Customer Reviews

A Light in the Storm the Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin (Dear America) (Dear America)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this book to be one of the better of the Dear America series. All of them are well written, but very few manage to capture that, "this is a real person" feel. Some of the books read more like a "this is what is happening in the world" rather than a real diary. However, this book has an engaging character, and a real plot of her parent's seperation. Another interesting thing to note is the way that this book has many layers that were written that the main heroine doesn't neccessarily understand, such as the relationship of her uncle and the freed slave, or her grandmother and her mothers. I also enjoyed watching the relationship between her and a friend's brother grow from a friendship to something more. Overall, I would highly reccomend this book.

I love this book series (I am a 15-year-old girl). I liked this book because it shows the dramatic time of the Civil War written by 16-year-old Amelia Martin who lives in a small island in Delaware and misses her family dearly. Amelia works at a Lighthouse every day.

This is the first Dear America book I have read and for the most part I really enjoyed how they give you a glimpse into what it was like to live back then. It brings up interesting issues sometimes only glossed over in the history books and makes it more personal. However, two things bothered me: First was the fact that Amelia's parents got divorced. Not just separated, but actually legally divorced. I know the Civil War tore people apart, but actual divorce was very rare during that time. Also, I didn't feel like it was really the Civil War that tore Amelia's parents apart. They don't really discuss it other than that Amelia's mother does not agree with Lincoln and gets angry whenever the subject is brought up. For a fair portrayal of the time, the book should have done a better job representing her mother as someone to sympathize with as well, instead of that she's always in the wrong.

Secondly, the epilogue at the end was completely upsetting. It talks about her Uncle and his common law wife like it was a common occurance! I'm sorry, but back then, a common law wife, especially to an African American was just not so easily accepted. Also, it states that Amelia and Daniel marry and then separate! Come on! Amelia is the source of light and hope through out this book and then she separates from her husband too, for no better reason than he wanted to move west??! Besides once again setting up this kind of relationship as normal for that time period, it completely undercuts and the sincerety and strength of Amelia and Daniel's relationship as set up in the diary.

This book has some great points and wonderful characters but it is ruined by the end.

The main character, Amelia, is nicknamed 'Wickie" because of her work in the lighthouse and dealing with the wicks. Her gender role is very uncommon for the time period as is her political interests. Wickie's family lives at a lighthouse where her father is the assistant light keeper. Wickie takes equal shifts with her father and the head light keeper and truly enjoys her position. Her mother is very unhappy on the island away from her mother and has several physical ailments which leave her cross and quarrelsome throughout the book. Amelia is also a helper at the local school on the mainland. She is certainly a character of many strengths. She works hard, helps her family, and cares about those around her. She is a great role model for today's readers. The journal style format of the Dear America series makes it easy to read and is great for introducing this type of writing to any young student. The pictures and documents at the end of the book are helpful and lend to the information provided on that time period in America's history. Amelia's story revolves around working at the lighthouse and on the mainland, becoming active in the political views of the Civil war, and falling in love with a fellow neighbor. It is a very enjoyable book to read and I recommend it for any student studying the Civil War or that time period in America's history.

A Light in the Storm is one of Hesse's great books. The book is about a girl named Amelia Martin. Amelia's story takes place during the harsh Civil War. Her family lives on Fenwick Island in Delaware. Her father runs a lighthouse she helps him though. Her bestfriend William gets very sick will he live or die? Read this book to find out. I give this book 5 stars.

A wonderful book about Amelia Martin, a 15 year old girl whohelps to run a lighthouse on Fenwick Island. Life isn't always easythough. Her father is an Abolitionist and her mother is a Confederate. Not only that, her friend doesn't talk to her anymore because her father is a confederate and doesn't want his daughter to be friends with her. This is one of my favorite Dear America books in the series.

As the United States plunges into Civil War, fifteen-year-old Amelia, living at the lighthouse on Fenwick Island, Delaware, witnesses a more personal conflict in her family, as her parents' marriage slowly unravells because her father sides with the Union and her mother sides with the Confederacy. This was an excellant book.

A Light in the Storm is the story a young teenaged girl, Amelia, and how her family is slowly torn apart. Her personal problems slowly begin to outweigh the importance to her of the Nation's issues, when her mother sides with the Confederacy, and her father's loyalties lie with the Union. A good book, but a bit confusing and difficuly in some parts.

The book was well written and midly interesting, great for young readers interested in historical fiction, but I demand more from my reading and found the story was sadly out of whack.

Young Amelia Martin lives with her miserable parents on a miserable island during the middle of a miserable war. You don't actually get to find out much about the young "heroine", since she never talks about herself or her feelings in any great depth. The other characters, especially her parents, seem oddly aloof and distant. In the end, even after reading the epilogue, all you take away from the book is - misery. Nobody's happy, everyone is grumpy and discontent, and the war is providing only a small distraction from the weird self-involved lives of the characters.

In the end, I wasn't really sure whether or not I actually liked this book. Check it out of your library, maybe, and decide for yourself, but don't buy it because it's part of the Dear America series. It simply doesn't measure up to all the other great books in Dear America.

Karen's wonderful book will soon be seen on stage at the John F. Kennnedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This compelling story of a young girl at the center of the crumbling marriage of her parents, a state struggling to define its position in the up-coming civil war, and a nation at war with itself makes for great theatre. The production will tour nationally so Dear America fans be on the look out!