Jennie’s War

Jennie prayed for her brother every day, but sometimes she wondered how God handled this war business. What if the Italian and German families were praying for their soldiers to defeat the Americans at the same time that the Americans were praying the opposite? What would God do? She was finding out that war was more complicated than the good guys against the bad guys like in the movies. The family had received a letter yesterday from the Tanakas. They were still in the internment Camp in Idaho. Jennie hadn’t been especially close to the Japanese family, but she knew they were loyal Americans. It was hard to understand why they should be locked up. Mr. Romano’s brother still lived in Italy and Jennie could see that her Italian neighbor was very worried about his brother. Jennie knew that he wasn’t one of the bad guys if he was as nice as Mr. Romano. God has His work cut out trying to solve this mess.

Book: Jennie's War: The Home Front in World War II (1944) (Sisters in Time #23) by Bonnie Hinman, Barbour Publishing, 2005

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 9-15

Subjects: World War II, Sibling Relationships, Trust in God

Summary: Competitive. If there’s one word that can describe Jennie Fleming, that’s it. Whether it’s mopping the floor, running a race, collecting scrap rubber or gardening Jennie wants to win. Very little is as important to her as beating her brother in their many competitions. Sometimes it seems their war efforts are just creating a war in their home? Will an encounter with a real enemy finally force them to work together or will they let their chance slip away fro the sake of winning?

Notes: Jennie’s War is the twenty-third in the Sisters-In-Time series. This series features young girls living at various key points in American history, particularly around the wars. It always places the girls right at the edge of the teen years, coming of age.  The concept of the series it to not only show a glimpse of history, but to help young girls feel that the people back then weren’t that different than the people today.

Jennie’s War takes place in 1944 and focuses on the work those back in the United States did to support the war effort. It shows the characters raising food, collecting scraps and anything else they can to help. It shows the main character struggling to understand how to think of the war, particularly in spiritual terms.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Proverbs 21:1 – The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.