The silent witness A true story of the Civil War

Gr 3-5-In an unlikely but actual coincidence, young Lula McLean and her family directly experienced the first major battle of the war (a cannonball landed in their stew) and the conflict's end (surrender documents were signed in their house). Simple words and elegant folk-art illustrations trace how the course of the war intersected with a single household. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(Intermediate) This picture book set during the Civil War emphasizes the ways in which warfare can touch an individual. Young Lula McLean watched the war begin and end: her family's home in Manassas became General Beauregard's headquarters in 1861, and when Lee surrendered in 1865, he did so at the McLeans' second home in Appomattox Court House. The finely executed watercolor and gouache paintings, reminiscent of primitive art, accentuate the idea that this war was an intimate part of everyday life in the South. This strong concept is diminished somewhat, as Lula's limited observations require Friedman to insert background material that occasionally interrupts the main story and bifurcates the narrative. But the small, telling details -- a cannonball exploding in the McLean kitchen (depicted better in the text than in the accompanying illustration); the birth of Lula's younger sister; soldiers pillaging the McLeans' house for souvenirs, including Lula's doll, the ""silent witness"" of the surrender -- show a personal side of the war often lost in the epic of history books. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

The events of the Civil War unfold, filtered through the experiences of Lula McLean, on whose father's farm the First Battle of Bull Run was fought, and in whose father's living room Lee surrendered. Friedman expertly weaves the major facts of the Civil War into her narrative, always returning to Lula's experiences as a touchstone; she moves, for instance, from the Union blockade of Southern ports to describing how Lula's family was affected. Nivola's flat, folk-art-y illustrations do the same, giving readers a panoramic view of Sherman's march through the South and then, with the turn of the page, focusing on Lula as she decorates the house for Christmas of 1864, her rag doll on the floor and a house slave in the doorway, both watching. Although both text and illustrations allude to slavery, the focus is very much kept on the military campaigns and their effects on Lula and her family. By focusing on Lula and her doll--the "silent witness" of the title--the grand sweep of history is placed very firmly and humanely within the grasp of young readers. (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.