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Summary
Summary
Day after day, Hugh looks for signs of German spies. It seems like a harmless way to spend time'at least at first.
It's the summer of 1943 and America is at war. Eleven-year-old Hugh and his family are spending the summer on the South Carolina coast. Day after day Hugh scans the Atlantic Ocean through his binoculars, looking for signs of enemy activity.
Then one day Hugh sees something in the water that looks like a periscope. Later he plucks a black bag out of the surf. Inside is a crudely drawn map. Then one night he spots a light flashing from the cupola at the top of an abandoned beach house. Have enemy soldiers invaded the coastline?
Set against the backdrop of the home front during World War II, Elise Weston's dramatic adventure will draw readers in with its exciting blend of mystery and history. Young people will also respond to the sympathetic protagonist who learns that war is not a distant and exciting game, but a grim reality involving real people and real danger.
Author Notes
Day after day, Hugh looks for signs of German spies. It seems like a harmless way to spend time...at least at first.
It's the summer of 1943 and America is at war. Eleven-year-old Hugh and his family are spending the summer on the South Carolina coast. Day after day Hugh scans the Atlantic Ocean through his binoculars, looking for signs of enemy activity.
Then one day Hugh sees something in the water that looks like a periscope. Later he plucks a black bag out of the surf. Inside is a crudely drawn map. Then one night he spots a light flashing from the cupola at the top of an abandoned beach house. Have enemy soldiers invaded the coastline?
Set against the backdrop of the home front during World War II, Elise Weston's dramatic adventure will draw readers in with its exciting blend of mystery and history. Young people will also respond to the sympathetic protagonist who learns that war is not a distant and exciting game, but a grim reality involving real people and real danger.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-It is 1943 and Hugh and his family escape a polio epidemic by leaving Charleston for the South Carolina seashore for the summer. While there, the 11-year-old considers it his duty to watch for any signs of enemy activity. He becomes suspicious after seeing what he believes to be a periscope off the coast, finding German cigarettes, and stumbling across an unreadable map. When no one believes him, he goes out on his own to discover if the town has been secretly infiltrated. At times, it feels as though the author is compelled to get in as much background information surrounding WWII as possible. This may become a slight distraction for some readers, but the simple, flowing story will still appeal to reluctant readers, and boys, especially, will connect to the protagonist. An author's note gives more specific details about what occurred on American coastlines at this time. An enjoyable historical novel.-Christine McGinty, Newark Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Eleven-year-old Hugh spends his summer watching for Nazis off the South Carolina coast. After spotting a periscope, Hugh firmly believes he's on the trail of German spies from a nearby POW camp, but no one believes him. The climactic scene happens offstage, which significantly lessens its impact, and a polio subplot feels tacked on to this by-the-numbers story. An author's note provides some history. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. It's 1943, and 11-year-old Hugh and his family are spending the summer on the South Carolina\b coastline to avoid the war and the polio epidemic. Hugh spends time watching the Atlantic through binoculars, pretending to look for signs of the enemy. Then he actually sees the enemy--lots of them--and the game becomes far too real. At first, he only thinks he sees a periscope in the water, but as the clues amass, he becomes sure that Germans are hiding in an abandoned house nearby. His parents and his sister think his obsession with the war has gone too far, but he is determined to prove them wrong. Weston's account of a boy foiling a German plot to destroy the Charleston Naval Base is less ludicrous than it sounds, though it has its unbelievable moments. In fact, it's a tautly woven story that blends an intriguing mystery with historical significance. The details of the war's impact on average Americans are seamlessly interwoven into the plot, giving the story classroom possibilities. --Krista Hutley Copyright 2005 Booklist
