Year of the Historical: This Means War!

This Means War!> Ellen Wittlinger

Juliet's best friend Lowell isn't talking to her anymore-- it's not ok for boys to be friends with girls anymore. Her parents are always fighting-- their small grocery store is suffering with the new supermarket that just went in on the outside of town. Then Juliet meets Patsy, one of the many new kids who have moved to town with the build up at Lathrop Airfore Base. Lowell and Juliet's fractured friendship quickly escalates into a girls vs boys war with a series of escalating tests to see who's better. The war between the kids and the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which happens in the middle of it, is a parallel that works well, but gets rather heavy-handed as the book goes on.

It was really hard not to compare it to Countdown, which came out at the same time and also deals with a damaged friendship and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I think Countdown does it much better. This Means War really didn't do much to me--there was something about the writing that I can't put my finger on that kept me from really getting into the story.

Book Provided by... my local library

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