Two teen girls who have dropped out of school work at the cannery during the day and dance with the soldiers in the evenings. Their younger brother acts as "chaperone" as he continues in school and seaches for his own place in the world. Their parents worry about all four of their children - the three here, plus an older son enlisted and deployed. Through their eyes, we learn about the real-life race riots between soldiers and Mexican-Americans.
It's a quick read - I read it in an evening. I'd heard good things about the book, which is why I picked it up, and I didn't realize it was poetry until it arrived. Each chapter is a different voice, and each is just a page or two. The changing viewpoints offer an interesting perspective on a complex subject - a true historical event that I didn't know about before.
It would be a good youth discussion title. The kids in the story are younger than you'd think, dealing with very adult problems and concerns, due to the escalating tensions of wartime. And the racism they encounter would be an interesting comparison for modern discrimination.
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