The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman 225 p.

At a Los Angeles Catholic school in 1949, Francine Green lives in a world where she has been been trained to "sit down" and "be quiet." She learns to hide under her desk in case of an atomic bomb attack, and, like many Americans, her family plans to build a bomb shelter in the backyard. Everyone is worried that communists will take over the U. S. When her outspoken best friend Sophie is expelled from school and Sophie's father is unfairly blacklisted and loses his job, Francine decides it is time for her to speak up against injustice.