Sarah Rash�

May 10, 2006

English 112B

Dr. Warner

Literature and the History of the America Civil War

In Literature for Today�s Young Adults, Kenneth L. Donelson and Alleen Pace Nilsen state that, �Reading historical novels satisfies our curiosity about other times, places, and people, and even more important, it provides adventure, suspense and mystery� (225). While still fiction, historical novels allow the reader to step into the lives of people who have lived in times gone by and experience a life that is utterly different, yet perhaps in some ways similar to their own lives. Such books are often (or should be) accurate to the history that they are portraying and filled with all the cultural elements that work together to create a place and time uniquely its own.

Like many other forms of literature, historical fiction offers insight to human nature and the struggles that real people face. The stories may have fictional elements, but on page 227 of their book, Donelson and Nilsen offer seven suggestions for what they believe every good historical fiction book must entail.

1) A setting that is integral to the story.

2) An authentic rendition of the time, place, and people being featured.

3) An author who is so thoroughly steeped in the history of the period that he or she can be comfortably creative without making mistakes.

4) Believable characters with whom young readers can identify.

5) Evidence that even across great time spans people share similar emotions.

6) References to well-known events or people or other clues through which the reader can place the happenings in their correct historic framework.

7) Readers who come away with the feeling that they know a time or place better. It is as if they have lived in it for at least a few hours.

It is through these criteria that the following selections of historical fiction have been chosen for compilation. They offer both factual and informative information while also creating stories of fiction through which students and adults alike can enjoy and learn from.

War novels play an important role in the genre of historical fiction as such books allow students to become familiar with what Donelson and Nilsen refer to as the �ambiguous nature of war� (237). The American Civil War is a prime example of war in such an ambiguous state; horror and evil are accompanied by the valor, bravery and heroism of many a person. Novels relating to the Civil War offer insight into a wide variety of viewpoints: experiences of Northern Union �Yankees,� Southern Confederate �Rebels,� White, Black, slave, free, male and female can all be read about and learned from. Such a wide study of perspectives allow for a greater understanding of the causes of war and the motivations of those fighting in it. Rather than comprehending the war to be merely about a struggle between slaveholders and abolitionists, readers of historical fiction of the Civil War may come to a more complex understanding of the many and varied elements that cause the nation to go through such turmoil.

Beatty, Patricia. Charley Skedaddle. New York: Morrow, 1987.

Summary: During the Civil War, the twelve-year-old Charley Quinn from New York City joins the union army as a drummer. This former member of the Bowery Boys, one of New York�s toughest gangs, sets out for revenge against the Rebel army after his brother is killed at Gettysburg. When the time comes for Charley to face battle he becomes terrified and repulsed by the terrors of war, and he �skedaddles� to the mountains in order to hide from both the Union and Confederate Armies. Charley then meets Jerusha �Granny� Bent and goes to work for her as merely a mute �Boy.� Through an act of extreme courage, away from the eyes and judgments of other people, Charley proves to Granny, and more importantly, to himself, that he is in no way the coward he believes himself to be.

Application: This book addresses important issues such as gangs, revenge, bravery/cowardice, honor, and the search for identity. Told from the eyes of an adolescent boy, this book provides a story from the prospective of one who is not necessarily fighting for his country, but rather for the sake of his honor and personal identity.

Beatty, Patricia. I Want My Sunday, Stranger. New York: Morrow, 1977.

Summary: Andrew, a young Mormon boy from California, loves his lightening-fast horse, Sunday; however, Sunday is stolen by a group of Confederate soldiers. The story unfolds as Andrew runs away from home with a goal to find and take back his horse. Andrew�s journey takes him down into Mexico and Texas where he joins up with a ferrographer who plans to photograph the wide human suffering of the Civil War. It is only when Andrew is taken onto the battlefields of Gettysburg that the carnage he witnesses brings him to realize that not all victories in life depend on the speed of horses.

Application: This book provides a look at someone who is not directly related to the North vs. South, Confederate vs. Union fight of the war. The circumstances that lead Andrew to the war torn East coast are personal and self-motivated, but Andrew comes to realize that there are elements in life that are more important than horses and he discovers within himself a greater understanding for mankind.

Beatty, Patricia. Jawhawker. New York: Morrow, 1991.

Summary: He's a jayhawker--an abolitionist raider--from Kansas caught up in the raids and skirmishes between the jayhawkers and the pro-slavery bushwhackers of Missouri before and during the war. After his father is killed on a raid, Lije works as a spy in Missouri, passing news of bushwhacker plans to an equally daring young woman, with whom he falls in love.

Application: The author deftly brings in historical figures--John Brown, Jesse James--and weaves actual events such as the infamous bushwhacker raid on Lawrence, Kansas, into her tale. Gruesome accounts of the killing and destruction in this lesser known Civil War theater deepen the impact; neither pro-North nor pro-South, this is instead a dramatic and compelling antiwar narrative.

Summary and application taken from �Jayhawker� at www.amazon.com

Beatty, Patricia. Turn Homeward, Hannalee. New York: Morrow, 1984.

Summary: When Hannalee Reed is taken from her Georgia home town and shipped with two thousand textile workers to work in Yankee mills, she vows to make her way back to her family in Georgia. This story follows Hannalee�s journey back to Georgia and the family she left behind. Along the way she encounters many horrors of warfare and becomes aware of the lasting changes that war brings to the lives of all involved.

Application: The story of Hannalee and the Georgia textile workers is based on actual events, as are the sights, places and issues presented within the novel. Hannalee shows some of the personal strength, growth and change that occurs from such war and upheaval. Her story is a part of one of the lesser known events of the Civil War and therefore offers a unique perspective on the struggles and hardships faced by the war-torn nation.

Beatty, Patricia, and Phillip Robbins. Eben Tyne, Powdermonkey. New York: Morrow, 1990.

Summary: Set in 1862, this novel tells the story of Eben Tyne, a thirteen-year-old boy from Virginia and his involvement with the Confederate ironclad vessel named the Merrimack. Through his story, readers learn of the important changes in naval warfare that occurred during the Civil War, by both Southern and Northern armies, and the inner battle of Eben as he is required to call on all his strength, courage and loyalty throughout the horrors and hardships of war that he must endure.

Application: Eben�s story addresses the growth and development of courage, bravery and allegiance to one�s beliefs, as well as the fears and insecurities facing not only those in war but youth in general. The historical depictions of the naval vessels and naval warfare are vivid and impacting.

Paulsen, Gary. Soldier�s Heart. New York: Random House, 1998.

Summary: Charley Goddard leaves his home and family to go join the First Minnesota Volunteers when the Civil War began in 1861. At fifteen years of age he is not sure exactly what a war is or what he is fighting for, but he knows that he wants to be a part of the action. Charley comes to find that what he thinks will be an adventure is actually a horror and struggle to survive. He goes through several battles and is finally sent home, wounded and broken by the trauma and stress of fighting.

Application: This novel is based on the real life of Charley Goddard who, at age fifteen, lied his way into the army and ended up fighting in many of the Civil War�s greatest battles. His character deals with the emotional and mental wounds of warfare.

Rinaldi, Ann. Girl in Blue. New York: Scholastic, 2001.

Summary: Inspired by the war fever of 1861, and tired of her father's mistreatment, 15-year-old Sarah Wheelock determines to run away and join the Union forces to fight the Confederacy. The last straw comes when her father promises her hand in marriage to a man who is twice her age and has the manners of a bear. After she cuts her hair, changes clothes, and lowers her voice, Sarah has few problems passing as a boy: years of hard farm labor have toughened her physically, and she has a natural talent for impersonation. Soon, young Private "Neddy Compton" is on the road to Washington, DC, with the 2nd Michigan Infantry. Despite being a model enlisted "man," Sarah is unmasked, and is transferred into the Secret Service, part of Allan Pinkerton's network of spies. Her acting skills are tested in a new and dangerous disguise, as a servant to notorious Rose Greenhow and other Southern sympathizers who are being held under house arrest.

Application: This novel deals with themes of patriotism, loyalty and intelligence as well as the very real history of women soldiers in disguise and soldiers as well as citizens undercover and spying.

Summary taken from �Girl in Blue� at www.amazon.com

Rinaldi, Ann. Numbering all the Bones. New York: Hyperion, 2002.

Summary: In 1864, thirteen-year-old Eulinda, a house slave on a plantation in Georgia, is struggling with the sale of her younger brother to a different owner, an older brother run away to join the Northern army, a mean mistress and a master who refuses to acknowledge Eulinda as his daughter. When Eulinda�s mistress takes on a boarder named Janie, who offers Eulinda the chance to go North, Eulinda�s strength of character is tested. Eulinda decides to stay when she learns that her older brother, Neddy, may be in jail at the Andersonville Prison, one of the worst holding camps in the South. Eulinda meets Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, and as she helps clean up the prison after the war is over, Eulinda learns that she must obey the callings of her heart.

Application: This story relates some of the horrors of the prison camps, struggles of Blacks both free and enslaved, bigotry, and family separation.

Rinaldi, Ann. Sarah�s Ground. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Summary: this historical novel is set in Virginia during the Civil War and loosely based on a true story. The setting is not a battlefield but a place revered by both the Union and the Confederacy, Mount Vernon. Just before the war breaks out, narrator Sarah Tracy, an 18-year-old from Troy, New York, accepts a position as caretaker at Mount Vernon. The determined, if inexperienced, Sarah faces a series of threats to the house, to Washington's tomb, and to her own reputation and security. From her encounters with neighbors and soldiers and from the scene in which the Mount Vernon slaves are freed, Sarah learns that issues and attitudes are not always simple or predictable.

Application: The book highlights the many societal restrictions on eighteenth-century women, the coming of age of a young woman, and the true struggle a single woman fighting for the independence and safety of a national landmark.

The Civil War Through a Child�s Eyes. Ed. Micki Caskey and Paul Gregorio. 1 Oct. 2002. Library of Congress: American Memory. 6 May 2006 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/99/civilwar/index.html.

Summary and application: This site offers teacher and students a two week lesson on the Civil War as see through the lives of children. There are teacher unit plans and slide shows for students, as well as a suggestion for a core book, Bull Run by Paul Fleischman, which ought to be coupled with the site. The images and lesson plans help bring to life the plight and struggles of children during the Civil War. This site is aimed for sixth through eighth grade students.