Home Front Girl

October 22, 2012
This contemplative and often entertaining collection of journal entries, poems, clippings, and sketches by the late Morrison, edited by her daughter, spans the tumultuous years between 1937 and 1943, which took Morrison from age 14 to 20, and took the world from the Great Depression into WWII. Morrison’s parents were Swedish immigrants who settled comfortably in Chicago, and Morrison details her school day concerns and studies, exploring the city, her crushes on boys, attending the University of Chicago, and her thoughts on religion, books, films, and more. She also comments on the increasingly dramatic news of the day, from the Hindenburg crash (“The Herald Examiner said 100 people were killed, but as it’s a Hearst paper, 50 is a safer guess”) to Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into the war (“Well, Baby, it’s come, what we always knew would come”). Her sensitivity to and exuberance about events large and small is contagious, though her poetic tendencies are tempered by her doubts, intellect, sarcasm, and savvy. Witnessing Morrison mature as a woman and a writer is invigorating and memorable. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)■

October 15, 2012
Chicago schoolgirl Joan Wehlen was known for her writing skills--quite correctly, as her always-entertaining 1937-1942 diary proves. Fourteen when she began recording her thoughts and day-to-day activities in her diary, Joan had an eye for detail and an intelligent sense of the importance of events that were occurring in the world around her. Her entries, while often funny and frequently self-deprecating, presage the inevitably coming war: "We are no different: every generation has been burdened with war....It is just that this is my generation." Fear of the impending war is a common theme in her life; it haunts Joan's dreams. But in spite of those concerns, she remains upbeat and enthusiastic. The diary reveals her amusement at wearing "a horrid but glamorous" color of lipstick, mild flirtations with "B.B.B. in B.," the "Beautiful Blue-eyed Boy in Biology," and her efforts to manage homework at the kitchen table. She tries to sort out her feelings on religion and the inevitability of death but chuckles over repeatedly counting the steps--"One-two-three-four, one-two-one-two"--during an awkward dance. In sum, readers will likely be surprised by just how much like them Joan is, in spite of her having written her work 75 years ago. A fine, insightful and sometimes moving journal composed by a wholly likable young woman--better than fiction. (period photographs, editor's note) (Nonfiction. 11-18)

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December 1, 2012

Gr 7 Up-World War II is not the focus of this book. Instead, what Morrison presents is social commentary on the times. Her diary entries span the years 1937-1943, from the time the author was 14 until she was 20, and reflect her home, school, and social life with a bit of news thrown in. Her original drawings, photographs, and newspaper clippings (and transcripts) add interesting and authentic content. Readers will find young Joan to be intelligent, but at times flighty, inspiring yet also boring, humble and often quite proud-a normal teenager. However, today's teens might find it hard to relate to her life and find the vernacular of the era difficult to follow. Footnotes explain unfamiliar vocabulary and people, but also interrupt the flow of the text. This posthumous publication was compiled and edited by the author's daughter and is a good primary source to complement an American history textbook; it might also be enjoyed by readers who like historical diaries of real people.-Wendy Scalfaro, G. Ray Bodley High School, Fulton, NY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
Edited by Susan Signe Morrison. This transcribed diary captures the everyday interests and worries of Joan, an academically minded, politically interested teen at the dawn of World War II. In entries written between age fourteen and twenty, Joan is equally likely to fret over homework, relay the latest news from Europe, or chat about boys and friends. An impressive historical document with a dynamic narrator. Ind.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)