Crist-Evans, Craig. Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy's Civil War Journal. ill. Bonnie Christensen. Houghten Mifflin, 1999. ISBN 0-395-91208-3
Written as a journal of a thirteen-year old boy, Moon Over Tennessee details this boy's journey with his father into a war-torn countryside. While never drawing arms, this young boy finds himself and others his age in the middle of an ugly war. Brought along to care for the horses, tend to camp duties, and care for his father, the narrator sees and hears war as no one should have to, much less someone that young. A journey into war, caring for horses, and ultimately an untimely ride home, seen from a thirteen-year-old's point of view, demonstrates the Civil War and it's effects on this family. The wood engraving illustrations that accompany this work are amazing and detailed. They will make the reader feel as though they are looking at the nighttime landscape of Tennessee themselves.
At the beginning of this module, I was hesitant to read this book. It did not look like something I would enjoy. However, the more I read, the more I enjoyed. In fact, there were several points in this book that brought tears to my eyes. I could feel the heart-break of so many families torn by a war many of them did not understand but in which felt compelled to fight. I would use this book as follow-up to a Civil War unit. I would read it to the students in small incriments, then have the students write (and possibly illustrate) a journal of their own as if they were this young man.
Excerpts from Moon Over Tennessee I would use to demonstrate the emotion of the young boy.
Just past the fencerow, we turn the horses back
and wave at Ma, Little Sister, and John. The moon
is still a ghost above the hills of Tennessee. (p 10)
Morning comes in shades of gray.
As if I dream it, there are gunshots,
bugle calls, and screaming. I sit up fast,
but Pa is up already, busy
pulling on his boots, his rifle
cocked and loaded on his cot. (p 27)
"Pa," I ask him just before we sleep,
"do you think it's right, what we are doing?" (p 36)
"Even when the cannons quit," he says,
"I can hear them pounding in my ears." (p 43)
"Some say it's for the salves,
but I don't think that's true. (p 45)
I say, "I rode from Gettysburg to Tennessee
and I saw the country weeping." (p 59)
Written as a journal of a thirteen-year old boy, Moon Over Tennessee details this boy's journey with his father into a war-torn countryside. While never drawing arms, this young boy finds himself and others his age in the middle of an ugly war. Brought along to care for the horses, tend to camp duties, and care for his father, the narrator sees and hears war as no one should have to, much less someone that young. A journey into war, caring for horses, and ultimately an untimely ride home, seen from a thirteen-year-old's point of view, demonstrates the Civil War and it's effects on this family. The wood engraving illustrations that accompany this work are amazing and detailed. They will make the reader feel as though they are looking at the nighttime landscape of Tennessee themselves.
At the beginning of this module, I was hesitant to read this book. It did not look like something I would enjoy. However, the more I read, the more I enjoyed. In fact, there were several points in this book that brought tears to my eyes. I could feel the heart-break of so many families torn by a war many of them did not understand but in which felt compelled to fight. I would use this book as follow-up to a Civil War unit. I would read it to the students in small incriments, then have the students write (and possibly illustrate) a journal of their own as if they were this young man.
Excerpts from Moon Over Tennessee I would use to demonstrate the emotion of the young boy.
Just past the fencerow, we turn the horses back
and wave at Ma, Little Sister, and John. The moon
is still a ghost above the hills of Tennessee. (p 10)
Morning comes in shades of gray.
As if I dream it, there are gunshots,
bugle calls, and screaming. I sit up fast,
but Pa is up already, busy
pulling on his boots, his rifle
cocked and loaded on his cot. (p 27)
"Pa," I ask him just before we sleep,
"do you think it's right, what we are doing?" (p 36)
"Even when the cannons quit," he says,
"I can hear them pounding in my ears." (p 43)
"Some say it's for the salves,
but I don't think that's true. (p 45)
I say, "I rode from Gettysburg to Tennessee
and I saw the country weeping." (p 59)
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