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Editorial Reviews
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This engaging addition to the successful Dear America series follows the adventures of Amelia Martin, a lighthouse keeper's daughter living on an island off the coast of Delaware in 1861. Amelia helps her father keep the light and her mother keep the house, but she cannot keep their marriage together. Newbery Medal recipient Karen Hesse (Out of the Dust) cleverly personifies the conflict between North and South, abolitionist and secessionist, Union and Confederacy in the troubled marriage of Amelia's parents. Amelia watches, powerless, as the relationship disintegrates: "I feel as if I am the Light in my family. I must keep my hope burning, so that Father and Mother, even in the darkness that seems to engulf them, might find their way back."
This engaging addition to the successful Dear America series follows the adventures of Amelia Martin, a lighthouse keeper's daughter living on an island off the coast of Delaware in 1861. Amelia helps her father keep the light and her mother keep the house, but she cannot keep their marriage together. Newbery Medal recipient Karen Hesse (Out of the Dust) cleverly personifies the conflict between North and South, abolitionist and secessionist, Union and Confederacy in the troubled marriage of Amelia's parents. Amelia watches, powerless, as the relationship disintegrates: "I feel as if I am the Light in my family. I must keep my hope burning, so that Father and Mother, even in the darkness that seems to engulf them, might find their way back."
The broken marriage provides a powerful example of the way the Civil War tore apart families and friendships. Girls will thrill to Amelia's descriptions of her tomboyish responsibilities as lighthouse keeper and family breadwinner, her burgeoning love affair with a local boy, and her friendship with her abolitionist uncle. While some of the language and details seem anachronistic, Hesse has crafted a remarkably elegant tale of "girl as emotional beacon," tirelessly watching as her world crashes on the shoals. (Ages 9 and older) --Claire Dederer
From Library Journal
Grade 4-8-This diary chronicles 15-year-old Amelia Martin's chaotic life during the turbulent first year of the Civil War. Amelia's father is the assistant lighthouse keeper at Fenwick Island off the coast of southern Delaware. Amelia willingly shares in the duties of standing watch and maintaining the equipment. Through her diary, readers learn that her father sides with the Union while her mother favors the Confederacy, and that their marriage is crumbling just as the country threatens to divide. Amelia admits that while at one time she agreed with her mother's views, she now believes in the abolition of slavery and sympathizes with President Lincoln. When a friend drowns in a skating accident, Amelia becomes friendly with his brother, Daniel, and soon develops a romantic relationship that continues to grow after Daniel volunteers for the Union Army. In the style of light keepers' logs, each entry records the date, weather, and wind conditions. An appended historical note offers more information about the Civil War. Sure to please historical fiction fans as well as followers of the series.
Shawn Brommer, Southern Tier Library System, Painted Post, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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cite this book:
- Outrageous Women of Civil War Times (Outrageous Women) by Mary Rodd Furbee in Back Matter
- Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer's Workshop by Kay Johnson