|
 WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?: The Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty: Boston, Massachusetts, 1968
(Dear America)
by Ellen Emerson White
Scholastic
ISBN: 0439148898
Ages 9-14
188 pages
At 15 Molly Flaherty is a typical teenage girl in many ways. She enjoys high school, attends parties, and swoons over rock stars like Jim Morrison of the Doors. She has a crush on a cute boy in her class, and can't wait to turn 16 and get her driver's license. She dreams of attending college and becoming a veterinarian. But like many teenagers growing up in America in the '60s, she also worries about Communism, the threat of nuclear war, and the constant racial conflicts. Most of all, she fears for her older brother, Patrick.
Molly's diary begins with Christmas vacation 1967; Patrick is in Vietnam and the family is anxiously waiting to hear from him. On his 18th birthday, Patrick had volunteered for the marines and was shipped to Southeast Asia to fight in the war. Molly isn't sure how she feels about the Vietnam War, and the divided opinions of her friends and classmates only make her more confused. Sometimes she agrees with antiwar protestors who believe Americans have no business sending troops to fight someone else's war. But when she thinks of Patrick and some of the boys from her neighborhood risking their lives to stop the North Vietnamese Communists from overtaking South Vietnam she feels guilty and disloyal.
As the weeks pass, reports of the horrific battles taking place around Patrick's base at Khe Sanh frighten the whole family. While Patrick's letters to his parents seem cheery and unconcerned, Molly has been receiving secret letters from him that are far more revealing. When Molly takes a volunteer job in a veterans' hospital, she finally comes face to face with the tragic price that many soldiers pay when they go off to war to serve their country.
Ellen Emerson White's fictional account of this turbulent era in America provides an excellent overview of the many emotional and political issues that affected an entire generation of young people. Molly's diary, detailing the historic events that came to a head around 1968, will give readers an appreciation for why this whole decade became such a turning point in American history. The overlapping stories of Molly Flaherty, and her brother Patrick (THE JOURNAL OF PATRICK SEAMUS FLAHERTY) make for a heart wrenching duo and a remarkable addition to the historical fiction series of Dear America and My Name is America.
Back to top.
 THE JOURNAL OF PATRICK SEAMUS FLAHERTY: United States Marine Corps: Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968
(My Name is America)
by Ellen Emerson White
Scholastic
ISBN: 0439148901
Ages 9-14
188 pages
Patrick Flaherty was a star football player in high school and was awarded 3 different scholarships to attend college. When he joined the marines on his 18th birthday, his family felt he was throwing away his future, not to mention risking his life. But Patrick came from a long line of war veterans and he wanted to serve his country in the same honorable way. Unfortunately, he soon found that war was not quite as glamorous as he imagined --- and especially not in Vietnam.
Patrick was assigned to Khe Sanh base on the northern edge of South Vietnam. Overlooking the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that formed the dividing line between North and South Vietnam, the threat of attack by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army was constant. He begins describing life on the front lines in a journal that his father gave him before shipping out, detailing daily routines and humorous stories about the men in his platoon. His journal soon takes on a different tone, as the siege of Khe Sanh begins and the realities of war bear down on the men.
Ellen Emerson White has captured the intense action and powerful emotions of the marines on the front lines, giving readers a clear understanding of the hardships that Americans faced in this war. On the fringes of foggy jungles filled with danger at every step, men had to endure faulty equipment, shortages of food, water, and supplies, and the uncertainty of where the enemy was hiding. A letter from home, a package of cookies, or a clean pair of socks became what they lived for. Patrick's journal reflects the changing tide of the Vietnam War and the disheartening impact of friends dying to hold onto a hill that no one else seemed to care about.
THE JOURNAL OF PATRICK SEAMUS FLAHERTY is complemented by the new Dear America novel, THE DIARY OF MOLLY MACKENZIE FLAHERTY, which tells the story of how young Americans on the home front were reacting to the war effort in Vietnam. Combining the stories of a sister and brother living in this historic time makes for a wonderful reading experience for young people wanting to learn more about the decade of the '60s and the war that had such catastrophic consequences for all Americans.
Back to top.
|
