In 1946, imaginary conversations with President Truman help ten-year-old Annie cope with having to live with her grandmother, her uncle's prejudice toward her grandmother's black tenant, and her desire for news of her father, a pilot reported as missing in action.

Annie's War

Children's Books

Sullivan, Jacqueline Levering

Literature & Fiction

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

World War II has been over for a year but not for the Howard family. Eleven-year-old Annie worries about her daddy, who was declared missing in action, and her mama, who believes that her husband is dead. Then Annie's appendix bursts, and she's stuck in the hospital for over a month. / During her stay, she gets an unusual visitor ― President Harry S. Truman. Though everyone insists he's a figment of her imagination, the president offers Annie the friendship and support she desperately needs. / Annie faces more family tension when she's sent to recuperate at her grandma's house. Grandma has taken in a new tenant, Miss Gloria Jean Washington, a young black woman fleeing discrimination and her own sad past. Annie's Uncle Billy, a bitter WWII veteran, is furious because he doesn't want “colored” so close to home. / With the help of Mr. Truman, Annie tries to understand her uncle's behavior, her daddy's absence, and Miss Gloria's sorrow. And she begins to realize that some consequences of war leave permanent scars.

Four years have gone by since fourteen-year-old Annie Leigh Howard joyfully welcomed her father back from World War II. Life isn't back to normal quite as Annie once hoped, though. It is now January 1950 and the Cold War has begun to grip the nation. The family has finally settled in after a major move from Seattle to Tacoma, but Annie's once outgoing and gregarious father, now blind from the war, is retreating from the outside world. Annie is determined to help her father once again embrace life. In the midst of her efforts, she meets Elisabet Vonderveld and her handsome twin brother, Johannes, refugees from Holland. Through them, she comes to see the world differently -- to understand the nature of sacrifice, and the truth that loss in wartime is not limited to those that fight on the battlefield.

A Less than Perfect Peace

Teen & Young Adult

Historical Fiction

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sullivan, Jacqueline Levering. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sullivan, Jacqueline Levering

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sullivan, Jacqueline Levering. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Annie's War

Annie's War

A Less than Perfect Peace