Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth

Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth is an amazing book that tells the story of 11-year-old Reenie, who is trying to help her brother avoid the draft to the Vietnam War. Her mother’s dying wish was for Reenie’s brother, Billy, to avoid the draft and go to college. Unfortunately, Reenie’s family is short on money due to her mother’s medical bills from cancer.
Reenie loves to help carry out her mom’s wish and devotes every cent she earns on her morning paper route to her brother’s college fund. Before her paper route starts, she wants to introduce herself to the people on her route. But when she rings Mr. Marsworth’s bell, he doesn’t come out to meet her. So instead she leaves a letter introducing herself to him. To her delight, he answers two days later! Soon she tells him about trying to keep Billy home, and she finds out that he is willing to help her because he lost his own son to the war in Korea. Mr. Marsworth is worried about her meeting people her own age, so he says she can visit his old cottage on the beach. Reenie finds an old pennant from a college and Mr. Marsworth remembers an old friend who might be able to help Billy into college.

The book talked about many subjects that were new to me, like the Vietnam War. I really enjoyed the book overall and it kept me excited about finding out Mr. Marsworth’s reasons for wanting to help Reenie and Billy so much. The letter style was a great choice for the book as well. I would recommend this book to kids 11 and up.