Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Bibliography: 

Wiles, D. (2013). Countdown. Scholastic Inc.

Plot Summary: 

The story of a formative year in 12-year-old Franny Chapman's life, and the life of a nation facing the threat of nuclear war. Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it seems that the whole country is living in fear. When President Kennedy goes on television to say that Russia is sending nuclear missiles to Cuba, it only gets worse. Franny doesn't know how to deal with what's going on in the world -- no more than she knows how to deal with what's going on with her family and friends. But somehow she's got to make it through. Featuring a captivating story interspersed with footage from 1962, award-winning author Deborah Wiles has created a documentary novel that will put you right alongside Franny as she navigates a dangerous time in both her history and history.

Critical Analysis:

I chose to read this book as an audiobook and I'm thinking that's the way to go with this book. It has so many cool sound-bites that make it seem so real!

This just might be my all-time-favorite audio book! It was wonderful! Frannie is a 5th grade girl living in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis in a suburb of D.C. While the book certainly is a kid-friendly history lesson on the early 1960s, it also has a story line dealing with friendships and relationships, both within families and with close friends.

I would love to do this with interested PAT/higher level readers that are interested in historical fiction. There are so many great investigations that kids could explore that would be related to the time period of the book. I would also love to have the kids listen to it, while following along in the physical book.

Review Excerpt: 

Booklist (starred review)

Wiles skillfully keeps many balls in the air, giving readers a story that appeals across the decades as well as offering enticing paths into the history.

Horn Book (starred review)

The larger story...told here in an expert coupling of text and design, is how life endures, even triumphs, no matter how perilous the times

Publisher's Weekly (starred review) 

Wiles palpably recreates the fear kids felt when air-raid sirens and duck-and-cover drills were routine...this story is sure to strike a chord with those living through tough times today

Connections:

Do the whole Sixties Trilogy by Deborah Wiles - Great Book Club books

Background information about the 1960s:  https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1960s.html

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on the Cuban Missile Crisis, where you can listen to Kennedy’s speech to the nation, October 22, 1962:   http://www.jfklibrary.org/jfkl/cmc/cmc_calendar_map.html