Numbering All the Bones [Hardcover]

Ann Rinaldi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2002 | Grade Level: 5 and up

It is 1864. The Civil War is coming to an end, and Southern slaves are slowly gaining their freedom. But for 13-year-old Eulinda, a house slave on a plantation in Kentucky, it is the most difficult time of her life. Her yonger brother, falsely accused of stealing, has been sold. Then her older brother Neddy runs away. And Eulinda is left alone in a household headed by a cruel mistress--and a master who will not acknowledge that Eulinda is his daughter. With her trademark attention to detail and historical accuracy, Ann Rinaldi weaves a gripping tale of a girl caught between two worlds.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-In the last year of the Civil War, Eulinda, 13, the daughter of a slave and a slave owner, waits for news of her older brother, who ran away to join the Union Army. Neddy carries with him the ruby ring that he stole after their younger brother, Zeke, was framed for the theft, and punished by being sold away. When Eulinda discovers the Andersonville Prison, where Yankee soldiers die daily from starvation and disease, she knows her brother is somewhere inside the walls. After the war ends, she meets up with Clara Barton, and her destiny becomes entwined with giving the soldiers proper burials and ultimately finding the stolen ring. The author's note and bibliographical references provide evidence of sound research to portray the circumstances surrounding the prison where 13,000 Union soldiers died. While the setting is compelling, the characters themselves never quite draw readers into the emotional elements of the story. With the exception of Eulinda, who was educated in secret, the black characters speak in heavy dialects reminiscent of Gone with the Wind. Also, confusion regarding factual accuracy occurs when Eulinda relates how her mother deliberately infected the slave-owner's cruel wife with cholera by slobbering all over her, an unlikely way for the disease to be transmitted. However, the story may interest readers who want to find out more about the prison that was considered by many to be a death camp on American soil.
Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. The fiction seems purposive in this Civil War story. It's the history that's most compelling, told from the viewpoint of Eulinda, 13 years old in 1864, a house slave on a plantation just a mile away from Andersonville Prison in southwest Georgia. Like Paul in Mildred Taylor's The Land (2001), Eulinda is the child of the white master and a black slave. As the Civil War is ending, she goes to the prison in search of her brother, who had run away to join the Yankee army but has chosen to die rather than return to bondage. She witnesses the brutality of the death camp where 13,000 Yankee prisoners perish, and after the war, she helps Clara Barton and others clean up the cemetery and honor the dead. Through her work, Eulinda also frees herself, but the brutal legacy of slavery is always there, in the continuing bigotry toward "niggers" and the wrenching family separation. A haunting theme for discussion is the role of the local people who know nothing, do nothing, about the death camp where they live. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 170 pages
• Publisher: Jump At The Sun; 1 edition (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786805331
• ISBN-13: 978-0786805334
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,163,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. A self-made writer and newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, Ms. Rinaldi attributes her interest in history to her son, who enlisted her to take part in historical reenactments up and down the East Coast. She lives with her husband in central New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a terrific book!, March 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Numbering All the Bones (Hardcover)

I am a teacher who read this book and several others in an evening to preview them for students. Most chapter books for kids these days are "much ado about nothing". They don't make sense, are chatty, contrived and I could throw them in the garbage after finishing them. This book on the other hand had a well developed character, with deep thoughts and emotions and was quite mature as circumstances compelled the character to be. I would read this book with my middle school and older students and believe they would get a lot out of it. Thank god for Ann Rinaldi! If only other children's writers were able to write and develop characters like she could.
As for the 12 year old that found the book confusing, it was probably not a book to read on your own just yet. It would have been more enjoyable to share with a teacher, classmates or your parents as they could help you with the background information needed to understand the story.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Numbering All The Bones, January 27, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Numbering All the Bones (Hardcover)

This book is called Numbering All The Bones. It is a historical fiction book written by Ann Rinaldi.
Eulina is a house slave, during the Civil War. She has been through many hardships, some of which being, her younger brother, Zeke, being sold away,her older brother, Neddy, who ran away to join the Northern Army,and her mother, dying of illness.Eulinda is torn between her master, who is also her true father,and her fellow slaves. She is faced with the choice of staying in the South or going Notrh , and being free.
I think this book is one of the best books I have read by Ann Rinaldi. This book will appeal most to those who like historical fiction and books that expess African American slaves' journey through life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "You gotta make yourself come true.", August 18, 2004

By 

C. J. Black (Fort Collins, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Numbering All the Bones (Hardcover)

genre: historical fiction
audience: Advanced 5th grade readers and above

Eulinda, plantation house servant during the Civil War, grapples and discovers her identity and purpose as she transcends her plight and takes charge of her destiny.

I wonder if Ann Rinaldi is the first writer for children to uncover the secret of the sexual exploitation of black women by their white owners during America's period of infamy? Mildred Taylor's THE LAND and Richard Peck's A RIVER BETWEEN US have followed. I applaud her.

Southern society, the horrors of the Andersonville prison, and redemption by the remarkable Clara Barton color this engrossing story. An author's note contributes background for young readers but could do more.

This is my first Rinaldi book to read. I was mesmerized. I look forward to reading her more.