Hazel Kaplansky is a precocious 10-year-old growing up in Maple Hill, Vermont, during the Cold War. Unapologetically smart, Hazel sometimes has trouble making friends at school. Plus, she’s not sure what to make of the fact that people in her union town are being investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. She soon becomes suspicious of reclusive gravedigger Mr. Jones, who works in the graveyard her parents tend and enlists new student Samuel Butler in her anti-Communist crusade. This is a genuine and often funny portrait of a girl who may be brighter than most of her peers but still has trouble finding perspective on Cold War politics. (Ages 8 to 12)
