The Loud Silence of Francine Green

Francine is in eighth grade at a rigid Catholic school from August 1949 through June 1950. Sophia, a transfer student from public school, becomes her best friend. Sophia is full of opinions, and not afraid to voice them. Good historical fiction breathes life into an era by peopling it with realistic characters living on history's stage. Cushman is a master at creating introspective female characters that middle school girls can admire. In Anaka Shockley's portrayal of Francine, the listener hears her voice grow and strengthen as the shadow of McCarthyism grows darker. Shockley uses cadence and slang to place us firmly in a specific historical period while depicting young people whom today's youth can recognize. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

June 26, 2006
Cushman takes on many issues in this novel set in Hollywood at the peak of McCarthyism, unfortunately diluting the power of any one of them. As the book opens, narrator Francine learns that her neighbor Sophie Bowman will be joining her eighth grade class at All Saints School for Girls. The deliciously named Sister Basil the Great, the principal who doubles as their teacher, quickly singles out Sophie as the student to hold up as an example, sentencing the girl to stand in the wastebasket throughout class. Cushman draws parallels between the strict authority of the Catholic school and the constraints of McCarthyism on everyday citizens. Sophie's father, a screenwriter, allows readers to see the havoc wreaked upon his peers (one, a Jewish actor being shadowed by the FBI and pressured to give up names, commits suicide), and the Russian owners of a vandalized local store voice the irony of their situation ("That's why Petrov and I left Russia, to get away from such thugs"). Yet these connections may be a bit abstract for some readers, who will more likely respond to details of Francine's daily life—taking her younger brother past Newberry Five and Ten, ordering root beer floats at Riley's or having a crush on Montgomery Clift. The author introduces the idea of Sophie's tendency to egg on controversy but never fully develops it, and Francine remains quite aloof from the world. She is less sympathetic than Cushman's previous memorable heroines (in Catherine, Called Birdy
; The Midwife's Apprentice
). Ages 10-14.