Based on a Civil War ballad passed down through Stolz's family, this story begins with twins Tom and Jack Rigby on their ninth birthday in 1850. Tom is angry that his father has sent the twins' slave and boon companion, Aaron, away from the big house to live in the quarters for getting uppity. As he grows up, Tom never forgets his relationship with Aaron or stops seeing slavery as unjust, though he keeps his opinions largely to himself. When the Civil War begins, the brothers enlist on opposite sides. Although the novel is too sketchy to make a satisfying book, the story nevertheless raises issues that could make for interesting class discussion during units on the Civil War. (Reviewed October 1, 1997)

This thin chapter book doesn't add much to the sentimental ballad, included in an afterword, that inspired it. Twin brothers Tom and Jack go from playing war on hobbyhorses as boys to fighting on opposite sides in the Civil War as men. Without a fully developed backdrop, the brothers are little more than cardboard cutouts--one sympathetic to the slaves, one not.

Stolz (Coco Grimes, 1994, etc.) fleshes out—barely—a sentimental Civil War ballad about brothers who share a hobby horse, and years later, another steed in the aftermath of battle. <p> Stolz (Coco Grimes, 1994, etc.) fleshes out--barely--a sentimental Civil War ballad about brothers who share a hobby horse, and years later, another steed in the aftermath of battle. Tom Rigby's excitement as he awakens on his ninth birthday changes to outrage when he learns that the slave Aaron, a companion to him and his twin for most of their lives, has been summarily sent to the quarter'' by their father to be a field hand. Although he listens reluctantly to the warnings of the household slaves (who maintain that making a fuss will only endanger Aaron), Tom defiantly gives his birthday toys away to the slave children. He has an argument with twin Jack, who echoes their father's advocacy of slavery, although the rift isn't wide enough to prevent him from sharing his hobby horse when Jack's breaks. Twelve years later, Tom--a Union officer--recalls that time as he offers a ride to a wounded Confederate soldier who only looks too familiar. Stolz focuses more on her characters' emotional states than on plot or background detail, and readers who are less familiar with the era will wonder why Aaron was sent away, and why the slave children have to hide their new toys from the overseer. Paul Fleischman's Bull Run or Gary Paulsen's Nightjohn (both, 1993) afford more insight into the realities of slavery and of what Stolz callsthis brothers' war.'' (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 9-11)</p> "