num_pages: 394
description: The story of a formative year in 12-year-old Franny Chapman's life and the life of a nation facing the threat of nuclear war. Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her her sister has disappeared and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962 and it seems that the whole country is living in fear. When President Kennedy goes on television to say that Russia is sending nuclear missiles to Cuba it only gets worse. Franny doesn't know how to deal with what's going on in the worldno more than she knows how to deal with what's going on with her family and friends. But somehow she's got to make it through. Featuring a captivating story interspersed with footage from 1962 award-winning author Deborah Wiles has created a documentary novel that will put you right alongside Franny as she navigates a dangerous time in both her history and history.
language: English
title: Countdown
publisher: Scholastic Press