I had a really tough time getting into this one, and I don't think it was just because of the way the story jumped from one time period to another. In the end, I can't point to any one thing that I didn't like about the story. ( )

This is a very good book; well-researched, well-written and quite plausible. Renews my faith in the Newbery to read something this good. ( )

This historical novel features 12-year-old Abilene Tucker, who is staying with a friend of her father’s in a small Kansas town, in 1936. Abilene sets out to learn about the boy her father once was.

After the navy declares Jay’s father Missing in Action, Jay and his mother moveto her hometown in Utah near a prison camp for Japanese Americans. Jay struggles with his own prejudicial views even as he is teased for his 1⁄4 Navajo heritage.

Felt a bit overlong and I had a difficult time keeping track of all the different characters, but the sense of time and place is terrific. Liked how it all tied together in the end without being too cheesy. The reader for the audio is pretty good. ( )