by Irene Hunt
224pp.
Jethro Creighton is just nine years old in 1861; he grows to maturity in Southern Illinois during the Civil War. His brothers fight on both sides in the conflict, and his neighbors are split over slavery and secession as well. The War brings out the best in unlikely people, and brings a courageous suitor for Jeth's sister Jenny.
The book touches on many of the issues involved in the Civil War but does not set out to answer them, beyond being vaguely inclined towards the modern simplistic attitude that the North was right, the South was wrong, and isn't it a shame that the differences couldn't have been resolved peacefully. It isn't difficult for a parent to use the events in this book as an opportunity to teach on how their own family views the issues. But mostly this is a story of growing up during troubled times, and how a young man responds to the need to mature in a hurry for the sake of his family.
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