Battle Scars - Softcover

Wilson, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1553377036 ISBN 13: 9781553377030

Publisher: Kids Can Press, 2005

Synopsis

This novel by John Wilson, the sequel to The Flags of War, continues the adventures of two cousins, Walt and Nate McGregor, and of Sunday, the former slave on Nate's father's plantation. They have survived the carnage at Shiloh. But the war rages on. Nate returns to the family plantation to find it in ruins. In despair he turns back to the only life he knows -- the army. Meanwhile, Walt and Sunday re-enlist to fight for their beliefs, no matter how great the danger. The three young men meet again at the notorious Libby prison in Virginia: Nate as a guard, Sunday as a slave and Walt as a prisoner. Their grim reunion at Libby -- where prison walls divide them -- highlights the complexity of a war that tore a nation apart. Can the three battle-scarred soldiers hope for anything more than survival?

About this title

About the Author:

John Wilson is the author of more than a dozen historical fiction and non-fiction books for young people and adults. He lives on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8–A sequel to The Flags of War (Kids Can, 2004). Nate, from South Carolina; Walt, his cousin from Canada; and Sunday, a black man who communicates in sign language because he has no tongue, come together during the Civil War. The book opens with Nate's return to his plantation home after Lee's surrender. When his father dies, he is free to join Walt and Sunday in Canada. The story then flashes back to the Battle of Gettysburg where Nate watches a friend die. Meanwhile, Walt has left Canada to join the fight in New York, where he observes a lynching, and Sunday joins a black regiment while it is in Charleston and meets Frederick Douglass. The climax has all of them battle weary in Richmond, where Walt is imprisoned while Nate is a guard. Using Sunday as a go-between, a plan is hatched to help the Northern prisoners escape, using sign language between Walt and Sunday to communicate. Readable and exciting, this book looks at the Civil War from the eyes of soldiers who come to realize that their enemies are just men like themselves.–Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia
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About this edition

• Publisher: Kids Can Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1553377036
• ISBN 13: 9781553377030
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168