War and Watermelon
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
It's the summer of 1969. We've just landed on the moon, the Vietnam War is heating up, the Mets are beginning their famous World Series run, and Woodstock is rocking upstate New York. Down in New Jersey, twelve-year-old Brody is mostly concerned with the top ten hits on the radio and how much playing time he'll get on the football team. But when he goes along for the ride to Woodstock with his older brother and sees the mass of humanity there, he starts to wake up to the world around him-a world that could take away the brother he loves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brody Winslow narrates a month in his life in 1969, just as he's about to start seventh grade in suburban New Jersey. Neil Armstrong landed on the moon a month earlier, the Vietnam War is raging, and Brody's beloved older brother, Ryan, will turn 18 and become eligible for the draft in less than 30 days. The central conflict is between Brody's father and Ryan, who resists applying to college because he's not ready, but has no alternative to being drafted. Even Brody understands how high the stakes are: "It's not like he can stop the calendar from turning just by ignoring it." As Brody reports his anxiety over the familial tension, he relates his budding interest in girls and his shaky spot on the rec league football team. Wallace's (the Kickers series) slice-of-life tale doesn't entirely capitalize on its material the life and death choices teens in Ryan's era had to make but a trip to Woodstock and a less successful venture to Shea Stadium to see the improbably streaking Mets firmly ground Brody's narrative in the period. Ages 10 up.
