Children’s and Young Adult Literature for Teaching Different Perspectives on the Civil War
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Children’s and Young Adult Books
Adler, D. A. (1994). A picture book of Sojourner Truth. New York: Holiday House.
Picture book, elementary level. Adler depicts Sojourner Truth's life from birth on when she carried the name of her owner and the injustices of slavery including having her brothers and sisters sold away from her parents, living in cold, wet, one-room cellars, and being kept from choosing one's own mate. After Sojourner was promised freedom by her owner and then denied it, she ran away and her freedom was paid for by someone sympathetic to the unfairness of her servitude. Sojourner became a preacher who spoke out against slavery and women's inequality. She became an inspirational speaker despite being unable to read or write. During the Civil War, Sojourner raised money to feed African American soldiers, worked with soldiers in chasing away slave traders, counseled freed slaves in the Freedman's Hospital, and protested against segregated streetcars until they were integrated.
Beatty, P. (1984). Turn homeward, Hannalee. New York: Troll.
Chapter book, upper elementary and middle school level. The text is historical fiction, but based on facts. The extensive author’s notes clarify the author’s intent to provide a poor, working-class, southern perspective on the Civil War. The author focuses on the fictional Reed family from Roswell, Georgia who are textile mill workers, children as well as parents. During the Civil War, both the father and son serve with the Confederate Army, although the son survives despite his wounds while the father dies from “camp fever.” The text dramatizes the displacement of the main character Hannalee and her brother Jem, along with 400 other Roswell textile mill workers. The Yankee military considers the mill workers traitors to the Union because they produce cloth and rope for the Confederate Army. The Yankee troops burn the mills, round up the mostly women and children mill workers, and transport them to Tennessee, Kentucky, or Indiana. Here, they are forced to work for anyone who needed an employee. Anyone who refuses to work is jailed as a traitor. Some work in northern textile mills, others serve as hired girls or boys, as household servants, or seamstresses. The author notes that no historical records exist for what happened to these textile mill workers after their northern journey, so she creates a fictional story of the hardships Hannalee and her brother experience working for “blue-bellied Yankees” and their struggle to return home to their mother.
Chang, I. (1991). A separate battle: Women and the Civil War. New York: Puffin.
Upper elementary and middle school level. The author focuses on women involved in different roles during the Civil War period. She includes women as writers and speakers against slavery; as producers of clothing and distributors of supplies for soldiers; as nurses for wounded and ill soldiers; as soldiers and spies for both the Confederacy and Union; as workers in factories and at home; as teachers for “contraband” or former slave children; and as survivors of the war. The text provides not only a description of women’s activities, but also their hardships and views regarding the war.
Denenberg, B. (1996). When will this cruel war be over? The Civil War diary of Emma Simpson, Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864. New York: Scholastic.
Upper elementary and middle school level. The text is part of the Dear America series, a collection of historical fiction in the form of diaries written by young girls and providing their perspectives on historical events. Although the diary is fictional, the author includes “historical notes” which provides an historical context for the diary. The author summarizes the issues of slavery and states’ rights as the primary reasons for the Civil War, the southern view of African American slaves as inferior to European Americans, and the economic and military differences between the South and North. The diary is written by a fictional 14-year-old girl from the South who, before the Civil War, lives a life of privilege, but during the war experiences many hardships among her family and friends. In “About the Author,” Denenberg consulted diaries and letters from the Civil War in preparing the text. The diary itself includes a southern perspective on the joys of a life of privilege; the ability of southern women to handle the households, food shortages, illnesses and deaths while most men are away fighting; slavery and relationships with slaves; anger at abolitionists who are bent on destroying the southern way of life, the many hardships among southern soldiers, including improper food, clothing, and shelter and suffering from wounds and illness; and dealing with raids from Union soldiers. Throughout the diary, Emma longs for a return to life as it once was, although she finally realizes she has been changed by her experiences in dealing with the war.
Forrester, S. (1995). Sound the jubilee. New York: Puffin Books.
Middle school level/adult resource. The main characters in the text are fictional, but the text is based on real events which happened during the Civil War. Maddie, her older sister Angeline, younger brother Pride, and their parents were slaves on a North Carolina plantation during the Civil War. Maddie’s parents were consistently teaching their children how to survive as slaves and endure the regular humiliation of being owned by others. When the owners were concerned that the Union army may attack them and burn their property, they decided to escape to their vacation home on Nags Head, an island on the North Carolina coast, and take Maddie’s family to care for them. While they were here, Maddie’s family escaped from slavery and moved to Roanoke Island, which was recently captured by the Union army and a safe haven for escaped slaves. Unfortunately, Maddie and her family encountered the racism of some of the Northern soldiers who were supposed to help the escaped slaves settle on the island. Soldiers destroyed the simple church the growing African American community built to use for worship services and a school, threatened to whip any African Americans who came near government property, and ridiculed the African American recruits while they trained for battle. In addition, the African American soldiers were paid less than the European American soldiers and often the Union Army delayed or failed to pay this smaller amount. Although the U.S. Government initially gave land and helped the African Americans build homes on Roanoke Island, they eventually restored the land to the previous European American owners and forced the African Americans to leave.
Hansen, J. (1986). Which way freedom? New York: Avon Camelot.
Upper elementary/middle school level. This text precedes Out From This Place and is also a fictional story based on factual accounts of the Civil War. The main characters, Obi, Easter, and Jason are slave children and adolescents with no other family except each other working on a small farm in South Carolina. Although their owners are more humane than many, they still endure the brutal treatment of being owned and worked hard. When the Civil War breaks out, their owners respond with increased restrictions and cruelty. After they learn they are about to be sold, Obi and Easter escape only to be captured by Confederate soldiers who force Obi to work with other slaves in hard labor and Easter cooks for one of the colonels. Obi escapes from this Confederate camp and eventually fights in an African American regiment for the Union, but still encounters much inequality directed at African American soldiers.
Hansen, J. (1988). Out from this place. New York: Walker.
Upper elementary/middle school level. This book is fiction, but is based on actual events that happened during the Civil War. In 1861, when the Union army gained control of the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina, most of the planters fled to the mainland. African Americans were Confederate property confiscated by the army. They worked on the abandoned plantations for wages from the federal government. In January, 1865, the former slaves were given temporary title to the abandoned lands; however, in May, this decision was reversed and the land was returned to the former owners. The community New Canaan in the text is based on an African American community in South Carolina developed after the Civil War. The book portrays the experiences of Easter, an adolescent slave, in her efforts to find Obi and Jason, the only family she knew from the farm where they all worked as slaves. The text reveals the hardships of life for former slaves immediately following the abolishment of slavery.
Holland, I. (1994). Behind the lines. New York: Scholastic.
Middle school level/adult resource. The main character Katie O’Farrell is part of a recent Irish immigrant family struggling to survive in a New York city slum in 1863. The father, older brother, as well as Katie must work in order to provide the necessary income for the family. Katie worked as a kitchen maid for a wealthy Protestant English family and regularly suffered humiliating anti-Irish comments from her supervisors. Despite the disruption of the Civil War, many Irish immigrants refused to fight for the Union because they believed freed slaves would move north and take the few jobs the Irish have. Since Irish immigrants came to the U.S. with few resources and regularly experienced discrimination in hiring, they often remained among the poorest citizens. The conflicts between wealthy and poor, Irish and African Americans were illustrated by Katie’s wealthy employer’s offer that Katie’s brother take his son’s place in the Union Army for a price. The money offered exceeded what her brother made working on the docks and could be used to buy land in the west after the war. When young Irish male immigrants were among those drafted into the Union Army, they retaliated by rioting, attacking the draft offices, and hanging African Americans. Despite the racial tensions between the Irish and African Americans, Katie developed a friendship with an African American. The text illustrates the cross cultural alliances which can be formed amidst racial tensions.
Hoose, P. (2001). We were there, too! Young people in U.S. history. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books.
Upper elementary, middle school level, and adult resource. Although the text does not exclusively focus on girls and young women, nearly half the stories portray young female contributions to U.S. history. The first section deals with the encounter of Europeans and Native Americans and includes the activities of Taino girls and boys. In the second section, “Strangers in Paradise: The British Colonies” readers consider the stories of Pocahontas, Salem girls considered “witches,” a young girl captured by the Mohawks, a female indigo planter, and Phillis Wheatley, poet. Within the section on the American Revolution are stories about girls who spun their own cloth rather than use English imports, young female spies, and the contributions of Sybil Ludington and Deborah Sampson during the war. The fourth section deals with becoming a nation and focuses on two sisters who scared away a British ship during the War of 1812, a young girl who helped sew the large flag which inspired the song “The Star Spangled Banner,” mill girl workers and strike leaders, and a determined young slave who escaped to Canada. Section five focuses on the Civil War and portrays an African American teacher, a European American girl’s experience during the burning of Atlanta, and Vinnie Ream’s talent in creating Abraham Lincoln’s statue. Stories of Sacajewa and a young girl who traveled with her family to Salt Lake City, Utah are included in “The West” section. The “New Century” section focuses on young women sweatshop workers, strike leaders, and suffragists. Section eight concentrates on “Wars, Depression, and Dust” and includes portrayals of young women and the sacrifices and conflicts they experienced during World War I, teen girls who “rode the rails” during the Great Depression, and a young Japanese American girl whose family was sent to an internment camp during World War II. The final section provides stories of girls participating in the civil rights movement, integrating racially segregated Little Rock, Arkansas schools, becoming a United Farm Workers organizer, becoming a championship girls’ basketball team, and becoming an environmental activist.
King, W. (2000). Children of the emancipation. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books.
Picture book, elementary level. The author uses old photographs to illustrate brief descriptions of African American children who were slaves, children who were free before slavery was legally abolished, and children who were free after the 13th Constitutional Amendment which freed all slaves. Readers gain some insight into African American children’s work, play, educational opportunities, family struggles, and racial discrimination while enslaved and free. The author clarifies which slaves were freed with the Emancipation Proclamation, how the mother’s status as free or slave determined her children’s freedom, and how being free did not correspond to equal opportunities and the elimination of racist oppression.
Lyon, G. E. (1991). Cecil’s story. New York: Orchard Books.
Picture book, lower elementary level. A young boy imagines what might happen if his father goes off to fight in the Civil War, is hurt, and his mother leaves to bring him home. He imagines staying with neighbors, completing chores, wondering what happened, and crying. He imagines all the responsibilities he would have if his father does not return and his happiness if his father returns from war, even with wounds.
McGovern, A. (1965). Wanted dead or alive: The true story of Harriet Tubman. New York: Scholastic.
Upper elementary level. The text provides a biography of Harriet Tubman and portrays the cruelties of slavery she endured as a child, including beatings and suffering a serious head injury when she aided an escaping slave. Despite such hardships, Harriet became very strong physically and dreamed of freedom. When Harriet discovered she was going to be sold to work in the deep South, she and her brothers began their escape, but her brothers turned back. With the aid of station masters along the Underground Railroad, Harriet escaped to Pennsylvania and became a free Black. Harriet then helped the rest of her family escape and led so many others to freedom that she earned the name of Moses. The book portrays Harriet Tubman's cleverness and strength in guiding slaves to freedom, her work as a nurse and spy during the Civil War, and ways she continued to help free Blacks after the war.
Meltzer, M. (1989). Voices from the Civil War. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Chapter book, upper elementary/middle school level. The author endeavors to provide ordinary people’s perspectives on the Civil War from the North and South. He explains the context for each speaker, then provides direct quotations from letters, diaries, memoirs, interviews, ballads, newspaper articles and speeches to depict life and events during the Civil War. These first-person accounts reflect people’s views on: slavery and African Americans, the right of states to secede from the Union, President Lincoln and President Davis, the beginning of the Civil War, and their concerns about brothers fighting against brothers. Additional accounts provide the perspectives of men who volunteered to serve in the Union and Confederate forces and their battle experiences as well as those of their officers, views on the conditions of slaves who escaped to Union army camps, northern and southern sentiments about the war depicted in songs, reactions to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, evaluations of African American Union troops’ performance, descriptions of attacks on African Americans in the North during draft riots, how women coped with the war at home after men left to fight, economic changes during the war, punishments for deserters, pacifists who refused to fight in the war, soldiers’ experiences in war prisons, volunteer nurses’ challenges in caring for wounded and ill soldiers, people’s many hardships during sieges, a description of the fall of Richmond and the death of President Lincoln, and the end of the Civil War.
Myers, W. D. (1991). Now is your time! The African-American struggle for freedom. New York: HarperTrophy.
Middle school level and adult resource. The author intersperses general descriptions of historical eras with stories of individuals. He begins with a brief review of the beginning of the slave trade as European Americans recognized the need for cheap labor in the Americas. The author includes a story of one African brought to the U.S. as a slave, kept in slavery for 40 years, then was able to return to Africa. The development of the plantation society is described which necessitated a large labor force to raise one main crop for income and complete other work needed for life on a large estate. One chapter describes the inhumane strategies slave owners used to exercise complete control over slaves and make them dependent on their “masters,” as well as slave resistance to slavery. The author also explores the contradictions in the ideals of the American Revolution and slavery, provides a profile of one free Black (James Forten) living during the Revolutionary era, the place of slavery in the Constitution, different slave rebellions, and the struggle of one couple to escape from slavery. As a way to understand the Civil War, the author describes laws regarding slavery, the growing abolitionist movement, the secession of southern states from the Union, and significant activities of the Civil War itself. Following the Civil War, African Americans still had to struggle for survival and move toward greater equality. Court cases and the accomplishments of African American individuals bring readers up to the final chapter, which focuses on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Pinkney, A. D. (2001). Dear Mr. President Abraham Lincoln: Letters from a slave girl. New York: Winslow.
Upper elementary, middle school level. The text is letters exchanged between President Abraham Lincoln and Lettie Tucker, a young slave girl living on a plantation in Charleston, South Carolina from 1861-1863. The letters are fictional, but are based on research. Although it was illegal for slaves to learn to read and write, many did develop literacy and were courageous enough to write to the president. The author portrays Lettie as an intelligent, thoughtful, bold 12-year-old girl. She was very aware of her status as property of her owner, that slave families were usually sold away from each other, and the relentless work slave owners demanded of their slaves. Lettie asked Lincoln to free the slaves even though her father accused Lincoln of being more concerned about keeping the Union together than ending slavery. Lincoln’s letters revealed his contradictory views on slavery while Lettie’s letters disclosed the great joy among slaves when they learned of Lincoln’s decision to end slavery in the Confederate states.
Polacco, P. (1994). Pink and say. New York: Philomel.
Picture book, upper elementary level. This book is based on a story passed orally from one generation to another until the author created this text. Say was Polacco's great great grandfather and the story takes place when he was a youth from Ohio fighting on the Union's side in the Civil War. Say was wounded and lying in a Georgia field when he was found by Pink, a young African American Union soldier. Say took him home to his mother to care for on the deserted, burned plantation. Say described the harshness of slavery for Pink and the importance of fighting the war to end it. When Confederate marauders came by, Pink and Say hid, but Pink's mother was killed. Later both Pink and Say were captured by Confederate soldiers and taken to prison. Pink was hanged in prison whereas Say lived to tell the story.
Polcovar, J. (1988). What was it like? Harriet Tubman. Stamford, CT: Longmeadow.
Upper elementary level. The text is a biography of Harriet Tubman and she is the narrator of highlights of her life. The book portrays briefly the physical cruelty she endured as a slave, the physical strength she developed, and her escape from slavery along the Underground Railroad. It also reveals how Harriet Tubman became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and her bravery in helping slaves escape along its route. Harriet Tubman explains the route she took after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed which necessitated slaves going to Canada and ways she helped inform slaves of their freedom during the Civil War. One valuable aspect of the book is the explanation of the meaning of singing to slaves as they worked in the fields.
Shura, M. F. (1991). Gentle Annie: The true story of a Civil War nurse. New York: Scholastic.
Chapter book, upper elementary/middle school level. The text is a fictionalized biography based on a real person, Anna B. Etheridge who provides a northern perspective on the Civil War. The author completed research from soldiers’ journals and newspaper accounts of a Civil War nurse named Annie Etheridge from Michigan, who nursed Union soldiers. The author found eyewitness accounts of Annie’s participation on the front line of almost every major battle from Blackburn’s Ford in 1861 through Petersburg’s in 1865. She attended to wounded soldiers on the front lines, in hospital tents, and on boats as part of the Hospital Transport Service. She also nursed soldiers who were ill with malaria. Annie’s descriptions of battles and wounded and dying soldiers reveal the great human costs and tragedies of war. Although Annie admires President Lincoln and his attention to wounded Union soldiers and the leadership skills of several Union officers, she grieves the loss of life and maiming of healthy soldiers.
Walter, M. P. (2004). Alec’s primer. Middlebury, VT: Vermont Folklife Center.
Picture book, elementary level. The text is based on the childhood of Alec Turner who was born a slave in 1845 in Virginia and eventually moved to Vermont as a free man. His story and the history of the Turner family were shared by one of Alec’s daughters with the Vermont Folklife Center. As a child Alec was forced to work hard as a slave, but his mistress’ granddaughter Miss Zephie defied the law and her grandmother and taught Alec to read. During the Civil War, Alec ran away from his plantation and joined the Union army. The text illustrates the power of literacy and the courage of slaves and slave owners to defy legal barriers to reading as a step toward freedom for enslaved people.
Children’s Periodicals
Chorlian, M. (Ed.). (1995, October). Ulysses S. Grant. Cobblestone, 16.
Elementary level. The articles elaborate on Grant’s love of horses and his reluctant entrance into West Point; his early financial problems and closeness to his wife and children; Grant’s uneven, but growing victories as a military leader during the Civil War leading to his becoming the most successful Union general and promoted to general in chief of all Union armies; and his ability to remain cool in battle, rally his men, plan strategy, fight aggressively, and not underestimate the enemy. Additional articles summarize other significant Union officers; Grant’s popularity after the war helped him become president, but his misjudgments marred his presidency; and his final efforts to write his memoirs.
Chorlian, M. (Ed.). (1997, October). The battle of Antietam: September 17, 1862. Cobblestone, 18.
Elementary level. The articles explain what led to the battle of Antietam and the main events of the battle, which lasted only one day, but is now considered the bloodiest one-day battle in American history with more than 23,000 to 36,000 (numbers vary in the articles) soldiers dead and thousands more wounded or missing and is considered a turning point in the war in favor of the North with most remaining battles fought in the South. Additional articles profile the Union and Confederate generals of the battle, the reporter and photographer who captured the battle in words and pictures, the efforts of volunteer Clara Barton to take care of wounded and hungry soldiers during the battle, the artillery or canons used in the battle, and efforts to deal with the dead and wounded after the battle.
Chorlian, M. (Ed.). (1998, December). The battle of Vicksburg. Cobblestone, 19.
Elementary level. Articles explain the importance of Vicksburg, one of the last Confederate-controlled cities along the Mississippi River, in the Civil War; the final strategy Grant and other Union officers used to capture Vicksburg; and details of the siege of Vicksburg which led to food shortages, destruction of homes, and Vicksburg citizens’ use of caves for shelter. Additional articles describe the different ranks of Civil War soldiers, although many officers from both the North and South graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; the story of a young woman from Illinois who disguised herself as a man, served in the Union army at Vicksburg, and kept her identity a secret for almost 50 years; and the contributions of boys from the North and South who fought as soldiers or served as drummers or messengers.
Chorlian, M. (Ed.). (2005, February). Women in the Civil War. Cobblestone, 26.
Elementary level. Articles focus on descriptions of women who served as nurses, secret soldiers, spies, and volunteers for the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. One article concentrates on Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis, first ladies of the Union and Confederacy, during the war while another article portrays a young female Civil War reenactor who explains children’s lives to audiences during this period.
Chorlian, M. (Ed.). (2008, February). Art and the Civil War. Cobblestone, 29.
Elementary level. The articles focus on the depiction of the Civil War in artist sketches published in weeklies (part newspapers and part magazines published during the Civil War); artists who became cartographers and created maps for army officers to use to prepare for battle; Matthew Brady’s and his assistants’ photographs of soldiers and the aftermaths of battle scenes; landscape paintings of battles, camp life, and generals; and a cyclorama or a 360-degree huge painting of the battle of Gettysburg. One of the most interesting articles encourages readers to analyze the artists’ intentions and messages in their Civil War paintings. Women and men sculptors of the
Civil War time period are also portrayed.
Nankin, F. (Ed.). (1981, April). Highlights of the Civil War: 1861-1865. Cobblestone, 2.
Elementary level. Articles portray photography Matthew Brady who put teams of photographers into the field to photograph Civil War battles and the destruction they caused; the important contributions women like Mary Ann Bickerdyke made in caring for ill or wounded soldiers, the activities of Rose Greenhow, a Confederate spy, to gather information on Union troops and share it with the Confederacy; how an eagle, Old Abe, became a mascot for a Wisconsin regiment serving with the Union, one family’s story of the destruction which Union General Sherman caused when he marched through Georgia; a short description of the main Union and Confederate officers; and a balloonist who became a spy for the Union.
Yoder, C. P. (Ed.). (1993, September). Robert E. Lee. Cobblestone, 14.
Elementary level. The articles praise the accomplishments of Lee, from his early years living in Virginia, his graduation second in his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, his early years of military service, Lincoln’s request that he command the Union forces at the beginning of the Civil War, Lee’s decision not to fight against his home state of Virginia, to his becoming “the greatest Confederate military hero of the war.” Articles summarize Lee’s military accomplishments during the Civil War, his dignity in surrender to Grant, the transformation of the Lee family home into Arlington National Cemetery, and his successes as president of Washington College, which became Washington and Lee University.
Yoder, C. P. (Ed.). (1994, May). Abraham Lincoln. Cobblestone, 15.
Elementary level. Articles describe Lincoln’s early years; his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln and the death of two of their sons; his opposition to the spread of slavery through the Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed the settlers of those territories to decide if they would be slave or free; a play depicting the debates between presidential candidates Lincoln and Stephen Douglas; and the many challenges of the Civil War, including coping with Union defeats in battle, finding the right Union generals, dealing with antiwar northerners, instituting the first military draft in which wealthy men could buy their way out of service, and deciding to run for re-election in 1864 despite his low popularity. One of the most interesting articles, “The ‘Great Emancipator,’” clarifies why Lincoln waited so long to issue the Emancipation Proclamation two years after the war began, which freed slaves only in the Confederate states. The remaining articles briefly describe Lincoln’s sense of humor, the Lincoln sons, and the reasons behind John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Lincoln.