Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: the Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty - Hardcover

Grade 5-9 This novel focuses on events from Christmas 1967 through May 1968, a time of war in Vietnam and unrest in the United States. Molly's brother, Patrick, is serving in the area of Khe Sanh, a region that is receiving high-intensity shelling, and the 15-year-old contends with the duality of emotions occasioned by pride and concern for him and by her daily exposure to antiwar feelings. She observes how heated people can be about the war, one way or the other, but no one seems to bother to know the details; she wants to learn everything she possibly can about it. Volunteering in the VA hospital over the objections of her parents, she witnesses the frustration and anger of the seriously injured vets and the death of one of them. The story is rich in detail about the period: hippies; demonstrations; the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy; the lure of the coffeehouses, thrift shops, and bookstores of Harvard Square; and always the fate of the Boston Red Sox. Molly is an engaging protagonist with her own issues, and her questioning mind seeks honest answers. Average-quality, captioned black-and-white historical photos appear with the back matter. This title will be popular where readers seek out "Dear America" and similar series, and it complements American history studies. -Sylvia V. Meisner, Greensboro Montessori School, NC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 7-10. White does a good job of fusing the personal with the political in this Dear America series companion to The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty [BKL Jl 02]. Patrick's teenage sister, Molly, at home in Boston in 1968, is the focus. She's not sure she supports the war. Does her ambivalence mean she's betraying her beloved brother? The story unfolds through Molly's diary entries, which depict how the war affects daily life and her Irish Catholic family. In the background are the tumultuous events of the times--the political assassinations, the civil rights and women's movements-- which Molly does engage with. The main story, however, is about Molly's war at home, and the most moving entries are about her volunteer work at a hospital, where she encounters firsthand what could happen to her brother. A long historical essay at the back, with several pages of photos, fills in more of the history. As with Patrick's journal, notes emphasize that the story is fiction. Why, then, does an epilogue tie everything up as if the events were true? Hazel Rochman
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