Recommended+Reading+Resources


 * Reading Resources:**
 * Charley Skedaddle** by Patricia Beatty (Morrow, 1987). Charley Quinn, a former member of the New York City street gang the Bowery Boys, is determined to avenge the death of his older brother at the Battle of Gettysburg. At age twelve Charley is too young to enlist as a soldier in the Union Army, but he sneaks onto a troop ship and becomes a drummer boy. His first battle -- the Battle of the Wilderness in the Blue Ridge Mountains -- is a far cry from his expectations, however. His eagerness fades abruptly when he sees men dying all around him and even shoots one Confederate soldier himself. Charley "skedaddles" into the wilderness and is reluctantly taken in by a tough old mountain woman. She does not trust him at first, and he must hide his identity from the mountain folk who would shoot him at the first sound of his northern accent. Charley is plagued by shame over his desertion, but eventually he gets a chance to prove his courage both to Granny Bent and to himself.


 * Eben Tyne, Powdermonkey** by Patricia Beatty and Phillip Robbins (Morrow, 1990). Based on a crucial naval battle that happened in 1862, this book tells the story of Eben Tyne, age thirteen, a powder carrier aboard the Confederate vessel the //Merrimack.// He participates in the ship's victorious attack on the Union blockade of Virginia's Norfolk Bay, and in the bloody and inglorious battle that follows.


 * Jayhawker** by Patricia Beatty (Morrow, 1991). At age twelve, Elijah Tulley has an experience that he will never forget. Radical abolitionist John Brown visits his home and blesses him and his sisters. Lije is forever committed to abolishing slavery, and he becomes even more passionate about the cause when his father is killed while attempting to free some slaves from a Missouri plantation. He becomes a spy for the Union Army, living with a band of bushwhackers and reporting their activities to his fellow abolitionists, or Jayhawkers. The work is dangerous -- he must earn the trust of hardened criminals such as Charley Quantrill, Jim Hickok, and Jesse James -- but Lije draws on inner reserves of courage and cleverness to bring his mission to a successful conclusion.


 * Turn Homeward, Hannalee** by Patricia Beatty (Morrow, 1984). Twelve-year-old Hannalee Reed works in a Georgia textile mill. When General Sherman's troops pass through her town, they burn the mill, round up all the mill workers, and send them to work in the North. Hannalee is separated from her younger brother and another friend, but she is determined to find them and return home. She escapes from the Kentucky household where she is forced to work as a servant and sets off on a daring adventure that brings her face to face with the horrors of war. Based on the true story of the displacement of Georgia mill workers, this book reveals a little-known aspect of the Civil War as it weaves a compelling and moving narrative around a strong female protagonist.


 * With Every Drop of Blood** by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier (Delacorte Press, 1994) Fourteen-year-old Johnny promised his dying father that he would not go off to fight for the South but instead stay to take care of his family. Secretly, however, Johnny hopes for a chance to avenge his father's death at the hands of the Yankees. When he hears about a supply convoy leaving for the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, he decides to join in the effort. Before the wagons get very far, Yankee soldiers attack it, and Johnny is shocked to find himself taking orders from a young African American soldier who takes him prisoner. As the boys gradually get to know each other, Johnny grudgingly begins to respect and like Cush. The friendship that forms between them makes Johnny question the point of the war as well as his own beliefs about African Americans.


 * Lincoln: A Photobiography** by Russell Freedman (Clarion Books, 1987). This is a detailed and balanced account of the life and career of Abraham Lincoln. Illustrated with a wealth of photographs and prints, the biography gives readers a close look at the complex and fascinating man who led the nation through one of its darkest hours.


 * Across Five Aprils** by Irene Hunt (Follett, 1964). Nine-year-old Jethro, who lives in southern Illinois, has an idealized view of war based on stories from history books about dramatic battles and their glorious heroes. When the Civil War breaks out, however, painfully dividing his family as it divides north and south, Jeth must confront the many confusing and horrifying realities of war. At age ten, his father ill and his older brothers off fighting in the war, Jeth becomes the man of the household. //Across Five Aprils// spans the four long years of the war, during which he is transformed from a boy into a young man.


 * Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words** edited by Michael McCurdy (Alfred A. Knopf, 1994) Skillfully selected excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography paint a vivid portrait of the great abolitionist. The story of Douglass's childhood provides a close look at slavery from the perspective of the enslaved, and the account of his escape and subsequent career is both dramatic and inspirational.


 * The Story of Booker T. Washington** by Patricia and Fred McKissack (Childrens Press, 1991) This book provides a brief overview of the life of Booker T. Washington, with many photographs and other illustrations.


 * The Boys' War** by Jim Murphy (Clarion Books, 1990). Many of the soldiers who fought on both sides of the war were not men but children. Jim Murphy's book is an account of the war from the perspective of these young soldiers. It contains many quotations from the boys' journals and letters as well as photographs of the soldiers and the battlegrounds where they fought and died. The book captures their first-hand experiences of war, from the thrill of enlistment through the horrible reality of combat.


 * Shades of Gray** by Carolyn Reeder (Macmillan, 1989). The war has left twelve-year-old Will Page without any immediate family: his father and brother were killed by the Yankees; his sisters died of an epidemic spread from a Union encampment near his Virginia home; and his mother died of grief over these losses. Will reluctantly goes to live with his Uncle Jed and his family, burning with anger over the fact that Jed refused to fight for the Confederate cause. Gradually Will comes to understand that the moral issues involved in the decision to fight were not as clear-cut as he thought, and that good people can have honest disagreements.


 * Harriet Tubman** by M. W. Taylor (Chelsea House Publishers, 1991) Part of the Black Americans of Achievement series, this biography tells the incredible life story of the architect of the Underground Railroad, which helped hundreds of slaves make their way to freedom. The engaging narrative is augmented with many photographs and drawings that bring the text to life.


 * Up from Slavery** by Booker T. Washington (Doubleday, 1963) The great political activist and educator tells the story of his life in his own words. Washington was born into slavery and freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, after which he devoted his life to helping African Americans make a place for themselves in the economy and society of the United States..