Dear Ellen Bee: A Civil War Scrapbook of Two Union Spies - Hardcover

Lyons, Mary E.; Branch, Muriel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689823797 ISBN 13: 9780689823794

Publisher: Atheneum, 2000

Synopsis

Based on a true story, two women, an abolitionist and a daughter of a freed slave, work together on an undercover project for the Union cause during the Civil War.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary E. Lyons is the author of many books for children and young adults, including Roy Makes a Car, Feed the Children First, Dear Ellen Bee, Letters from a Slave Girl, and Sorrow's Kitchen. In addition to the Golden Kite Award and a Horn Book Fanfare for Letters from a Slave Girl, Lyons was also the recipient of a 2005 Aesop Award for Roy Makes a Car and a Carter G. Woodson Award for Sorrow's Kitchen. A teacher and former librarian, she lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can learn more about her at www.lyonsdenbooks.com.

From Publishers Weekly:

Lyons (Letters from a Slave Girl) and Branch (Juneteenth) explore the tensions of the Civil War via a scrapbook format in this novel told through letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, etc. Ellen Bee is the joint alias of Miss Bet, a wealthy white woman, and her freed slave, Liza, who wind up acting as Union spies in Richmond, Va. Meticulously researched and based on real persons and events, the novel covers the years 1856-1865, starting from the time Miss Bet sends a 10-year-old Liza to be educated in Philadelphia. A rift occurs when Liza marries and returns to Richmond, which is mended only when the two unite in the spy Ellen Bee, sending critical messages via letters and code ("And as it turned out, Ellen Bee was a better person than either of us on our own"). The authors exploit the scrapbook format fully and offer surprising insights into history; for instance, facsimiles of freedom papers, train tickets with a rebus for the many illiterate travelers and a broadside from a Frederick Douglas rally are "pasted" onto the pages. Ultimately, many readers may find the cantankerous Miss Bet more memorable than Liza, who sometimes lacks depth. If the narrative occasionally falters, (e.g., the late mention of Miss Bet's deceased abolitionist friend, Fannie, who awakened the protagonist's consciousness to the wrongs of slavery), this is still a well-informed account of daring women fighting the good fight away from the battlefields. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0689823797
• ISBN 13: 9780689823794
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 161
• Illustrator: Tauss Marc