Review of The Secret Project by Jonah Winter

Authors

Erin E. Kloosterman, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Publisher

Beach Lane Books

City

New York, New York, United States of America

Date of Publication

2017

ISBN

9781481469135

Date of Review

2019

Disciplines

Library and Information Science | Modern Literature

Keywords

Children's literature, reviews

Review

Years ago, in a quiet spot in the New Mexico desert that had once only held a school and beautiful landscapes that artists liked to recreate, a team of scientists moved in and started creating a secret gadget that promised to end the war. The scientists worked with atoms, working to make something large out of something very small. The scientists work around the clock, researching and experimenting with uranium and plutonium. After almost 2 years of around-the-clock work, they drive through the night to deploy their gadget in the middle of the desert. The thing they created is huge and scary and changes the course of history forever. The illustrations are incredibly clever. The scientists who worked in complete secrecy to create the bomb are depicted as dark, shadowy figures and are never shown in full detail. The color scheme is sparse and muted, except for the full page illustrations of the bomb detonation which are in deep red and orange. The dark cover and endpapers add to the secrecy of the material, suggesting to the reader that the story will contain spy elements. The seriousness of the content would be best shared with older elementary student since it addresses issues like war and nuclear proliferation. Additionally, the content matter would fit into science or history courses of study. Recommended. Erin Kloosterman, Centennial Library Intern, Cedarville University

Recommended Citation

Kloosterman, Erin E., "Review of The Secret Project by Jonah Winter" (2019). Library Intern Book Reviews. 226.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/intern_book_reviews/226

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