From Publishers Weekly
Men go to war to vanquish enemies. Boys go to war to vanquish childhood. This piercing novel conveys both concepts as it explores the Civil War through the eager eyes of a 14-year-old Georgia boy, Thrasher McGee. The only way Thrasher can prove to his father that he's tough enough to fight 'gatorsAand anything elseAis to run away and sign up with the Confederate Okefinokee Rifles. At first, boredom threatens to bog down the company's morale; they're disappointed when they're too late for the big battle at Port Republic, Va. Then, Thrasher is astounded when he and the other young soldiers meet some Yankees in the woods who want to exchange coffee and play baseball between the fighting. But soon enough the war finds them: "Thousands of feet tramped. Thousands of tin cups clinked against thousands of cartridge belts. Ahead, the long columns of men wound as far as Thrasher could see.... Everywhere he looked he saw gray: gray morning mist, gray dust, gray men." Bartoletti (Growing Up in Coal Country) compellingly and carefully crafts her characters, especially the boys-turned-soldiers Thrasher, Baylor Frable and Tim LaFaye, building up their na?ve camaraderie right to the moment they enter the terrible adult conflict. She spins a history as fresh as the day it happened, told through the eyes of a boy who is too willing to claim adult responsibilities, far too soon. Ages 10-14. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8Thrasher, 14, is the oldest child in a large, poor family living in rural Georgia during the Civil War. When he is humiliated by his lack of courage during an alligator attack on his father, he decides to join the Confederate army to prove his mettle. Thrasher, like many young soldiers, enters the fighting looking for adventure and glory and has no concept of the political issues or grim realities. The dialect is genuine and the details of time and place are accurate. However, not all of war is action and excitement, and the story is often slow. There are interesting moments: a baseball game between some weary grays and blues who meet while caring for their dead; Thrashers discovery that one of his comrades is a young woman; the battle in which he finally faces his fear (and loses an arm); his return home to the family hes been missing and the father hes been dreading. But ethical realizations are painted thickly on a thin plot (When you were filling graves, the only difference between [the soldiers] was the color of their shirts beneath the blood). There are many Civil War stories that read more fluently, from Harold Keiths Rifles for Watie (HarperCollins, 1987) to novels by Carolyn Reeder and G. Clifton Wisler.Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
