This Is Just a Test

Rosenberg, Madelyn and Wendy Wan-Long Shang. This Is Just a Test. 2017. 244p. ISBN 978-1-338-03772-2. Available at FIC ROS on the library shelves.

As the only Chinese Jew he knows aside from his sister, David Da-Wei Horowitz feels very different from everyone else, especially as he’s preparing his bar mitzvah. David’s mother is Chinese, and her mother lives with them. David’s father is Jewish, and his mother lives a few blocks away from them in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Both grandmothers are always competing against each other to see who can cook the better dish, who can better care for the family, and who is loved more. David feels like a ping pong ball between the two of them, always trying to avoid offending either grandmother. Each grandmother endeavors to win David’s affection but rather successfully manage to embarrass him.

At school, David and best friend Hector are mostly ignored by the others, but when heartthrob Scott asks them to join his school trivia team, David jumps at the chance. He hopes to learn how to talk to the girl he likes, Kelli Ann. The three of them begin getting together to practice. Stressed about the upcoming school trivia tournament, David is also worried about his bar mitzvah, especially since both grandmothers are trying to plan it for him, and it has to top his cousin Jacob’s own celebration last year. However, looming larger in David’s mind is the possibility of nuclear annihilation. In this year 1983, both Americans and Soviets are facing each other in a Cold War, and each side has enough nuclear weapons to achieve mutually assured destruction. David is constantly worried that the bombs are about to fly, especially after watching a television special, The Day After. He decides to help Scott build a nuclear shelter in Scott’s back yard, where there will only be room for two, as Scott finds Hector weird. Can David reconcile his friends and manage to avoid dying of embarrassment at his bar mitzvah, or will the Soviets launch a nuclear attack and end it all?

The stress on children of living in the Cold War is palpable in this entertaining book. For other books representing life during the cold war, take a look either at A Night Divided, another historical book where an oppressive society, in this case East Germany, attempts to control the thoughts of its citizens and how a teenage girl fights back, or at The Enemy, taking place in the United States in the 1950s.

The Enemy

Holbrook, Sara. The Enemy. 2017. 256p. ISBN 978-1-62979-498-3. Available at FIC HOL on the library shelves.

In 1954 Detroit, the enemy is not as far as you think. With only nine years since the end of the Second World War, many survivors of the Nazi concentration camps have relocated to the United States, along with hundred of thousands of displaced persons and refugees. Nazis are still the favored villains for children, but Communists are also gaining ground. In the midst of the Red Scare, being different often means being the subject of intensescrutiny. Twelve-year-old Marjorie Campbell’s father, like most fathers, four in the War, and brought back a dislike of the Germans. Her mother went to college during the war, but thing more than a glorified housewife and is not expected to contribute to society aside from raising her children, Margie and six years old Carol Anne.

At school, Margie is aske dot share her desk in an overcrowded classroom with a new student from Canada, Inga. At first glance, it is clear that Inga is different. Her clothes are worn and shoddy, with a European flair. She wears two braids, when no one else does. She doesn’t speak English, and it soon becomes clear that she and her parents are Germans. Torn between loyalty to her friends and family, and her curiosity for the wider world, Margie has to thread a careful line, for adults and children alike are paranoids and are seeking to stamp the Red Menace wherever it can be found, and being friends with a Nazi is definitively not a reputation enhancer.

Can Margie, who discovers a subversive book titled  1984 at the local library, embrace her inner courage and become friends with Inga despite the obvious danger to her family and her reputation, or will she decide not to rock the boat by remaining safely involved with her group of friends?

An excellent book to understand the fear that grasped the United States in the 1950s, Margie’s story provides a powerful look at how being safe often means allowing evil to take place. Fans of Margie’s story should take a look at A Night Divided, another historical book where an oppressive society, in this case East Germany, attempts to control the thoughts of its citizens and how a teenage girl fights back.

Military Jets Up Close

Jackson, Robert. Military Jets Up Close. Part of the Military Technology: Top Secret Clearance series. 2016. 224p. ISBN 978-1-5081-7080-8. Available at 623.74 JAC on the library shelves.

Near the end of the Second World War, the Nazis’ engineers had produced the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first true military fighter jet, which ushers in the age of air power. Now aircrafts move faster than the speed of sound and can reach deep in enemy territories to seek and destroy targets.

As nations begin developing faster and better jets, they also seek to gain an edge over enemy nations. Locked in a cold war, Americans and Soviet engineers develop ever more sophisticated aircrafts capable of dominating the air above armies and navies. This book presents, in alphabetical order, fifty of the main military jets of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, with a focus on American and Western planes. Illustrated with well-rendered 360-degree computer designed images, each of the jet is shown in seven different views: front and back, right side, left side, top and bottom. An actual picture of each airplane is also included.

Fans of military history and of military gear will appreciate the description and the history as well as advanced specifications for each jet.