Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Ambitious story of teens' eye-opening road trip in 1969.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
As ANTHEM opens, it's June 1969. Fourteen-year-old Molly has been emotionally shut down for the past year, ever since her beloved 18-year-old brother, Barry, left home (with much shouting) rather than obey his father, enlist in the Army, and go to Vietnam. They haven't heard from him since, and things are about to get worse: His notice to report for his draft physical just arrived, and they've got no idea how to reach him. Their frantic mom decides that Molly and her 17-year-old cousin, Norman, should drive across the country to San Francisco, where they think Barry is, and bring him home. They know that's insane, but off they go, starting with a stop at the Atlanta home of their elderly, dementia-ridden aunts, where they find two hippie teens living with the old ladies and pretending to be Molly and Norman. This is not the last of the unsettling events they must cope with as the story continues.
Is It Any Good?
Deborah Wiles' Sixties Trilogy finale successfully gives readers the deer-in-the-headlights feeling of being a Southern suburban teen in 1969 bombarded with new perspectives and cultural change. Anthem is packed with collages of news stories and visuals, dysfunctional family dramas, tons of detail about music of the era (each chapter starts with a credits listing for a song, and paragraphs are devoted to the fine points of cymbals), and an unlikely parade of legendary figures like Duane Allman and Elvis Presley met along the way. It's all a bit much, and somewhat less than the sum of its parts. But readers with a strong interest in one of those parts, such as the Vietnam War, hippie culture, Vietnam vets, civil rights, and/or '60s rock will find plenty to keep them reading.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the Vietnam War is portrayed in Anthem. How did it affect families in that era? Do you see anything similarly divisive going on today? How is it affecting you and your loved ones?
Have you ever gone to a lot of trouble to help someone who turned out to not be the least bit grateful? How did it make you feel?
Several characters in the story are dealing with being abandoned by their loved ones, especially parents. Do you know any kids who are dealing with this? How do they cope?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Historical Fiction
- Topics : Adventures , Arts ( Music and Sing-Along ) , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Scholastic
- Publication date : October 1, 2019
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 480
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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