I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

January 15, 2013
The seventh (chronologically earliest) entry in the series pitches a young former slave into the middle of the Civil War's pivotal battle. Having saved a Union soldier named Henry Green by hurling a live skunk at his Confederate captors, young Thomas finds himself and his little sister Birdie adopted by Green's unit. Three weeks, an ambush and a quick march later, Thomas unexpectedly finds himself in the thick of the fighting--possibly on Missionary Ridge itself, though the author doesn't provide a specific location. Rather than go into details of the battle, Tarshis offers broad overviews of slavery and the war's course (adding more about the latter in an afterword that includes the text of the Gettysburg Address). She folds these into quick pictures of military camp life and the violence-laced fog of war. Afterward, Thomas and Birdie are reunited with their older cousin Clem, who had been sold away, and make good on a promise to Green (who doesn't survive) to settle with his Vermont parents and attend the school taught by his sweetheart. Sentimental of plotline but informative and breathlessly paced. (Q&A, annotated reading list) (Historical fiction. 9-11)

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April 15, 2013
Grades 1-4 Tarshis, author of the popular Emma-Jean Lazarus novels, presents a highly personalized narrative of the Battle of Gettysburg. The story follows former slave Thomas and his little sister Birdie as they fall in with Union forces and make their way north. The Union army rolls toward its epic clash in a small Pennsylvania town, and Thomas becomes a unwitting participant in one of the most formative events in American history. Tarshis writes with sharp, clear, emotional language: There they were, rebel soldiers ready to charge. There were thousands of themmen in front on horseback, waving gleaming swords. Back matter includes common questions and answers about the Civil War, along with the text of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Others in the I Survived series include high-interest topics such as Pearl Harbor and September 11.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)