Holbrook, Sara The Enemy, 243 pages. Highlights (Calkins
Creek), 2017. $18. Language: G (swear count 0); Mature Content: PG; Violence:
PG.
It’s 1954 in Detroit, Michigan. Cold-war McCarthyism has a
grip on the city and twelve-year-old Marjorie doesn’t know what to think.
What’s a Nazi? What’s a Commie? Who is our enemy? Where are they hiding? Why
are books being pulled from the library shelves? Her father served in World War
II and now works for Chrysler Corporation. Her mother went to college during
the war and now stays at home to take care of Marjorie and her sister. Then
there is Frank, the teenager who comes to live with them after his father, also
a veteran, dies of “unnatural causes.” Life is complicated enough before the
arrival of the new immigrant family in the neighborhood. Her classmates make
fun of the new girl with her different hair, different clothes, and different
accent. Through it all, Marjorie finds the courage to be a true friend and
stand up for what she believes is right.
Drawing on personal experience, author Sara Holbrook creates
a work of historical fiction that is still relevant today. At times a bit slow,
the book tries to capture the feeling of paranoia that spread across American
society as the Soviet Union began to rise as a global power. The reader can
sense Marjorie’s curiosity and confusion as she tries to understand why some
families reject cultures and religions that other families embrace. The dilemma
of inclusion versus exclusion as it related to European immigrants in the
1950’s parallels the current political debates about immigrants from Middle
Eastern countries. Holbrook also manages to bring in the tween girl experience
about true friends, family secrets, and crushes on boys that even the modern
reader can relate to.
EL, MS – OPTIONAL. LMA, future elementary school teacher
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