The Green Glass Sea

The Green Glass Sea is the 2006 children’s historical fiction and debut novel by American author Ellen Klages. Set in New Mexico in 1943, the story tells of 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan, an outcast mechanical engineering prodigy who arrives to live with her father in the mysterious town of Los Alamos, New Mexico (also called the Hill). Dewey slowly learns that her father and several other scientists are working on a top-secret project called the “gadget.” Little does Dewey know that she has been contributing to the early stages of The Manhattan Project, a nuclear research and test development facility created during World War II. Along the way, Dewey meets fellow outcast Susan “Suze” Gordon, and the two girls form a lasting bond and come of age on the brink of the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb. The Green Glass Sea won the Scott O’Dell Ward for Historical Fiction in 2007, the Judy Lopez Memorial Award, and the New Mexico Best Book Award for Young Adult Fiction in 2007. The novel is the first in The Gordon Family Saga series, followed by White Sands, Red Menace, and Out of Left Field.

This guide refers to the 2006 Puffin e-book edition, which includes an introductory Reader’s Supplement and author’s interview.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss bullying and disability discrimination.

Plot Summary

Narrated in alternating first-person perspectives, the story begins in 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri. Eleven-year-old Dewey Kerrigan, a “tomboy” who lives without her mother and is interested in mechanics, is picked up from the doorstep of her neighbor Ms. Kovack’s house. Dewey used to live with her grandma (Nana), but a stroke forced Nana into the hospital. Dewey is told that her absentee father, Jimmy Kerrigan, is no longer in Chicago but at a top-secret location somewhere in New Mexico. Dewey is put on a train headed for Lamy, New Mexico. On the train, Dewey discovers an observation car, which she enters with her radio set and favorite magazine, Boy Mechanic.

Inside the observation car, Dewey meets a man interested in radios named Dick Feynman, who also happens to be bound for Lamy. Dick tells Dewey that he knows Jimmy and that they will be living at a place called the Hill. Arriving in Lamy, Dick waits with Dewey until Sergeant Prager picks her up. The Sergeant acquires a pass for Dewey to the Hill, which is a security measure required for everyone. Eventually, Dewey is reunited with Jimmy, who takes his daughter to his house in Los Alamos, a nonexistent town that can’t even be located on a US map. Jimmy, a busy mathematician, explains to Dewey that he has been working on a special “gadget” that will help the Americans win WWII. The gadget is top secret, and everyone on the Hill is ordered to remain silent about the project, even to their families. American and European scientists buzz with excitement about the project, but nobody can speak about it or enter the Hill without top security clearance.

The story skips to 1944. A young girl named Suze Gordon (Susan) plays cards with her mother, Terry, inside their home in Los Alamos. Suze’s parents are former professors at Berkeley. Terry is a chemist, and Suze’s father, Philip, is a metallurgist. They relocated to the Hill in 1943 to work on the gadget. Suze wants to be in the clique of popular girls, but they all make fun of Suze behind her back and call her “Truck” due to her imposing frame and bossy attitude. Suze tries to win the girls over by showing them a shortcut to get sodas.

Meanwhile, Dewey finishes a picnic with Jimmy and decides to go to the dump—her favorite place—to gather copper tubing for her broken typewriter. There, she meets her friend and math classmate Charlie and his younger brother Jack. The boys are gathering wood for their treehouse and agree to help Dewey carry her load back to the Hill. On the way back, Dewey is ridiculed by Suze and the popular girls, who call her “Screwy Dewey.”

A few days later, Terry takes Suze to visit a friend, who turns out to be Jimmy. Suze continues bullying Dewey along with the other girls, mainly because Dewey sits by herself at school recess to fidget with her inventions. The story jumps to March of 1945, with Jimmy telling Dewey he must travel to Washington DC to meet with a man named General Groves. Terry agrees to look after Dewey while Jimmy is away, much to Suze’s dismay. At first, the two girls don’t get along. Suze even draws a chalk line across the room they share to divide their personal spaces. Yet, as time goes on, the two girls gradually become friends and build a sisterly companionship based on respect and support for one another. They even form the Shazam Club together, a clique the popular girls are not allowed to join. Jimmy dies in a car accident, and Dewey ends up living with Suze’s family indefinitely, which strengthens the bond between Dewey and Suze. The two outsiders band together and continue to work on their projects as the very first atomic bomb nears completion.

When the gadget is ready for test detonation, Dewey, Suze, and Terry pack roast beef sandwiches, coffee, blankets, and a flashlight. The three head to the desert and watch the blast occur 300 miles away in White Sands. The family is awed by the sight and proud of their grand achievements. At the end of the novel, the family takes a vacation and visits the bombsite along the way. The family collects melted green glass that resulted from the bomb incinerating the sand. The family gauges the glass for radioactivity with a Geiger counter before loading it into the car. As they look around the area, Terry and Philip notice burned outlines of dead animals, birds and rabbits among them. Terry wonders at what they have done. The novel closes with a radio announcement of the bombing of Hiroshima.