The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia, 1863 (My Name is America) - Hardcover

Murphy, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 059043814X ISBN 13: 9780590438148

Publisher: Scholastic Inc., 1998

Synopsis

A sixteen-year-old Union soldier is ordered by his commanding officer to keep a written record of "G" Company during the most brutal year of the Civil War. By the Newbery Honor author of The Great Fire.

About this title

Reviews

Grade 5-8-James, a 16-year-old private serving in G Company of the 122nd Regiment, New York Volunteers, is baffled when his lieutenant assigns him to be the company historian in his Union regiment. He is initially at a loss as to what he is supposed to record, but gradually becomes more at ease with his responsibility and even finds solace in the task. James's account captures the tedium and drudgery of day-to-day life in the infantry, the confusion and terror of battle, and the horrors of medical practices of the period. Murphy bases this "journal" on real diaries of actual Civil War soldiers. He attempts to lend authenticity to the farm boy's writing by using expressions such as, "We was" or "the shadows was"; other times, he writes in literate and affective prose. For example, "The damage to the enemy lines was severe and their screams terrible." If anything, the author includes too many details and keeps readers from connecting with the protagonist's thoughts and fears. The story gets more exciting when James is lost behind enemy lines and is hidden from Confederate soldiers by a slave woman. The action is neatly wrapped up and the epilogue is a bit too tidy. Nonetheless, this is a solid addition to a popular series.
Ann M. Burlingame, North Regional Library, Raleigh, NC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 059043814X
• ISBN 13: 9780590438148
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176