may appear to be limiting or superficial, yet the depth of emotion, realism, and humanity lies in each chapter, and, many times, within each sentence. 

Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris

     Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris continues to hone his craft of storytelling, writing, and his sense of humor that is witty, sarcastic, and simply funny.  Sedaris finds himself in some situations that most people can relate to on some level, such as when he is forced to play baseball as a kid when he is simply not interested.  Then, he has encounters that are hard to imagine, yet written with just enough description to visual the people and settings, and are ripe for the funny conversations or circumstances that follow.  David Sedaris has a hit a home-run with this collection of essays!    

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I wanted to like this book and looked forward to reading it.  I thought I would be recommending it to students and I will, only not as enthusiastically as the reviews had led me to expect.  Certainly students who enjoyed the Hunger Games series or Divergent or the Game of Thrones will likely want to read this series, too.  The emphasis on color will make for a great movie and there will be interest. At 382 pages and with much specialized language, it is not for everyone. I personally found it to have too much emphasis on violence and cruelty between classes.  If you have read and enjoyed the series mentioned above and are looking for something else to read, look for Ender’s Game by Card, Wool by Howey or The Martian by Weir. In addition, try Red Rising by Pierce Brown and let me know what you think.

                                                        

App Generation by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis

I tried a couple of times to read The App Generation and to grapple with the points that Gardner and Davis were making. However, I struggled with the text – perhaps because I had high expectations due to Gardner’s involvement.  To me, it was overly critical of today’s youth (as they admit themselves on page 166), calling them "risk adverse, dependent and superficial." I most objected to the way in which they seemed to stereotype kids and how they would use apps.

I wish instead of whining about the use of technology that the authors had taken a less academic and more celebratory tone.   For example, on page 171 they note the "many young people lament the absence of effective mentors," but did not really fill that role themselves.  I was surprised to not see more comments about the growth of entrepreneurial studies like the Institute of Design at Stanford and other universities – just this week Georgetown announced a new cross-disciplinary innovation hub.  

It was near the end of the book (pages 180 and 181) that they explicitly noted two “features newly enabled by the new media.” Specifically, the authors note "the chance to initiate and fashion one’s own products…" and "the capacity to make use of diverse forms of understanding…." I do wish they could have seen the pride in the eyes and body language of several Special Education students with whom I work as they completed their projects on Brain Research, using Smore.com to summarize their findings and as a guide for their subsequent classroom presentations.  Many more links and examples of recent student work would have made for a stronger argument and a MUCH more engaging read.

Ironically, I found it especially hard to read in The App Generation in digital form.  It is the kind of book I would like to leaf through, paging back and forth between the footnotes and the text. I will spend time investigating Project New Media Literacies, but certainly the authors could have easily created an appendix with suggestions for tools to explore as "today’s youth navigate identity, intimacy and imagination in a digital world."