Island of Spies by Sheila Turnage
2022; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 76; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2022.0495
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Gothic Literature and Media Analysis
ResumoReviewed by: Island of Spies by Sheila Turnage Natalie Berglind Turnage, Sheila Island of Spies. Dial, 2022 [384p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780735231252 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780735231269 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 4-6 No mystery goes unsolved on Hatteras Island in 1942 because the Dime Novel Kids are always on the case. These aspiring FBI agents—scientific-minded Stick Lawson, artistic Rain, and strait-laced Neb—work together to investigate suspicious phenomena and people on the island using their encyclopedic knowledge of dime novels. The real world, however, is more dramatic than fiction right now: it's the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, tensions are high, boys of age are enlisting in the military, and the government is covering up U-boat attacks just off the shore of North Carolina. Anyone could be a spy, especially bitter postal worker Miss Agnes, and the Dime Novel Kids are going to get to the bottom of it. The plot gently unfurls the island's complex dynamics, starting the Dime Novel Kids out with smaller issues like a bully stealing from lunch pails and growing until they actually apprehend German spies. While this setup is engaging, the core mystery is withheld too long, as clues that lead nowhere pile up and the arrival of newcomers unnecessarily overstuffs the suspect list. More successful is Turnage's use of the setting; rather than just capitalizing on the aesthetic of the setting, she also address issues of race in both the treatment of biracial Rain on the island and allusions to immoral actions of the U.S. government, such as Japanese internment camps. However, the Dimes' defense of Rain as an "outsider" to the rest of the island and their simultaneuos perpetuating of suspicion toward neighbors and newcomers alike at times serve incongruent functions. Still, readers who stick around for the end will get a huge explanation in a Scooby Doo-esque resolution that answers all. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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