Drummer Boy: Marching to the Civil War [Hardcover]

Ann Warren Turner (Author), Mark Hess (Illustrator)

Book Description

A thirteen-year old boy lies about his age to join the Union forces during America's bloodiest war. No matter what happens, a drummer boy in the Civil War must keep playing his drum to relay orders and rally spirits. He doesn't fight, but he sees it all: from the glow of the camp fire to the glare of battle, the drummer boy watches the friendships that war creates and then breaks apart. Ann Turner's powerful text and Mark Hess's stunning artwork reveal the drama and heartache of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of a boy not too young to be a hero.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Turner (Dust for Dinner) takes readers to a Civil War battlefield in this disturbing picture book narrated by an idealistic 13-year-old. The premise is much the same as that of Gary Paulsen's novel Soldier's Heart (reviewed July 20); unfortunately, the lessons may be too complex for a picture book audience, at least in this treatment. The narrator, a farm boy, has liked Lincoln ever since he gave a speech in the boy's town, and sometime after war breaks out (no specific time or place is given) the memory of that encounter inspires him to join up. He also wants to free the slaves. Lying about his age, he is enlisted as a drummer boy, asked to march with the troops and "raise a tune for our men in battle." In the heat of bloody confrontation, the boy witnesses the atrocities of war. He holds the hand of a mortally wounded soldier "until his eyes stopped seeing." Poetic turns of phrase further describe how grim reality quickly dims a boy's bright-eyed patriotism. But there are problems here. The passage about slavery seems tacked on, the boy never feels fully real and the most interesting information about drummer boys is relegated to an afterword. The ending misfires: the boy bitterly blames Lincoln for making him "see things no boy should ever see." Hess's (Hercules: The Man, the Myth, the Hero) atmospheric, dramatic scenes capture period touches as well as the serenity of rural life and the action of combat. But he, too, stumbles: while all of the other scenes are carefully lit and detailed, a view of slave quarters is so muddy and imprecise that a slave woman looks shockingly misshapen and simian. Well intended but off the mark. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-After hearing Lincoln speak, a 13 year old is mesmerized by the president's powerful presence and runs away to join the Union Army as a drummer boy. After a quick acceptance by the army, he eagerly dons his uniform and learns how to handle his instrument. The battle scenes are frightening but not terribly gory. The unnamed youngster is understandably disturbed as he witnesses his first deaths. He does not become hardened to the sadness, but he does learn to cope and do his job, relaying orders with his drumbeats and masking some of the agonized battle sounds. Two portraits frame the story. In the first, he is an innocent-looking farm boy wearing a straw hat, a small, anticipatory smile on his lips. By the end of the book, his eyes are shadowed and his mouth is set in a firm line. He has seen "things no boy should ever see." The narrative does not have the emotional pull of George Ella Lyon's Cecil's Story (Orchard, 1991) or the gut-wrenching power of Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say (Philomel, 1994). However, Turner's prose vividly relates the boy's situation in a few well-chosen words set off in small boxes. Paired with Hess's historically illuminating paintings, the result is an informative introduction to the Civil War. It would be a great resource to share with students reading fiction such as G. Clifton Wisler's Mr. Lincoln's Drummer (1995) or Red Cap (1991, both Lodestar).
Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060276967
• ISBN-13: 978-0060276966
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,632,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in a small town in Western Massachusetts to creative parents who always encouraged my writing and painting. I went to Bates College, majored in English, and spent a wonderful year abroad in Oxford, England, giving me a taste for neat Scotch, Evensong, and very old churches and buildings. I've been married long enough to break all records and have two grown children. I am especially drawn to telling stories about outsiders, rebellious girls, and people who don't fit in--as I didn't growing up. I was always a bit too loud, too passionate, moved too fast, made up too many stories, and thought that life moved just a tad too slowly for me. I love to cook, garden, swim, pet my wild Jack Russell terrier, talk to friends and my "kids," and laugh at my husband's wild, original stories. I also actually answer letters and emails sent to me by fans, and when I do school visits, I tell people--"Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it!"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drummer Boy: The music of a perfect book, January 5, 2001

By 

Wendy Power "readzitall" (Medford, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Drummer Boy: Marching to the Civil War (Hardcover)

I am a fifth grade teacher who bought this picture book to incorporate into my Civil War studies. It is my favorite picture book. It has such a tremendous impact on the reader with such an economy of words that it truly drives home the image we have been using all year of words in a story being like a glass of water and food coloring: each strong word is a drop of food coloring making the liquid darker. Each weak, unnecessary word is water, making the liquid lighter. We want our stories to be bright red (or yellow, or blue, or green). This book is the closest thing to pure, undiluted red as any we've come across. The students are astonished by the power and strength of feeling that just a few words can convey.

They are equally mesmerized by the incredible imagery of the illustrations. In just 28 pages, the boy in the story changes from a fresh-faced innocent of 13 to a world-weary adult in a matter of months.

The language in the book makes it a perfect compliment to a study of metaphors and similes. He describes his attraction to Mr. Lincoln as "sometimes you take to a person, the way a horse snuffs up the smell of someone." And goes on to describe him as looking "so kind and sad, towering up into the sky like a black tree."

Like many other books with war as the theme, Drummer Boy personalizes death due to combat. However, unlike most other books, it does so in a mere 40 words that leave the most powerfully gripping image I have yet to read in a children's book. Instead of describing death and destruction in gory detail, the passage concentrates on describing the dying soldier's hand clasped in the protagonist's until he dies. Not once was blood, bullets, or wounds mentioned...

"One near me cried for his mother. I held his hand until he died, and I always feel his fingers on mine, how hot and dry they were, how they grabbed mine and crushed them until his eyes stopped seeing."

This is a book that seems to speak directly to the children's souls. It seems to touch something in them, for when the story is over there is an almost reverent silence in the room and you can almost feel them coming back from the farthest regions of their imaginations...changed by the sights and sounds of war.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drummer Boy (Turner & Hess), January 21, 2004

By 

Charles Tatum - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drummer Boy: Marching to the Civil War (Library Binding)

Author Ann Turner and illustrator Mark Hess team up to tell the story of a drummer boy who joins the Union army in the U.S. Civil War. It is a wonderful book that does not talk down to children.

The protagonist is an unnamed thirteen year old rural farm boy. His brother, Jed, has already gone ahead to him into battle, and the boy yearns to join. He makes his decision after seeing President Abraham Lincoln at a train station. The boy feels the sad president was looking right at him, needing him to serve his country. The boy's family seems rather indifferent to the slavery issue, feeling it is none of their business, but the boy does sympathize for the slaves. He writes a goodbye note, and leaves home.

He enlists, lying and claiming to be fifteen years old, and is assigned to be a drummer boy. He becomes part of his company, and then goes into his first battle. The terror of the cannon noise and falling bodies around him freeze him in place. A soldier dies holding his hand. Soon, the boy is almost a veteran, the battles run together. The faces of his friends and acquaintances blur together as well, and he takes special care to remember each and every one, since they may not be there the next day. The final page gives adults and children alike something to ponder, in the voice of the battle hardened boy: "And when the war's over and I go home, I'll stop to talk to Mr. Lincoln and tell him how it's his fault, how his great, sad eyes made me go and see things no boy should ever see."

"Drummer Boy" is a wonderful book for all ages. The text and pictures are just twenty eight pages long, with an interesting one page historical note, and Turner and Hess do not waste a word or image. Drummer boys were not just children who banged on the drums during battles, the drums were used to signal orders to the troops, making the children prime targets for the enemy.

The book is large, and every illustration by Hess would look wonderful framed on a wall. His portrait of Lincoln, and two page painting of slave quarters, are breath taking. I went back through the book at its conclusion, just trying to take in the pictures on their own. Turner does not overdo the contemporary vernacular, you come to care for this boy as a real person. Her writing is not overwhelmed by the art, both complement each other excellently.

"Drummer Boy" is appropriate for ages four through eight, according to the jacket notes. I think it is appropriate for any age above four, telling such a strong story in such little space. Truly a treasure.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving Civil War Tale with Beautiful Pictures, September 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Drummer Boy: Marching to the Civil War (Hardcover)

My son and I just purchased this wonderful book and he has insisted we read it over and over. The story begins simply and sweetly and draws you into it like no other. The moral lessons it raises were very useful to me as a parent fielding some tough questions about America, war, slavery and honor. I hardily recommend this book to any parent and am going to purchase a copy for my son's school. This book lets a child relate in a very special way to a trying period in American history. The pictures are rich and compelling and are very accurate to the time (I'm a Civil War buff). Every child whether interested specificly in the Civil War or not should experience and have this book.