Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy's Civil War Journal [Hardcover]

Craig Crist-Evans (Author), Bonnie Christensen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 1999 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

In the spring of 1863, a thirteen-year-old boy leaves his home in northeastern Tennessee with his father, who has joined the Confederate army. The boy rides with him to care for the horses and help with camp duties. A moving personal narrative in the form of a journal, this powerful poem tells of one boy's journey into war - and the horrible climax at Gettysburg that would forever change his life. Illustrated with striking black-and-white woodcuts, Moon Over Tennessee is a vivid, lyrical, and intensely human document of the terrible personal cost of the Civil War.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I rode from Gettysburg to Tennessee and I saw the country weeping," says the unnamed 13-year-old narrator to his mother after the spring and summer of 1863, during the Civil War. Told through free-verse stanzas in diary format, the novel communicates the boy's strong love of his Tennessee farm: "I've lived here long as I remember,/ carved into this family like my daddy's name/ cut deep into the oak that stands/ there at the corner of the field." The narrator explains that he's going off to war "not because my daddy thinks the South should fight against the North but we've been so long a piece of Tennessee." Some readers may think the book's disavowal of slavery as a decisive factor in the war teeters close to revisionist history, but Crist-Evans supports the main characters' stance throughout the text; the narrator's best friend is a free African-American, and the father shares their meager rations with an escaping slave family on their journey. The boy himself does not engage in combat, but cares for his father's horse until the battle at Gettysburg, which exacts a devastating personal price. Christensen's (An Edible Alphabet) haunting black-and-white woodcuts capture a broad emotional range. A casual scene of soldiers and horses resting under a tree on their way to battle offers a marked contrast to a searing image of men with lanterns searching for bodies on the abandoned battlefield. A map of the route and a concise afterword provide a historical context for this personal take on a monumental event. Ages 8-up. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-Written in free verse, this first-person narrative tells the story of a 13-year-old Tennessee farm boy who accompanies his father to join the Confederate army in the spring of 1863. The boy cares for the horses and helps with the camp responsibilities until his father's death at the Battle of Gettysburg. This book is an evocative work, capturing the voice of innocence and hinting at the horrors of war. However, very little is made of the father-son relationship or the drama of their journey. There are a number of ripe elements that come into play, but they are dropped almost as soon as they are introduced. Still, though much of the writing is too loose and merely adequate, this book has moments of real poetry, as when the boy, watching the corpsmen lift the bodies of the dead, sees their lanterns "bob like boats," or when a yellow dog opens its wide mouth in a "fiery yawn." Beautifully illustrated with wood engravings, this selection might be good for introducing readers to poetry and thinking about history, but if you want a really good narrative poem about the Civil War, look to Andrew Hudgins's After the Lost War (Houghton, 1989).
Herman Sutter, Saint Pius X High School, Houston, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; Library Binding edition (March 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395912083
• ISBN-13: 978-0395912089
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy's Civil War Journal, March 29, 2000

By 

Michelle (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy's Civil War Journal (Hardcover)

This is the diary of a 13-year-old boy who accompanies his father to fight for the south in the civil war. I found it to be far to brief and shallow, considering the topic. It seems to be arguing the justice of fighting for the south, but doesn't explain why the father is willing to die, when the family is obviously against slavery. The book is,however, well written and will leave you wanting more. I would recommend this book to 5-7th graders who are looking for an easy read and new perspective on the civil war.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Haunting Story, October 26, 2009

By 

D. Mckinzie (Atoka, OK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy's Civil War Journal (Hardcover)

I read this a year or two ago and loved it. It's sad, but beautiful. People who wonder why someone would fight for the south when they don't really believe in slavery do not understand the South or Southerners. Many Southerners fought even though they didn't believe in slavery. What they believed in was the South and the right for the state to make it's own decisions. It's a haunting story of a young boy and his father at a time when the North and South squared off and no one really won, in the long run. A well-written story that even children can understand and that adults will understand on a deeper level.