BOOKS
War and Millie McGonigle
Millie McGonigle lives in sunny California, where her days are filled with beach and surf. It should be perfect—but times are tough. Hitler is attacking Europe and it looks like the United States may be going to war. Food is rationed and money is tight. And Millie’s sickly little sister gets all the attention and couldn’t be more of a pain if she tried. It’s all Millie can do to stay calm and feel in control.
Still—there’s sand beneath her feet. A new neighbor from the city, who has a lot to teach Millie. And surfer boy Rocky to admire—even if she doesn’t have the guts to talk to him.
It’s a time of sunshine, siblings, and stress. Will Millie be able to find her way in her family, and keep her balance as the the world around her loses its own?
Awards and Recognition
Bank Street College Best Books of the Year 2022
Resources
Listen to Chapter 1 of the audio book, read by Emma Galvin:
Photos from my husband Phil’s childhood on South Mission Beach, where War and Millie McGonigle is set.
common activity
“Curiouser and Curiouser with Karen Cushman,” video interview, Bookology, 20 May 2021
“Five Questions for Karen Cushman,” The Horn Book, 20 April 2021
My essay for Powell’s bookstore, “Learning from Millie’s World“
Mysterious Galaxy presents Karen Cushman, interviewed by Colby Sharp, 6 April 2021
“San Diego Shines in Karen Cushman’s Latest Novel,” Karla Peterson, San Diego Union Tribune, 3 April 2021
“Author Interview: Karen Cushman on What Sparks Her Inspiration,” Stephani Martinell Eaton, Cynsations, May 2021
After enjoying War and Millie McGonigle, the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California suggests these read-alikes.
“What I Stole to Write War and Millie McGonigle,” Karen Cushman, Nerdy Book Club, 5 Apr 2021
“Remember Pearl Harbor: How Students Like YOU Experienced the Day of Infamy,” Electronic Field Trip, PBS
Reviews
“Transforms grim history into a light for dark times.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
“A lively choice for historical fiction fans.” (Booklist)
“Cushman offers readers a sympathetic, spirited heroine and a vividly evoked setting, chockfull of sensory detail. ‘I … sniffed deeply of the rich, salty, fishy smell of the mud. Gulls screeched like rusty hinges as they soared above me, and flocks of curlews and sandpipers scratched for bugs for breakfasts. There was plenty of life on the bay but a peaceful stillness, too, that comforted me when I needed comforting.’” (The Horn Book)
“Each chapter begins with a date, building momentum to December 7 and the attack on Pearl Harbor, an event that sends both her parents back to work and thrusts more responsibility on Millie. Cushman’s relationships prove well grounded, and Millie’s first-person voice effectively builds strength as she heals from her grandmother’s death and embraces the future.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Despite such serious topics, War and Millie McGonigle is a lively book filled with humor, love and transformation. Millie gradually learns to navigate her grief, deal with her fears and shift her focus from war and death to life and the living. Though Cushman roots the story in tangible details of the ’40s, it has much to offer contemporary readers. Gram, for instance, was a crusader who felt that all girls should know “songs of protest and the phone number of your state representative.” Millie follows in her grandmother’s footsteps and repeatedly intervenes to prevent bullying against kids of Italian and Japanese descent. Reminiscent of Katherine Paterson’s sensitive portrayals of grief, War and Millie McGonigle acknowledges the suffocating enormities of fear, injustice and tragedy Millie experiences while revealing a path forward. As Gram tells Millie, “Life’s not hopeless. We can do something about what worries and scares us. … Despite the horror, people care, work together for a better world, and bravely fight back.” (BookPage, Alice Cary, April 7, 2021)
“World War II raises the stakes, though, presenting a momentous obstacle that even the most determined child cannot fully master, but renaming her journal Book of Life helps Millie make a fresh start.” (The Bulletin)
“A must-buy for school and children’s libraries looking to expand their historical fiction selections.” (School Library Journal)
Behind The Story
On December 7, 1941, war came to America’s children. Some picked up toy guns and shot at pretend enemies. Others had nightmares for the rest of their lives. Millie McGonigle thought the war came like an earthquake and shook everything and everybody up. I wondered how she, after suffering through the depravations of the Depression, coped with the upheaval. I knew she’d need to find courage and solace somewhere.
For many years I’d heard my husband’s stories about their small house on Mission Bay. The warm bay water lapped at the sand when the tide was in. There was swimming and surfing, and children went without shoes from June until September, and their feet grew calloused and summer wide. Phil would row his small boat out where the reeds and grass grew tall and read comic books until his nose was sunburned and his empty stomach growled.
Most intriguing to me as I listened were descriptions of the vast mudflats, stinking, slippery, and mysterious, which appeared like magic when the tide was out. The mud was pocked with pickleweed and eelgrass. Shoals and small islands, home to colonies of mussels and sand dollars that stood on end in soldier-like rows, were revealed.
I knew I wanted this for anxious, fearful, worried Millie. As the world changed, Millie could find strength and wisdom through simple things and the natural world, nurtured and soothed by the tides flowing in and out, the fishy smell of the mud flats, the squawks of the gulls, the peace of the small waves on the bay, and the sparkle of the sun on the quiet blue water. So Millie moved into South Mission Beach, San Diego, and you can find her and her story there
buy the book
Order your autographed copy from The Secret Garden Bookshop in Seattle, WA. The booksellers encourage you: “in the order notes section of your order, please do specify who War and Millie McGonigle should be personalized to, and we’ll be sure to make it so!”