The Confederate General Rides North by Amanda Gable

The Confederate General Rides North
by Amanda Gable
Scribner, August 2009
276 pages
Fiction
Personal Copy

Summary in a Sentence:

 Eleven-year-old Katherine McConnell, who is fascinated by stories of the Civil War generals, jumps at the chance to take a trip with her mother and drive north of their Georgia home in search of antiques, battlefields, and historic sites, but each stop causes Kat to question her understanding of war and her faith in her mother.

My Thoughts:

I had never heard of this book before attending the Southern Festival of Books in nearby Nashville last October. I love my yearly trek to Tennessee's capital to discover new authors each year, and Amanda Gable is quite a discovery, indeed. I found it very easy to relate with protagonist Katherine McConnell since I also grew up in the South as a fairly dorky, history buff kinda kid who had some conflicting emotions about the South's checkered past in the areas of slavery and civil rights. This book tackles these subjects and more with aplomb.

As Katherine and her mother travel further North and Katherine begins to sense that something is not quite right, Katherine uses her love of Civil War history to cope with her personal difficulties and misgivings. The author conveys this in italicized sections where Katherine pretends to be a general fighting her own war, which is what Katherine is essentially doing. Katherine is fighting a personal war over her ideas about what it means to be a Southerner, but she is also fighting a familial war with her mother who has been overtaken with her mental illness. Also going on in the novel, which is set in 1968, are the political and cultural events surrounding civil rights that seemed to reach a fever pitch that year.

One aspect of the novel I particularly loved was Katherine's love of books, especially the biographies of famous people in American history. There is one particular set that I read as a child; my favorite was the biography of Florence Nightingale.

For fans of Southern fiction, as well as those interested in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the effects of mental illness on families.

~ This book counts towards the Random Reading Challenge ~

You might also like:

• Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven
• What Girls Learn by Karin Cook
• Shiloh: A Novel by Shelby Foote
  

Review: Every Soul a Star

Every Soul a Star

by Wendy Mass

Publisher: Little, Brown 2008

Summary in a Sentence:

Ally, Bree, and Jack meet at Moon Shadow, an isolated campground, to watch a total eclipse of the sun; but soon they begin to learn a great deal about themselves, each other, and the universe.

 My thoughts:

 
Let me begin by saying that I found out about this book because of my (former) babysitting charge's hearty recommendation. She just finished reading this with her mom and they both loved it. I love it when 13 year olds tell me that I simply must read a book!

Ally, Bree, and Jack tell their stories in alternating chapters of their experiences at the Moon Shadow campground, building up to a solar eclipse. I was immediately drawn to Jack and really found his thoughts resonating deeply with me. I think he reminded me a little of myself at 13 or 14. Mass includes just enough elements of astronomy to pique your interest without making you feel like you are -gasp!- learning something, which is just perfect for the target audience of middle schoolers.

Ally lives at the campground with her family where she is homeschooled. Bree, dragged to the eclipse by her family is the stereotypical mall-bound and materialistic tween, which leads me to my only complaint of the novel. I felt that Bree's character was too one-dimensional and predicable for most of the book. It isn't until about three quarters of the way through the book that her character begins to show some multi-dimensional characteristics that the reader can begin to relate to,and she really turns out to be the surprise character twist of the novel. Where the novel shines is with the character of Jack. He reluctantly agrees to go to the campground in order to pass his science class. More interested in drawing and keeping to himself, Jack undergoes a transformation to become a leader of sorts among the campground's inhabitants.
As the story progresses, we see the characters grow and develop as they form unlikely friendships and become more comfortable with themselves.

Lastly, I loved how the book was built around the facts of astronomy in general, and solar eclipses in particular (the author includes some informative endnotes on astronomy and also provides some helpful websites). Mass is very engaging and keeps the reader on their toes throughout the entire novel.

Also Recommended: 

• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
• Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs
• Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell
  

Other Reviews:

• Librarilly Blonde 
• The Reading Zone 
• Book Nut