Annie’s War

Set in Washington State in 1946, Sullivan’s thoughtful first novel is narrated by a feisty 10-year-old. Anna, staying with her grandmother while recuperating from an emergency appendectomy, entertains herself with imaginary visits from President Truman, but her conversations are serious: Annie urges him to find her father, an Army Air Corps pilot declared missing in action, and she complains to him about her 19-year-old Uncle Billy, who has returned from the war surly and hardened. “Something so terrible must have happened in that war that an imposter had come back wearing Billy’s skin,” she says. After Billy barks racial slurs at Gloria, a black woman to whom Grandma has rented an apartment, Grandma throws him out of her house. Annie struggles with her anguish over her father’s disappearance, anger at Billy and confusion about the racism she witnesses, which extends to a cross burning in front of Grandma’s house (“The flames climbed higher and higher upwards until they lit up the night sky like some kind of evil Fourth of July prank”). Credible characterization and dialogue help readers absorb the lessons Annie learns from wise Grandma and caring Gloria, that “most folks are basically good people.” Ages 8-12. (Sept.)