"I write this down in sadness. Everyone in the whole world is in grave danger.

My name is Ana Ariano. I am twelve years old. Everything I know and everything I believe in has exploded. War has exploded.

My mother says that these times are very important, and I should write everything down so that I will remember it forever. She means it, but I am also pretty sure she will read everything I write.

There is a lot to write down, so here goes."

Rapidly transitioning from farmland to a manufacturing boomtown built to supply the U.S. and its allies with ammunition during World War I, the town of Nitro, West Virginia, spent 1918 hurtling from one century

into the next.

In this work of historical fiction, Ann Calwell, who grew up in Nitro, reimagines her hometown's history through the eyes of 12-year-old Ana Ariano.