Mare's War
What teenager relishes the idea of giving up summer vacation for a 2,000-mile cross-country road trip with her grandmother? Even though the grandmother in question wears stilettos, fake nails, and a flippy wig, the prospect of hours cooped up in a car with her doesn鈥檛 interest Octavia and her older sister Tali.
They鈥檝e spent Sunday dinners with their grandmother since forever. What鈥檚 left to know about Mare? But when the car doors slam shut and she starts to tell her story, the girls discover things that change the way they think about their grandmother, and even American history.
The 鈥淭hen鈥� chapters of Mare鈥檚 War, told in Mare鈥檚 voice, take teen readers back to the daily life of a young enlisted African-American woman during World War II. Octavia and Tali hear how their grandmother lied about her age to join the Women鈥檚 Army Corps and escape her small family farm 鈥� and her mother鈥檚 boyfriend. A 17-year-old, shipped overseas, with little knowledge of the world outside the Deep South, Mare coped, worried over her younger sister back in Alabama, and grew more than she dared dream.
It鈥檚 Octavia鈥檚 young voice we hear in the 鈥淣ow鈥� chapters. She and her older sister bicker back and forth, disagree with their grandmother about everything from her cigarettes to their music, and send postcards that, in the beginning of the trip are griping laments but, by the trip鈥檚 end , sound more like 鈥淲ish You Were Here.鈥�
鈥淢are鈥檚 War鈥� chronicles a part of our history that is seldom written about but compelling to discover, and Tanita Davis makes it come alive. As the grandmother chronicles her unit 鈥� the 6888th battalion 鈥� telling of food rationing, blackout curtains, and mattresses stuffed with straw, she also makes the girls aware of the serious prejudice African-American soldiers experienced.
Halfway through their story, Octavia seems to forget Mare is the geriatric grandmother they鈥檇 dreaded sacrificing the summer for: 鈥淸I]t was pretty funny to hear Mare going on and on about how she鈥檇 just loved Lena Horne when she was young ... and how her friend Dovey Borland had had a set of pipes just like Lena鈥檚. Sometimes Mare sounds so much like me and my friends I forget she鈥檚 old.鈥�
It鈥檚 a great moment of realization for granddaughters and teen readers alike. What started out as a forced march, albeit in a red sports car, turns into a loving, perfectly told road trip tale of two girls who discover inherited treasure, complete with family history, in their own backyard.
Augusta Scattergood is a freelance writer in Madison, N.J.
