Customer Reviews

Bull Run

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You can accuse Paul Fleischman of a lot of things. Laziness is not one of them. When I told the kids in the bookclub I run that we were going to be reading something called "Bull Run" by a Mr. Paul Fleischman, they were quick to inform me that they were already familiar with him. "He's the guy who wrote, 'Joyful Noise'!", cried one delightedly. I agreed that this was indeed his best-known work but that, "Bull Run" was probably going to prove to be a little different from a poetry book of insect noises. This turned out to be a particularly foresighted statement when some concerned parents informed me that they were not comfortable with the violence of this book and would rather that their children not read it. I was caught a little unawares. I shouldn't have been. If you are one of those concerned parents, allow me to tell you that yes, there is violence in "Bull Run". Heck, you're not going to have a whole book about a single exceedingly bloody battle without some blood actually making it into the text. However, the battle violence is brief and the story a compelling one. If you've a kid just hankering for the glories of combat, this should snap them out of THAT little fantasy right quick.

The story follows the narratives of sixteen people. Some are black. Some are white. Some are men fighting against the South and some are women fighting against the North. Each voice is distinguished from its fellows and tells its own very particular tale. Sometimes these voices repeat within the book. Other times, they speak thrice and then vanish without a trace. People die, others survive, and some just linger on the sidelines. Most stories, however, end up at the Battle of Bull Run. Fleischman deftly weaves together historical facts with fictional characters to provide an honestly interesting view of the entirety of the Civil War encapsulated in a single book.

There are many similarities between this title and "Soldier's Heart" by Gary Paulson. Of the two, however, "Bull Run" is the more interesting book. "Soldier's Heart" just follows a single soldier. It's more a kind of "Red Badge of Courage" than a multi-person point-of-view. This is where Fleischman has the advantage. At the end of this book, he includes the page numbers of each character. If readers would like to perform this book as a kind of Readers' Theater, this is how they can do so. Likewise, if you've a child that needs to deliver a monologue, I can think of no better resource than this book for them. That's all "Bull Run" is anyway. Monologue after monologue after monologue.

There's no monotony, though. Fleischman expertly picks out the most interesting aspects and characters of the war (that are appropriate for child readers to meet) and displays them before our eyes. I was much attached to the livery cab driver Edmund Upwing, who brings rich residents out to the hills above Washington D.C. to watch the battle like a football game. Ditto photographer Nathaniel Epp who acts the ultimate profiteer, making money out of death and destruction. If there are lessons to be learned from this book, they probably boil down to, "War is Hell", and that's that. Fleischman is just as willing to show the tawdry side of Northerners as he is Southerners. A wonderful look at two sides of a oddly viewed controversy.

"Bull Run" is a far cry from bug poetry. Just the same, it's a well-written take on a difficult time. I wouldn't mind saying that certain characters in this book should be required reading in schools. Kids could pick who they wanted to read. Then they could read the opposite point of view. Few books offer as much.

As america entered the civil war, 16 men and women must survive as they and their loved ones go off to war. This compelling tale by Paul Fleischman talks about the hardships that had to be taken during the time of the Civil War. The story starts out with Colonel Oliver Brattle, a Southerner who is in the midst of battle. Then the story goes on to talk about Lily Maloy, a northerner whose brother had gone off to war. And the story goes on to talk about other characters, from the north and south, men and women, black and white. Also in the beginning it talks about the attack on Fort Sumter, and the movement of troops to Bull Run.

You will notice that most of the story revolves around the march of troops to Bull Run. There are a lot of battles in this book. The battles usually revolve around the battles between the attack on Fort Sumter and the battle at Bull Run.

Characters like Colonel Oliver Brattle, Shem Sugs, and Carlotta King were from the south. Other characters like Lily Malloy, Gideon Adams, and A.B. Tilbury were from the north. Though these characters were seperated by the north and the south they had some of the same interests of either to stop war or going into war.

As you read through the book you start to see the personality of each character, some of the personalities you can relate to. Dr. William Rye has a careless personality in some of the story. Toby Boyce has a independent personality along with a kids personality. Hopefully you will find a character that has a personality that best fits you. I think that Im most like Virgil Peavey.

In my own opinion this novel is a good buy. Its my favorite book of 2006 and maybe 2007. It has great detail of the battle of Bull Run and is great for schools, but that is my own opinion. The characters use a lot of additives, and similes. This is a great book for silent reading at home or at school.

This book also contains information on what it was like for the soldiers who fought during the civil war, and what it was like to have a family member in the civil war. Not only does give that information but it gives information on famous leaders of the Civil War and information on famous battles during that time.

One thing about the book that makes it so special is that it can be used in a readers theater. You can have certain people do certain parts. Another reason why this book is so special is because after you read even a sentence, it will make you want to read on until you reach the end of the book.

If you don't like to read about the Civil war, this is still a good book to read. It still relates to recent wars, and problems that must be overcome everyday. An example of this is when Toby Boyce said he could play a fife, though he didn't know how, just because he wanted to enter the war. That example talks about how sometimes we lie to get what we want most.

Just to encourage your buying of this book I have decided to add some text entries from the book. Toby Boyce: "I was eleven years old and desperate to kill a yankee before the supply ran out." Gideon Adams: "To be a Negro living in the midst of whites, unknown to them, is to be a ghost spying among the living." Hopefully this entries encourage you to buy this book.

If you do not want to buy this book, check out other books by Paul Fleischman like the Borning, Saturnalia, and Joyful Noise. Thank you for reading my review.

Paul Fleischmen does it again in The Great Battle of Bull Run. This novel received many awards and starred reviews such as the 1994 Scott O'Dell Award, The Best Book for Young Adults, A Notable Children's Book, and Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 1993. It's based on the battle of Bull Run. Even though the characters are fictional, the factual background is true.

Bull Run, which was the first battle in the Civil War, is a story told from 16 different points view. Women or men, black or white, they were all involved in the great Battle of Bull Run. All of the characters are facing the same problems but describe the events from a different perspective. They are either whirled into flowers of joy, or kicked into a mass of frightening knots. Each character describes his or her experience during the Great Battle of Bull Run.

The writing style is unique because it varies with each person speaking. For example, Gideon Adams, who is African American, feels lost in a world full of whites. His language is uneducated and you can tell. Lilly Malloy has much more educated speech and can definitely be putrid to other people, while Gideon Adams couldn't criticize anyone if he tried. This book is definitely worth your time and money because the events are true, the individuals are real, and the battle was the first and bloodiest conflict in the Civil War. The story does not try to make you feel happy, which makes you feel like you're really there.

Bull Run, by Paul Fleischman, is a fictional story about the Civil War told by sixteen different people. The book was written so that you could see the war from different perspectives. Some of these characters are from the South and some from the North. There are both men and women, as well as a few children.
I thought that the book was an interesting way to read about the Civil War. I was able to easily read it and it held my interest. My favorite character was Toby Boyce. He is an eleven year old boy from the South. He joins the war by pretending he is a musician.
I would recommend this book to anyone who needs some information about the Civil War. I think that teenager readers and up would get the most out of this book.

When I first started reading this book I thought that it was boring and I felt like I could fall asleep, but then it started turning out to be really interesting and enjoyable.

In this novel, war hasn't started yet but it soon does, after. This book has many different characters but the subject is all the same. Some of the characters were sometimes convincing, but sometimes the story got boring because at times they just talked aboutwhat there children did or what the characters were worrying about, like war. I really liked the way that Lily Malloy would describe things such as, mother wailed or other type of describing words she used. The book was really interesting here and there.

Northerners and Southerners were talked a lot about in this book. Pretty much all the characters were either from some state in the South or from some state in the North. The theme to this book was war. This book really isn't my kind of reading because I like books that have a little bit of love or romance in them, but I sort of liked this novel. I can relate to this book with my friend Ann, because in this book Shem Suggs loves horses and so does my friend Ann. I don't like books that talk about historical facts or anything like that. I guess in school that's what you would read, books like that.

Bull Run was a Newbery Award-winning book, which the author wrote. I feel that if your are an adventurish person you'll enjoy this book. This book, kind of left me hanging, becuase of the end . I'm not going to ruin the end of the book for you though! Read the book and then you'll find out how I felt. Very touched and agervated at times. It made me feel like I was hanging on to the edge of my chair.

The title of the book I read is Bull Run by Paul Fleischman. The setting is in the 1860's in Virginia, the battle of Bull Run. There are twelve main characters two examples are Toby and Gideon. Toby is young and likes drums he also wants to be in the war. Gideon was afraid to come out and say who he was and the color of his skin because he was afraid of being killed. The theme of Bull Run is to show peoples perspectives on how they felt. Some of the people were afraid to say who and what they are,while others are perfectly fine with saying who and what they are. My opinion of the book is I thought it was a fairly good book. At times it was sad but yet it could have been good at times because when family members found out that other family members were all right. It made me change my mind on how the war really was. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about wars and History. I would also like to recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about peoples perspectives and to the lower and higher reading levels. This book was short and sweet and doesn't take very long to read.

Bull Run, a book about the Civil War, was written by Paul Fleishman. Paul is skilled at putting many interesting characters into a book such as Toby Boyce, Shem Shuggs, and Lily Malloy and 13 others.
The characters come from diferent places both physically and emotionally.
Though fighting each other, they learn a lot. They are from the North and South are men and women and are white and black. You will like this book because if you read it you can feel their experience and it will change you. Everyone will enjoy this powerful story.

Told in an award-winning style, people from both sides explain their roles in one of the first battles of the Civil War. Soldiers, slaves, mothers, and sisters describe the glory and the horror of the Battle of Bull Run.

I can't help thinking that a book like this would be a positive breeze to write once you'd done the research -- and Civil War research is not so tough; it's not so long ago, after all. But I suppose that isn't the point?

Anyway -- what Fleischman does is create sixteen characters, northern and southern, ranging from a general to a slave to a society matron to a cabdriver -- then tell their experiences leading up to, during, and after the Battle of Bull Run, which -- I now know -- was a rout for the Union. In a few cases, the stories intersect (a German Union soldier ends up in the care of a souther matron), but most do not.

I think artistically that the variety of voices and experiences are supposed to mirror the fragmented experience of battle, but I really can't imagine a kid being especially enthused. Kids want stories -- a narrative through-line and arc of emotion that is direct, not artsy.

The writing is quite nice, and the descriptions are convincing. I'd say Fleischman knows his stuff.

My book is Bull Run. It's a historical fiction book about the United States Civil War and the first battle of the bloodiest war in American history - "The Battle at Bull Run". The facts are real, but the characters in the story are not. The reason you should read this book is because you can learn more about the Civil War. Plus, the characters made you know what is felt like during the Civil War if you were either black or white.