Before the Creeks Ran Red - Hardcover

Reeder, Carolyn

3.77

31 ratings by Goodreads

9780066236155: Before the Creeks Ran Red

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0066236150 ISBN 13: 9780066236155

Publisher: HarperColl, 2003

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A tattered flag above Fort Sumter . . . riots in the streets . . . Union troops occupying private homes and harassing citizens . . . The months before the first major battle of the Civil War were marked by confusion, deep emotion, and bitter divisions between families, neighbors, and friends. Timothy Donovan, a bugler at Fort Sumter; Joseph Schwartz, a scholarship student from a working-class family in Baltimore; and Gregory Howard, son of a wealthy man in Alexandria, Virginia, all find their loyalties challenged by the gathering storm. For Timothy, the threat of bombardment by rebel troops, coupled with a near-starvation diet in a garrison that is under siege, forces him to question what it really means to lay down one's life for one's flag. Joseph's family is fiercely Unionist, but his privileged classmates -- including his one real friend -- are staunchly in favor of secession. And Gregory's Unionist father has disinherited Gregory's older brother, who, like the rest of the family, remains loyal to the South.

Shades of Gray author Carolyn Reeder shows the complexities of life in a time of fear, excitement, and overwhelming change in these three interlinked stories about the months before the first major battle of the Civil War.

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About the Author:

Carolyn Reeder, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Shades of Gray (Simon & Schuster), is an avid history buff with a longtime interest in the Civil War. Her other historical novels for young people include Across the Lines, Grandpa's Mountain, Moonshiner's Son, and Captain Kate.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8-The tense months between December, 1860 and July, 1861 are portrayed in three related stories about three 14-year-olds caught up in the beginnings of the Civil War. Orphan Timothy Donovan counts himself lucky to have traded a dreary apprenticeship for the trim blue uniform of a U.S. Army bugler, but his comfortable post in Charleston becomes deadly when South Carolina secedes and turns rebel guns against the harbor forts. In Maryland, Joseph Schwartz, gifted son of German immigrants, is doing well as a scholarship boy at an exclusive Baltimore school. His biggest problem is hiding his working-class status from the wealthy students, until war fever and peer pressure force him to decide whether he truly believes in the Union. For Gregory Howard, national tensions are mirrored painfully within his loving family in Alexandria, VA. His father stubbornly remains a loyal Unionist while Gregory, his mother, and siblings welcome secession and despise the Federal troops occupying their city. Each story includes convincing period details, and the three protagonists emerge as credible individuals struggling to be true to themselves in times of fear and uncertainty. The author includes two short sections of historical notes that will be useful for classroom discussion and for readers curious about how much of the book is factual.
Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
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