WINNIE'S WAR
by Jenny Moss
(Walker Books)
What's better than a story about the 1918 influenza pandemic? A story about the 1918 influenza pandemic with a tie-in to the Galveston hurricane of 1900 to make my little ambulance-chasing heart go pitter-pat. (Read the plot-oriented flap copy here.)
While waiting for the flu to come crashing in, Grim Reaper-style, the question of what happened to Winnie's mama during the storm of the century tantalized me enough to keep my eagerness for a rising body count at bay. Because really, with a story like this, you know from the start that it's only a matter of time until someone important gets laid out.
That said, Moss doesn't cheat the Reaper, but in deference to her youngish audience she doesn't go overboard with the death and wholesale panic, either. Small-town drama and family turbulence keep the plot kicking in the meantime, making for a nicely rounded story appropriate for kids who aren't ready to handle the intensity of Fever, 1793 just yet.
(Available in February)
