Joanna, a latchkey kid whose father left when she was four, now feels abandoned by her beloved brother Sam, who joined the navy four months earlier. Hurt and sulking, she refuses to answer his letters. Meanwhile, she deals with her anxiety about burglars, hangs out with her best friend, and bickers with her mother about wearing makeup and attending boy-girl parties. But when the Cold War heats up during the week of the Cuban missile crisis, Joanna worries about her brother's safety as well as her own. As true to the period as the many references to 1960s songs and TV shows, the intensifying fear of nuclear war affects adults as well as Joanna and her friends during the seven-day span of the novel. In an author's note, Rosengren relates that her experiences as a 12-year-old during the Cuban missile crisis inspired the book. This accessible novel portrays a young character living through a national crisis that precipitates personal growth.

Gr 4-6 Joanna, a sixth grader, is a normal girl living an ordinary life with the usual tween concerns in 1962. Her overblown, fear-filled imagination causes her to think that a new elderly neighbor is a witch with evil intentions. She imagines that a loud noise means a burglar might be breaking into her apartment. Played against her active imagination is the very real threat of nuclear war. She's concerned for her older brother who is in the Navy and whose ship might be part of the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Unfortunately, Joanna's personal story isn't enriched by larger context or details about the Cuban missile crisis. Her constant fearful responses to radio and newspaper reports, while understandable, will not translate to readers unfamiliar with the historic events. VERDICT An additional purchase, best used after reading a nonfiction account of the Cuban missile crisis. Lillian Hecker, Town of Pelham Public Library, NY