Point of View

The book is divided between the story line typical of a novel and a series of documents, photos, and historically accurate accounts of people and event. The historical information is presented in third-person from an omniscient perspective. The novel portion is presented in first person and limited to the perspective of Franny, an 11-year-old girl in the fifth grade during this tense time of American history. The choice of perspective is appropriate because she is old enough to understand that Americans are in danger, but not old enough to fully comprehend all the nuances of the situation. She has learned to obey the order to “duck and cover” but is old enough to question whether that will actually save her and whether it is actually the best course of action for her. She is young enough to timidly respect and accept authority, but old enough...