“Two close friends, Catherine Clark and Meredith Lyons, share in the trials involved in having their fathers in the war. Catherines father has recently been called as a naval officer to Pearl Harbor from Washington, but because of her brothers illness, the rest of the family stays behind. This disappoints the girls, as Merediths family has just moved to Honolulu. Both girls involve themselves in the war effort and their friendship proves to be invaluable.”
Series: Part of the “Liberty Letters” series, but does not seem to be connected to the other books in the series.
Spiritual Content- 2 Corinthians 3:17 at the end; Scriptures are read, quoted, prayed, & shared; Prayers; Church going & part of a sermon; Talks about God, His peace, & forgiveness; Most ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God, His plans, trusting Him, receiving His peace, His creation, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, cathedrals/chapels, church going, Sunday school, ministers, sermons, & services; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of Bible studies & memorizing Scriptures; Mentions of Christmas & Easter; A few mentions of missionaries; A couple mentions of the resurrection; A mention of eternity;
*Note: Religious phrases: “for heaven’s sake” is said twice; A few mentions of being lucky; A couple mentions of cavemen; A mention of hero worship; A mention of someone being spellbound by seeing the First Lady.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘darn’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘good grief’, a ‘gosh’, an ‘oh my gosh’, two ‘gee’s, two ‘geez louise’, two ‘golly’s, and six ‘stupid’s; Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Meredith calls two older woman “old bats” (twice); Meredith lies to her parents regarding her location after school for a while (later noting when directly asked about something that she didn’t lie, but didn’t tell the truth either to her mother); Meredith pretends she doesn’t see a sign that says “Personnel Only” on a ship so she can explore the area & doesn’t take no for an answer when wanting to see the cockpit (which later gets her into seeing the cockpit and her mother furious at her for bothering the pilots; When her mother is furious at her, Meredith blocks out her voice and then apologizes for her actions (but is still glad she got to see the cockpit of a plane)); Explosions, Bombings, Fires, Blackouts, & Grief (up to semi-detailed); Seeing deaths & grief (up to semi-detailed); Helping others badly injured and bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Anxiety for injured and missing family members; Set prior and during the Pearl Harbor Bombing, this book frequently mentions and shows scenes of war, fighting, attacks, bombings (including on top of hospitals), planes being shot down, evacuations, fires, injuries, deaths, & bodies (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of injuries/wounds (including gunshot wounds and burns), missing limbs due to bombings, amputations, blood/bleeding, & surgeries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of polio, Catherine’s brother being in the “iron lung” for polio treatments, the doctors implying he won’t be able to walk again (which makes Catherine upset as this is kept from her brother), his pain due to friction massages and tight braces, & the grief from their family because of it all (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies & lying (including to parents); Mentions of rumors; A few mentions of cigars, cigarettes, & smoking; A mention of an execution (historical figure);
*Note: Some comments of prejudice/racism by side characters (such as a woman telling Meredith that the “Jap girls” are the best maids and that her maid hasn’t stolen anything from her jewelry box (as the woman checks each time), but Meredith is shocked by the woman saying that (calling the woman a “pompous old bat”); Meredith is displeased by the woman and others referring to the maids as some kind of possession; Meredith meets teens from a Japanese-American High School becomes friends with a girl who has both a Japanese name and an American name (which Meredith wishes the new friend would call herself by her Japanese name because it’s beautiful, but the girl makes it clear she prefers her American name); A girl tells Meredith to be more careful around a Japanese-American girl, but Meredith doesn’t think that makes her the enemy or a spy as the girl can’t help her family being Japanese; Meredith is told by the girl that the Japanese-American kids are only studying English so they can “take over the positions Americans are supposed to have” and witnesses the girl being rude to her family’s Japanese “servant” (which Meredith bristles at and tries to talk kindly to the maid); Other girls do not want to be around the Japanese-American girl, which irritates Meredith; After the bombing, some Japanese-Americans are held under suspicion in Hawaii due to potential ties to Japan and coded messages); Meredith is upset when her mother answers for her and pushes her to be a nurse (like her) and Meredith says that she’s done sharing about her dreams with her mother because “she just doesn’t get it”; Meredith wishes her parents would accept her dream and aches when seeing someone else get that support from his parents; Meredith’s parents tell her they can’t afford flying lessons despite her saying she would pay for them and she is very upset at the conversation (adding that it’s “not fair” and then running to her room and slamming the door; She is determined to find a way to fly and *Spoilers* tells her parents she’ll be at the library, but actually goes to the hangar to work for flying lessons; She knows her parents would kill her for going up in a plane without permission, but eventually does (avoiding telling the pilot that her parents wouldn’t allow her to be doing this) and lies to her parents about where she’ll be (feeling some guilt for lying to them), but forgets about her guilty conscience once in the air; Catherine tells her to confess to her parents before they find out from someone else, but Meredith’s parents find out first and she knows she lied and snuck around to be able to fly; Meredith realizes her actions were wrong and apologizes to them and others involved; Her parents have lost their trust in her, so she is grounded and made to volunteer for the Red Cross to be able to think about putting others first; After volunteering, Meredith realizes her parents were right about learning to be prepared for emergencies and becomes more serious; The following fall, Meredith’s parents have noticed the change in her and gift her flying lessons with an instructor for her birthday (this takes place about halfway through the book) *End of Spoilers*); Meredith wants to be a pilot, but is often told that girls can’t be a pilot or learn aviation (this includes scenes of her think being a girl shouldn’t matter and meets a girl a bit older than her who is a pilot; Meredith says she’ll “just die” if she can’t take an aviation class; Meredith is angry at hearing a male pilot disregard the idea of girls being pilots one day and wants to prove him wrong); Meredith thinks rules are “silly and stupid and meant to be broken” (regarding the rule that girls can’t take an aviation class); Mentions of singers, bands, & songs (Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, & ‘Blueberry Hill’); Mentions of celebrities (Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson, Jackie Cochran, Red Skeleton, Lana Turner, Maureen O’Hara, George Raft, & Wayne Morris); Mentions of sport teams & athletes (Lou Gehrig & Joe Dimaggio); Mentions of brand names (Ovaltine, Coca-Cola, Spam, & Monopoly); Mentions of a car brand; A couple mentions of a “crippled” horse (Sea Biscuit); A mention of a store (Sears); A mention of Boy Scouts.
Sexual Content- Blushes & Crushes (that do not go farther than that, no dating/relationships); Meredith writes to Catherine about a boy that could be her type, but the boy doesn’t know she exists (later referring to him as “the boy I like” and wishing she could get to know him better; They eventually become friends); Catherine writes to Meredith about an article in her school’s paper about “Advice to Girls on the Right Technique to Use with Boys” (partially written out on-page with tips on how to attract a boy like flattering, being fun, and learning about his interests to gain his attention; Catherine thinks this is a stupid article); A girl tells Meredith to show her prettiness more (by wearing lipstick and her hair down) to gain her crush’s attention (Meredith wonders if the girl is right as she hasn’t been asked out by the guy and does like feeling pretty); Mentions of handsome guys, boyfriend/girlfriends, dances, dates, & having a type; Mentions of crushes & being sweet on someone; A mention of a couple making goo-goo eyes at each other;
*Note: A mention of teen boys whistling at a young woman, but a teacher putting a stop to it and telling them to respect her.
-Meredith Lyons, age 17-18
-Catherine Clark, age 17-18
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1940-1941
224 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
It feels fitting to read and review this book shortly before the 250th Birthday of the United States of America. While this book is set about 85 years ago and not 250, it still installed a patriotic theme in my heart while reading.
Unlike the other books in this series, there’s a mental countdown when reading this book—the countdown to when these characters’ lives and many others are going to change when Pearl Harbor is bombed. Because of this, there was some suspense while I read as the dates of the letters get closer and closer to December 7th, 1941. Despite reading many books set around and during World War II, I’ve always thought that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was sudden, but this book and research I did while reading taught me that it wasn’t—that there were hints and preparing for such an attack. Just like every war, there’s a lot of political details and differing feuding governments that add a lot more layers to the history.
Out of our two main characters, I definitely liked Catherine more, which was surprising as I expected to enjoy the Hawaii setting more before I started reading. Meredith drove me crazy, but I think it’s fully because of her strong willed personality and avoiding (or straight-up lying) to her parents. My parents have always been super supportive, so I can’t imagine being in Meredith’s shoes and having a dream my parents didn’t support and thus her actions felt painful to read at times. She didn’t handle things well and showed how she wasn’t ready for the responsibility of flying or learning about aviation, so I found her frustrating to read about—until some very much needed character development and lessons happened to her. Once those happened and we got closer to the bombing, I found myself unable to put the book down.
I do want to give a note to parents that there’s more about boys and crushes in this book than any of the other books in this series. I think the prior books could work for 12+ depending on the girl and her sensitivity level. And while I would still mark this book for ages 13+, I want to mention that content and how it doesn’t go farther than that (which felt appropriate for the characters’ ages and then being thrown into a time of war) for parents that prefer to avoid the topic for their younger readers.
I’m honestly a bit sad that this series is done! I wish there had been more time periods covered as these four books were well-done with historical details and good faith content. It’s hard for me to say they were enjoyable as each book dealt with harsh realities the characters face, I did find these books valuable and great for learning more about these time periods.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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