Using The Secret Project Notebook in the Classroom

Chapter One

p. 1 Mesa

p. 5 WAC — Unlike today's "co-ed" army, during World War II, women served in the Woman's Army Corps and were called WACs. They filled non-combat military jobs to free men for the battlefield.

FYI: Besides the fact that here were no superhighways or interstates in the 1940s, roads were in bad condition because of other wartime priorities. The federal government had set speed limits at 35 mph to conserve gasoline and make tires last longer. The Maddens drove from southwest of Indianapolis, IN, where Franklin's father was a professor at Purdue University (though the book doesn't specify this) to a site near Santa Fe, NM.

Questions for discussion: How would the Madden family’s trip be different from a similar trip your family might take? What are some of the ways you think their life on the Hill might be very different from life in a University town in the midwest?

Chapter Two

p. 14 The Katzenjammer Kids—In spite of strong anti-German feelings during WWII, comic books and newspaper comic strips featuring Hans and Fritz, the Katzenjammer Kids, continued to be published. At various times, the strip appeared under different names, including The Captain and the Kids.

p. 23 Flora and fauna—scientific terms for plants and animals

p. 23 Anglos—In the American southwest, the word refers to a non-Hispanic white person.

Chapter Four

Question for discussion: Why do you think it was so important for people on the Hill to conserve water?

p. 29 pueblos—southwest Indian villages

p.29 inkwell—Before ballpoint or other "modern" pens were invented, people used fountain pens that had to be refilled with liquid ink. A hole in the upper corner of each school desk would hold an ink bottle. (The first ballpoint pens were sold in the US in 1945 for $12.50 in a New York department store.)

p. 30 potential—ability that can be developed

Chapter Five

p. 32 What Fritz saw at Bandolier National Monument 1 and 2

Chapter Six

Questions for discussion after reading: Why did people on the Hill accept censorship of their mail and other limits to their personal freedom? Do you think people would respond in the same way today? Why/why not?

Chapter Seven

p. 46 adobe—a natural clay building material used in hot climates. (The word is from a Spanish word meaning "to plaster.")

Chapter Eight

p. 49 FYI: Students didn't begin using "day packs" or backpacks for carrying school books until decades after WWII, so carrying a knapsack made Fritz stick out like a sore thumb. Back then, younger students sometimes carried their school things in a bookbag—a childhood version of a briefcase. Older boys usually carried a stack of books in one hand, pressed between the arm and the side. Older girls usually carried a stack of books in front of them, cradled in both arms, close to the body. Fritz's knapsack was a simple "army-green" canvas pack. No padded straps, no pack frame, no zippers—and certainly no velcro—in those days. Just straps with small buckles to secure the overlapping flap that closed the pack.

Chapter Nine

Question for discussion: (after p. 61) Why do you think Mrs. Madden usually cooked on the hot plate instead of the stove? What are some favorite foods that could not be prepared on a hotplate? [Students may need to be reminded that microwave ovens were far in the future—and that many of today’s favorite foods were not yet on the market.]

p. 62 Quonset huts

Chapter Twelve

p. 85 petroglyphs

p. 89 "school for rich men's sons"—Before the army took over the area for the secret project, it had been the site of a boarding school for boys.

p. 91 Lise Meitner—Austrian-born scientist who developed the theory that was the basis for the work being done on the Hill. (She is often referred to as German because Germany had annexed Austria.)

Chapter Fourteen

p. 101 ration points—Items that were scarce during WWII were "rationed" by the government to prevent hoarding and make sure everyone got a fair share. Every family or single person received ration stamps, each worth a certain number of "points." Various foods—meat, sugar, butter, canned goods, etc.—were worth varying numbers of points, and ration stamps had to be handed over to the cashier along with the money to purchase the foods. Gasoline, shoes, and other items were also rationed, and buying them required ration points, too.

p. 102 the Allies—"our side" in the war; all the countries fighting against the Nazis and Japanese.

Questions for discussion after p. 106-10: Why did Fritz lie to Manny? Do you think his lie was justified? Why/why not?

Chapter Seventeen

p. 120 "Loose Lips Sink Ships" posters 1 and 2

Chapter Twenty

p. 147 Locate Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and the Rio Grande Valley on a map.

Chapter Twenty-One

p. 149 bunker—underground shelter used in wartime

p. 150 V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day

Chapter Twenty-Two

p. 157 army post office box—Mail for soldiers overseas was addressed to them at an APO Box number and then forwarded to them. (All soldiers in a particular division would have the same box number.) This way, mail followed troops on the move while also keeping secret all information about troop movements.

Chapter Twenty-Three

p. 163 Kamikaze attacks—Beginning in late 1944, the Japanese military recruited and trained young men to crash their planes into the decks of the Allies' aircraft carriers and other ships.

Question for discussion: What are the similarities between the kamikaze attacks and the suicide bombers of the twenty-first century? Under what circumstances is this kind of tactic likely to be used?

p. 163 Okinawa—island about 400 miles south of Japan where fierce fighting took place after American forces landed. It was the bloodiest battle of the war in the Pacific. The closer the fighting came to Japan, the fiercer it was, and this island was the front-line of defense for the "home islands." The U.S. had to take Okinawa in order to isolate Japan from its source of raw materials as well as to deprive the enemy of the island's airfields and harbors. Also, the plan was to launch the invasion of Japan from Okinawa.

Chapter Twenty-Five

FYI: p. 176 Gail didn't include a zip code in the address because they hadn't yet come into use.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

p. 224 the blast melted the desert sand into green glass—Some of the scientists kept these souvenirs of the blast for years, not knowing the danger of the radioactivity they emitted. This no doubt contributed to the high rate of cancer in families who had worked on the Hill.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

p. 230 Peaceful ways? Discuss some of the peaceful ways atomic energy is used today.

Chapter Thirty

p. 235 Iwo Jima—The Japanese forces defending the island of Iwo Jima (which was about 600 miles from Tokyo) had dug bunkers, caves, and underground passages in the soft, volcanic rock. In order to defeat the enemy and occupy the island, American soldiers used hand grenades and flame throwers to kill soldiers in these hiding places.

Chapter Thirty-One

p.240 Find Tinian Island on a world map (in the Mariana Islands, south of Japan).

Historical Note

Suggestion: If students begin to discuss the issue of whether the bomb should or shouldn’t have been dropped, at some point make it clear to them that while they may have strong opinions on the subject, they do not have enough information or knowledge to make definite statements, one way or the other. Be sure the students understand that scholars and historians who have studied the situation haven't necessarily agreed.

Questions for discussion after students have finished reading the book:

In what ways did Fritz's school life differ from yours? How much of this was because this was 1944-45, and how much was because it was a small school in a remote and unusual location?

What were some of the techniques Fritz used in dealing with the bullies? How successful was each of these techniques? Do you think any of these techniques would work today?

What are some of the ways you know that the stress of working on the project was affecting Fritz's father?

Voluntary projects for interested students:

Students interested in WWII could find out more about The Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Okinawa, and the Battle of Iwo Jima. Other students could find out more about one of the following: Lise Mietner, Masada, the Arms Race, the Cold War, and life on the American home front (including food preparation and fashions).

Using tacks and colored yarn, on a world map, show (as the crow flies):

The Madden family’s route from Indiana to the Hill.
Jacob's route from Germany, to Denmark, to Sweden, to England, to the Hill.

On the same map, show some of the countries that were the homelands of the Los Alamos scientists: Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland.

On a map of the U.S., use pins (or some other method) to locate some of the Universities that provided the significant numbers of scientists for the project at Los Alamos: UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Perdue University.

On a world map, show these sites that were mentioned in the story:

Dresden, Germany, which was destroyed by British bombers
Death camps liberated by the Allies in April '45
Area of the Battle of the Bulge, which Fritz mentioned
The Italian area (N. of Rome, in the Apennines) where Kathy’s brother was fighting
Battle sites in the Pacific mentioned in the story (Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Saipan)
The Japanese cities destroyed by A-bombs: Hiroshima and Nagasaki