In the spring many of our students were doing a project on music of the past decades. Not only did all my books on "Pop Culture of the 50's, 60's, 70,s and 80's" go out but so did "The History of Rock and Roll", "The Beatles", "Elvis", "Bryan Adams" etc. The halls were ringing with old familiar tunes and presentation day brought the look of the decade in clothes and hair! Lots of fun."Countdown" by Deborah Wiles brought October 1962 to life in this documentary novel. Pictures, songs, lifestyle and, most important, the political issues of that time are the backdrop to the life of Franny Chapman for a few days when she is feuding with her best friend, when her sister disappears, when her uncle ends up in the hospital and when Russia and America seem on a collision course involving the blockade of missiles. Do you want to know what that time was like? America really did believe a war might happen and this book made you feel it. But you also connect so strongly to Frannie who doesn't know how to deal with what's going on around her.
What are you reading today?
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