Anthem (Sixties Trilogy #3)
by Deborah Wiles (Author)
From two-time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles, the remarkable story of two cousins who must take a road trip across American in 1969 in order to let a teen know he's been drafted to fight in Vietnam. Full of photos, music, and figures of the time, this is the masterful story of what it's like to be young and American in troubled times.
It's 1969.
Molly is a girl who's not sure she can feel anything anymore, because life sometimes hurts way too much. Her brother Barry ran away after having a fight with their father over the war in Vietnam. Now Barry's been drafted into that war - and Molly's mother tells her she has to travel across the country in an old schoolbus to find Barry and bring him home.
Norman is Molly's slightly older cousin, who drives the old schoolbus. He's a drummer who wants to find his own music out in the world - because then he might not be the normal Norman that he fears he's become. He's not sure about this trip across the country . . . but his own mother makes it clear he doesn't have a choice.
Molly and Norman get on the bus - and end up seeing a lot more of America that they'd ever imagined. From protests and parades to roaring races and rock n' roll, the cousins make their way to Barry in San Francisco, not really knowing what they'll find when they get there.
As she did in her other epic novels Countdown and Revolution, two-time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles takes the pulse of an era . . . and finds the multitude of heartbeats that lie beneath it.
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Publishers Weekly
In this conclusion to Wiles's Sixties Trilogy, which riffs on the music of the era, two cousins, Molly and Norman, head from Charleston to San Francisco in June 1969. They're trying to locate Molly's missing brother, Barry, who left after a fight with their father over U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and has now been summoned by letter to report for his pre-draft physical. As in her first two volumes, Countdown and Revolution, Wiles's prodigious research informs the narrative, and each of five sections is introduced with photomontages, excerpts from news stories and speeches, and song lyrics. The jam-packed novel is long but adventurous as Norman insists on stopping frequently to feed his burgeoning interest in rock 'n' roll and jazz; along the way, the cousins meet the likes of the Allman Brothers and Elvis and deliver some cymbals to Capitol Records in Los Angeles. If readers can get past the idea that the cousins' mothers support Molly, 14, and Norman, 17, driving a rickety school bus cross-country to bring Barry home, they'll have one hell of a nostalgia-driven road trip in store. Ages 9-12. (Oct.)
Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 5-8—This third volume of Wiles's "Sixties Trilogy" evokes the conflicts, chaos, and deep emotions occurring in 1969 during the United States' controversial involvement in the Vietnam War. A fictional story follows Molly, 14, and Norman, 17, two cousins driving across the country in a school bus from Charleston, SC, to San Francisco to bring back Molly's brother Barry, who ran away to escape the draft. A wide-ranging collection of primary source documents—photographs, quotes, newspaper articles—help readers understand the historical context with its complex voices. The result is a "documentary novel" of great impact. Over time, Molly and Norman grow as they encounter people with different experiences and viewpoints—an army deserter, an interracial couple, a gay couple who are war veterans—and integrate these experiences into their worldview. They see black people and white people eating together, come across people living in a commune, and meet a variety of people from the music world. Molly learns to think more deeply about racial relations. Norman develops greater self-confidence and the ability to judge character. Their bond deepens as they mature. Music pervades the narrative, mirroring how it (according to the author's note) "saturated, permeated, buoyed, and informed Everything." VERDICT This is a book that takes root in readers' mind and stays there. A gripping read with a satisfying conclusion.—Myra Zarnowski, City University of New York
Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
* Wiles skillfully keeps many balls in the air, giving readers a story that appeals
across the decades as well as offering enticing paths into the history. — Booklist, starred review * The larger story . . . told here in an expert coupling of text and design, is how life
endures, even triumphs, no matter how perilous the times. — Horn Book, starred
review * References to duct tape (then newly invented), McDonald's and other pop culture
lend authenticity to this phenomenal story of the beginnings of radical change in
America. — Kirkus Reviews, starred review * Wiles palpably recreates the fear kids felt when air-raid sirens and duck-and-cover
drills were routine . . . this story is sure to strike a chord with those living through
tough times today. — Publishers Weekly, starred review Praise for The Sixties Trilogy #2: Revolution:
*With elements of family drama and coming of age themes that mirror the larger sociopolitical backdrop, Revolution is a book that lingers long after the last page. — School Library Journal, starred review * 1960s words and images still sound and resound in this triumphant middle volume of the author's Sixties Trilogy. — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Deborah Wiles is the author of several highly acclaimed books, including the beloved Love, Ruby Lavender and two National Book Award finalists-Each Little Bird that Sings and Revolution. her first picture book, Freedom Summer, received the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. she is also an NAACP Book Award finalist, E.B. White Award winner, Golden Kite Award winner, Jane Addams Peace Award finalist, and recipient of a PEN Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bao Luu dreamed of becoming an artist as a child, and today his work as an illustrator focuses on bright, playful colors and unique textures. He is the illustrator of Simple Thanks written by Deborah Wiles and The Seed of Compassion written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Bao Luu was born and raised in Vietnam and currently lives near Houston, Texas.YAF024170 - Young Adult Fiction | Historical | United States - 20th Century
YAF064010 - Young Adult Fiction | Travel & Transportation | Car & Road Trips
United States
Historical fiction
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Nineteen sixties
1961-1969
