Bringing history into an engaging and kid-friendly graphic novel format, the Cartoon Chronicles series returns with a look at the Civil War. As the fighting comes closer to a Virginia plantation, a young slave named Sam escapes to search for his father, who's been conscripted into the Confederate army. Meanwhile, Sam's friend Annabelle, the plantation owner's daughter, must help run the plantation when her father dies. And that's no easy matter when soldiers from both armies want to use the plantation for their own purposes! Contains a prologue and an epilogue that separates fact from fiction.
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From School Library Journal
Gr 4-6-In this informative and entertaining complement to Civil War studies, Sam is a young house slave at the Twin Oaks plantation in 1861. Annabelle Beauregard is the daughter of the plantation owners. After a brief "How We Got Here" prologue, the story picks up following early Confederate victories. Things begin to change when Annabelle's father, Beau Beauregard, dies on the battlefield. Twin Oaks slowly becomes a military hospital, while Sam escapes to the North to find his father and help the Union army. While the main characters are fictional, the setting and events are historically accurate. Back matter includes a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of what is fact and what is fiction. The sketchy, full-color pen and watercolor illustrations are straightforward and fairly spare, with minimal backgrounds. They capably pair with the text, clearly signaling the emotion of the dialogue. Fight for Freedom provides classroom connections as well as pleasure reading for young military and history buffs.-Travis Jonker, Wayland Union Schools, MIα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Bringing history into an engaging and kid-friendly graphic novel format, the Cartoon Chronicles series returns with a look at the Civil War. As the fighting comes closer to a Virginia plantation, a young slave named Sam escapes to search for his father, who's been conscripted into the Confederate army. Meanwhile, Sam's friend Annabelle, the plantation owner's daughter, must help run the plantation when her father dies. And that's no easy matter when soldiers from both armies want to use the plantation for their own purposes! Contains a prologue and an epilogue that separates fact from fiction.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By J. Underwood
Format:Hardcover
This graphic novel invites the reader along on a journey. The storyline and images are exciting and age-appropriate. The characters are relatable and truly makes you feel as if you are IN the story. I felt like I was sitting next to Abraham Lincoln in the scene with Sam. I felt like I was at the plantation when Clara Barton arrives. This book just melts you into it from the first to the last page. It is also mostly factual, but the cool part is that it includes a section where the authors describe how certain show historical fiction and which parts are fact/actually happened in history. The Civil War is a difficult subject to teach to younger students but this story helps make my job a bit easier as an educator. Highly recommend these authors and their books/series!
Format:Hardcover
Of their own accord, young people probably won't pick Fight For Freedom by Stan Mack and Susan Champlin up unless already interested in the topic of the Civil War. Normally, this is a strike against a book. However, Fight For Freedom is an educational book and so it's okay if young people discover it first through an adult. Once they do, they'll find it an entertaining and informative read. The adults who point it out to them might enjoy it too!
First, there is the educational part. The text-based prologue sets the stage by stating, "Of all the issues that led to the Civil War, one overshadowed every other: slavery." The authors proceed to explain how the Northern and Southern states differed from one another in the 1800's, namely the South enacted legal acts which allowed slavery while abolitionists in the North responded with outrage. By 1862, a battle had erupted between the two sides, war was coming closer to Twin Oaks in Virginia, and.... Two pages later, the authors switch to a comic-based narrative about Sam and his family who are slaves to the Beauregard family. At the end of the story, there is also a text-based epilogue which distinguishes facts from fiction.
Second, there is entertaining part. There is humor, such as when Sam's father tries to convince the slave-hunter that he helped the captured slave escape by cutting the rope with his "real sharp teeth". There is action, such as when Sam runs away to Washington to earn freedom and find his father. Or when Sam tries to teach former slaves how to read Shakespeare and they help break up a fight. There is sadness, such as when Mr. Beauregard is captured during the war and leaves his wife and daughter to care for their home without his support. Most of all, there is bravery such as when Annabelle Beauregard stands up to robbers or when Sam partakes in the war effort even though this increases his risk of being captured again as a slave.
Some of the fictional elements were familiar to me from movies set in the Civil War era, such as the friendship between Sam and Annabelle or the numerous attempts by slaves to escape their plantation master. Others such as the fact that Abraham Lincoln loved Shakespeare, Clara Barton was the first nurse to serve on American battlefields, and that a real-life counterpart to Zeke (an African-American reporter) existed were new to me. Because war isn't a topic that I typically read about, I probably wouldn't have learned these facts except through a form like Fight for Freedom. That probably holds true for many of you too. How fun that we can learn facts like these in the palpable form of a graphic novel!
First, there is the educational part. The text-based prologue sets the stage by stating, "Of all the issues that led to the Civil War, one overshadowed every other: slavery." The authors proceed to explain how the Northern and Southern states differed from one another in the 1800's, namely the South enacted legal acts which allowed slavery while abolitionists in the North responded with outrage. By 1862, a battle had erupted between the two sides, war was coming closer to Twin Oaks in Virginia, and.... Two pages later, the authors switch to a comic-based narrative about Sam and his family who are slaves to the Beauregard family. At the end of the story, there is also a text-based epilogue which distinguishes facts from fiction.
Second, there is entertaining part. There is humor, such as when Sam's father tries to convince the slave-hunter that he helped the captured slave escape by cutting the rope with his "real sharp teeth". There is action, such as when Sam runs away to Washington to earn freedom and find his father. Or when Sam tries to teach former slaves how to read Shakespeare and they help break up a fight. There is sadness, such as when Mr. Beauregard is captured during the war and leaves his wife and daughter to care for their home without his support. Most of all, there is bravery such as when Annabelle Beauregard stands up to robbers or when Sam partakes in the war effort even though this increases his risk of being captured again as a slave.
Some of the fictional elements were familiar to me from movies set in the Civil War era, such as the friendship between Sam and Annabelle or the numerous attempts by slaves to escape their plantation master. Others such as the fact that Abraham Lincoln loved Shakespeare, Clara Barton was the first nurse to serve on American battlefields, and that a real-life counterpart to Zeke (an African-American reporter) existed were new to me. Because war isn't a topic that I typically read about, I probably wouldn't have learned these facts except through a form like Fight for Freedom. That probably holds true for many of you too. How fun that we can learn facts like these in the palpable form of a graphic novel!
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