The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War
The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War
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Houghton Mifflin
Annotation: Includes diary entries, personal letters, and archival photographs to describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.
 
Reviews: 5
Catalog Number: #38145
Format: Perma-Bound Edition
Special Formats: Inventory Sale Inventory Sale
Common Core/STEAM: Common Core Common Core
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Copyright Date: 1990
Edition Date: c1990 Release Date: 03/22/93
Pages: 110 p.
ISBN: Publisher: 0-395-66412-8 Perma-Bound: 0-7804-6985-2
ISBN 13: Publisher: 978-0-395-66412-4 Perma-Bound: 978-0-7804-6985-3
Dewey: 973.7
LCCN: 89023959
Dimensions: 26 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1990)

Photographs. The author draws widely on actual letters and diaries in this examination of the participation and experiences of boys under the age of sixteen who fought in the Civil War. This well-researched and readable account provides fresh insight into the human cost of a pivotal event in United States history. Bibliography, index.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

From first chapter (So I Became a Soldier'') to last (We're Going Home''), this wrenching look at our nation's bloodiest conflict through the eyes of its youthful participants serves up history both heartbreaking and enlightening. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-- Making extensive use of the actual words--culled from diaries, journals, memoirs, and letters--of boys who served in the Union and Confederate armies as fighting soldiers as well as drummers, buglers, and telegraphers, Murphy describes the beginnings of the Civil War and goes on to delineate the military role of the underage soldiers and their life in the camps and field bivouacs. Also included is a description of the boys' return home and the effects upon them of their wartime experiences. Boys 16 years and younger, Murphy states, made up perhaps as much as 10-20 percent of the total number of soldiers who served in the Civil War. Little did these boys realize that they would become like young Pvt. Henry Graves, who was able to `look on the carcass of a man with pretty much such feeling as I would do were it a horse or hog.' '' Private Henry and his contemporaries were direct and simple in their observations and possessed, says Murphy,an eye for everyday details.'' Their accounts bring to life, as no other versions can, the Civil War and all of its glories and horrors. An excellent selection of more than 45 sepia-toned contemporary photographs augment the text of this informative, moving work. --David A. Lindsey, Lakewood Junior/Senior High School, WA

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1990)
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
School Library Journal
Wilson's Children's Catalog
Wilson's Junior High Catalog
Bibliography Index/Note: Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106) and index.
Word Count: 18,822
Reading Level: 7.6
Interest Level: 5-9
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 7.6 / points: 3.0 / quiz: 6018 / grade: Middle Grades
Reading Counts!: reading level:7.8 / points:6.0 / quiz:Q01524
Lexile: 1060L

This contemporary classic explores the role of boys who fought in the Civil War. No reader’s vision of America’s most brutal and bloody war will be the same after reading this book.

“This wrenching look at our nation’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of its youthful participants serves up history both heartbreaking and enlightening.” —Publishers Weekly

Some Union and Confederate soldiers were as young as twelve when they went off to fight in the Civil War. It is thought that as many as ten to twenty percent of all Civil War soldiers may have been under sixteen.

The Boys' War follows these young soldiers through the rigors of camp life and drilling, right into the chaos of the battlefield. Jim Murphy skillfully weaves together firsthand accounts and personal letters of these countless young men with historical context to paint their portrait—young soldiers who, either seeking escape from the drudgery of farm work or embracing fantasies of glory, participated in the Civil War.

Handsomely produced with numerous period photographs and drawings, The Boys' War is a winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

“Making extensive use of the actual words—culled from diaries, journals, memoirs, and letters—of boys who served in the Union and Confederate armies as fighting soldiers as well as drummers, buglers, and telegraphers, Murphy describes the beginnings of the Civil War and goes on to delineate the military role of the underage soldiers and their life in the camps and field bivouacs. Also included is a description of the boys' return home and the effects upon them of their wartime experiences. An excellent selection of more than 45 sepia-toned contemporary photographs augment the text of this informative, moving work.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“This well-researched and readable account provides fresh insight into the human cost of a pivotal event in United States history.” —The Horn Book (starred review)


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