The Bravest Girl in Sharpsburg (Wm Kids) [Paperback]

Kathleen Ernst (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up | Series: Wm Kids

Learn how the Civil War divided friends and tested courage from the experiences of real teenage girls whose hometown lay at the center of conflict in September 1862.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-In this historical novel, three young women experience the Civil War firsthand. Teresa Kretzer and Savilla Miller are best friends until their differing political viewpoints end their friendship. Teresa is a fierce supporter of the Union, while Savilla's sympathies lie with the secessionists. When the Confederate Army literally marches through their hometown of Sharpsburg, MD, the girls are vaulted into the midst of battle. They cope with bombardment and disease, and eventually mend their friendship. The story is told through the shifting points of view of Savilla, Teresa, and her younger sister, Bethie. All of the characters are well drawn. Scattered throughout are historical photographs of the real Sharpsburg, which adds to the atmosphere of the novel. It's unfortunate that the cover is so unattractive. Once beyond it, though, readers will find a lovely, poignant story.
Elizabeth M. Reardon, McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Kathleen Ernst is a social historian and educator who frequently writes about the Civil War in Maryland. Her first novel, The Night Riders of Harpers Ferry, is popular with students and teachers.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: White Mane Publishing Company (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572490837
• ISBN-13: 978-1572490833
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,379,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathleen Ernst is a novelist, social historian, and educator. Her seventeenth book is "The Heirloom Murders: A Chloe Ellefson Mystery," the second in a series of novels for adult readers that are set at historic sites. The first Chloe book, "Old World Murder," was published in 2010 and is available from Amazon as a trade paperback and for the Kindle.

Kathleen's historical fiction for children and young adults include eight American Girl mysteries set between 1732 and 1945, and five novels for young readers set during the American Civil War. These titles have earned four Arthur Tofte Juvenile Fiction Awards, the Flora MacDonald Award, a WILLA Finalist Award, an Edgar Award nomination, and three Agatha Award nominations.

Kathleen has also authored a nonfiction adult book about the Civil War, "Too Afraid to Cry: Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign," which was an alternate selection of the History Book Club. It tells the stories of non-combatants who found themselves caught up in the bloodiest day in American history.

For ten years Kathleen wrote instructional video scripts for public television; honors for those include a regional Emmy Award, Platinum Best of Show Aurora Award, and a Wilbur Schramm Award of Excellence.

Kathleen has a Masters Degree in History Education and Writing from Antioch University, where her self-designed program focused on nontraditional methods of teaching and learning history--with a special emphasis on historical fiction. She spent over a decade as a Curator of Interpretation and Collections with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Historic Sites Division, which provided great material for her novels.

She lives near Madison, Wisconsin with her husband Scott and Sophie the cat. Some of her greatest pleasures include gardening, learning folk crafts, traveling to research new books, and hearing from readers.

Kathleen has a blog, Sites and Stories, writes poetry and essays, and is working on her third Chloe Ellefson mystery and new books for American Girl.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Civil War Era Storytelling, October 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bravest Girl in Sharpsburg (Wm Kids) (Paperback)

THE BRAVEST GIRL IN SHARPSBURG by Kathleen Ernst Madeline L'Engle once said that when she was pondering a difficult question, she would write a novel for young adults on it. In that tradition, Kathleen Ernst explores the nature of courage in THE BRAVEST GIRL IN SHARPSBURG. She centers her story around what has been called the bloodiest day in American history-September 17, 1862 when the people of Sharpsburg, Maryland found themselves embroiled forever in the Civil War. Told alternately in the voices of sisters Bethie and Teresa Kretzer, whose family sympathies lie with the Union, and their friend Savilla Miller, whose family is for the Confederacy, it begins when seamstress Teresa fashions a magnificent version of the stars and stripes and sends the banner waving over the town's main street, in defiance of her neighbors' neutral or South leaning politics. It ends in all three girls' involvement in the war as Lee's army crosses the Potomac and into their lives. Along the way, Kathleen Ernst's skill and compassionate heart invites lucky readers into a world of threads binding sisters and brothers and friends, where a blacksmith farmer introduces his boldest daughter with "she's got sand" , where women get "belled up" for festivities one day and scrap their knuckles bloody as they turn heirloom damask tablecloths into lint for bandages, another. Savilla, Bethie, Teresa and their kinswomen feed grateful soldiers who are "skinny as stray dogs in winter," act as Confederate spies, are courted by a pacifist and men of both sides of the conflict, and assist conductors on the Underground Railroad. Ernst adds a unique new chapter to Civil War stories, giving voice to the usually voiceless casualties of that conflict: a wide-eyed boy killed by a mob when he was on the wrong road at the wrong time, the fleeing widowed refugees fearing reprisals against themselves and their children, the soldiers and civilians downed by fever, accidents, or their own comrades, and the citizens of Sharpsburg who endured the shelling of that infamous day. Through it all, this powerful novel brings the painful choices of a border state dramatically to life. In Author's Notes both fine scholarship and honor and affection for the people and events on which the novel is based are in evidence. And who was the bravest girl in Sharpsburg? Kathleen Ernst has wisely left that up to her young readers to decide. --Eileen Charbonneau, author of HONOR TO THE HILLS

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, December 12, 2003

By 

bobolincoln "bobolincoln" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bravest Girl in Sharpsburg (Wm Kids) (Paperback)

Kathleen Ernst has very graciously refrained from rating her own book in her comments here about writing it, which has knocked down the average reader rating. Too bad. We need to get everybody who buys it from Amazon to rate it and bring the average up.

The book is simply outstanding. The story is suspenseful, insightful, and very moving; and it bodies forth the historical events with astonishing accuracy. The addition of Teresa Kretzer's sister, Bethie, as a third narrator adds an unexpected dimension of inwardness. And how remarkable that the two characters locked in conflict, Teresa and Savilla, are so differently and deeply realized.

This is a study in different aspects of courage. It is a study of war and its impact on friends, families, and neighbors. And for each character, it is a study of conversion and repentance and reconciliation.

I believe I've read now all of Kathleen Ernst's stories to date. Every one of them is exceptional. This one strikes me as the best.