Starred review from January 19, 2015
Set in 1951 Brooklyn, Newbery Medalist Avi’s (Crispin: The Cross of Lead) suspenseful novel shows how seventh-grader Pete Collison deals with persecution and paranoia as he searches for answers about his family’s history. It all starts when rumors, initiated by Pete’s teacher, fly about Pete’s father’s affiliation with the Communist Party. Pete stands up for his father, but his classmates turn against him, his best friend’s parents won’t let her speak to Pete, and an FBI agent seems to be watching his every move. Deciding to find out the truth about his father and the informant who turned him in, Pete follows the methods of his favorite gumshoe, Sam Spade, but the clues Pete uncovers are more confusing than enlightening, and the discoveries he makes about certain relatives could hurt his father’s cause. Authentic period details—such as popular radio programs and the ongoing rivalry between the Dodgers and the Giants—add a colorful backdrop to Pete’s quest as he navigates the murky gray area between truth and fiction. An excellent introduction to the frenzy of the McCarthy era. Ages 8–12. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman.
January 15, 2015
How does loyalty to country, to family and to the local baseball team define one's life?Pete is a typical seventh-grade Brooklyn boy until the Red Scare of the early 1950s upends his life. Instead of just playing punchball and fervently following the Brooklyn Dodgers on the radio, Pete finds himself trying to unravel the politics of his family history, one filled with Communist Party joiners and sympathizers. The FBI labels his father a red sympathizer and is trying to find his missing grandfather, who went to Russia in the 1930s, by turning family members into informers. Pete's teacher, as easily swayed as so many others, turns the class against him, and his best friend, a girl, is forbidden to talk to him. In an act of rebellion, he embraces New York's other National League baseball team, the Giants. He also enjoys reading Dashiell Hammett's novels about Sam Spade and thinks in the detective's voice, hoping that someday he, too, will be a "hard-boiled detective." Avi builds Pete's story, told in the first person, with page-turning tension and memorable characters that will leave readers with a strong sense of the insidious power wielded by the FBI and McCarthyites. A thought-provoking story about suspicion, trust and a memorable pennant race from a one-time Brooklyn boy. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 9-12)
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Starred review from March 1, 2015
Gr 4-6-Pete Collison's dad is a commie sympathizer: that's the accusation Pete's teacher makes in front of his entire seventh grade class. It's 1951 Brooklyn, during the height of the Red Scare, so Pete is instantly shunned at school, his best friend avoids him, and the only person who wants to talk to him is an FBI agent. Unsure of whom to trust, Pete decides to emulate his detective hero Sam Spade. He will investigate his father's past-could his dad really be a communist?-and find out who reported his family to the FBI. Avi, a master of historical fiction, vividly recreates not only the neighborhoods and pop culture of period Brooklyn, but the runaway paranoia that dominated daily life in the early years of the Cold War. With each clue Pete uncovers, the tension picks up, engaging readers in solving the dual mystery of his father's past and identifying his accuser whose name is kept a well-concealed surprise until the last moment. In clever digressions, detective Pete mentally rewrites mundane observations with hard-boiled hyperbole. He describes the sunlight in his bedroom: "It didn't promise much and left early." Strong supporting characters add subtle but important details about a period in American history that may not be fully studied in classrooms. Insightful readers will pick up on warnings about the abuse of government power. VERDICT As a mystery, historical fiction, and love letter to 1950s Brooklyn, this novel succeeds on every level.-Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY
Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2015
Grades 4-7 Avi's latest is a well-weighted look at how global political tensions can tear apart workaday citizens. Pete, 12, is your average red-blooded kid in 1951: obsessed with baseball and lurid crime magazines. But one day his teacher insinuates that Pete's father is a Communist, and almost overnight, his friends reject him, best-pal Kat isn't allowed to speak to him, and an FBI agent begins bugging Pete to be an informer. In a rich thematic twist, Pete succumbs to Cold War paranoia until he begins to suspect his own family. Is his dad a Red? And who else? Avi bobs through a Sputnik-paced plot, alternating Pete's wide-eyed first-person prose with italicized descriptions in the hard-boiled voice of Pete's imaginary-detective alter ego. Each clue and subsequent interrogations come so quickly that they can be numbing, occasionally rubbing the characterizations a bit thin. But it's an involving, twisty mystery, grounded by the palpable emotional threat of Pete's father being taken away. An accomplished historical mystery by one of kid lit's most reliable craftspeople.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)
March 1, 2015
"Hey, Pete, that true about your parents?" Big Toby's question refers to their seventh-grade teacher's assertion that Pete Collison's father is a Communist, and that all good Americans -- kids included -- have the "patriotic duty to make sure reds, Commie symps, fellow travelers, and pinkos, un-Americans, don't infiltrate our lives." All of a sudden, classmates won't let Pete play punchball at recess, his friend Kat avoids him, and he starts getting strange phone calls at home. It's 1951: the Korean War is raging, Senator Joseph McCarthy's power is on the rise, and the FBI is investigating Pete's father's past association with the Communist Party. When Mr. Collison is eventually called to testify before the Subversive Activities Control Board, Pete, who loves reading Dashiell Hammett, decides to do his own investigation into his father's past, spouting (too many) Sam Spade-like similes along the way ("a detective with nothing to detect is like a fish living in a tree") and unwittingly making matters worse. Avi's tale of one Brooklyn family living in a time of intolerance effectively explores the natures of suspicion, loyalty, and freedom, following a young protagonist who comes to learn the importance of freedom of speech and "staying true to your own thoughts." dean schneider
(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)