Retreat from Gettysburg

by Kathleen Ernst

Overview

A Williamsport boy faces difficult choices when rising Potomac River floodwater traps the Confederate army to reach Virginia after its battle at Gettysburg. His patriotic feeling is tested when in caring for a wounded Confederate, he recognizes the humanity of the other side.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781572494039
Publisher:	White Mane Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/27/2010
Series:	White Mane Kids Series
Pages:	145
Sales rank:	856,389
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Ernst is an award-winning author, educator and social historian. She has published fifteen novels and one nonfiction book, including her bestselling American Girl mystery, Danger at the Zoo, which was an Agatha Award finalist in the category of best children’s/young adult mystery. She took an interpreter job at Old World Wisconsin and later worked as a Curator of Interpretation and Collections at the historical site.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 6-9-Chigger O'Malley, 14, chronicles the Rebel army's retreat through Williamsport, MD. The boy, whose father and brothers fought and died in the Union army, undergoes a crisis of character when he and his mother are forced to care for a wounded Confederate officer. The research and attention to historical detail are exemplary; the author has masterfully combined factual events with a powerful plot. Interspersed throughout the teen's accounting of these two tumultuous weeks in 1863 are period photographs, reproduced from a variety of institutions such as the National Archives and the C & O Canal National Historic Park. These illustrations are seamlessly integrated with the narrative. Through the pacing and point of view, Ernst does a good job of holding readers' interest, and the main character's voice is clear and compelling. An excellent example of how to teach history through fiction.-Toniann Scime, Amherst Museum, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Teachers will find the book extreamely useful for further study about the events, as well as a heart-warming, intense look at how youngsters and widows might have dealt with losing their fathers and husbands in the Civil War.

Civil War Book Review