Tuesday, November 2, 2010

"The Perilous Road"

War. Gunshots. Hate. The type of book that you would think I would never be reviewing. But I decided to make this blog public, so who knows, maybe there is someone out there wanting to read a review on this book I had to read for school.

"The Perilous Road" is a book about Chris Brabson, a southern boy living during the Civil War. But the book is also about much more.  It tells his story beautifully, but  better than that, it tells everybody's story. There's the North, there's the South, and everyone must pick a side.  Chris hates the "Yankees", and wants nothing to do with  them. I mean, why do they think they know what's best for the South? And if the issue is slavery.... he doesn't own any slaves, and neither does his family!  So Chris is shocked when his brother, Jethro, decides to go join up with the Union.  The family suffers many things the next few weeks.  First, the Yankees (the way Chris refers to them) take all their food. And their plow horse. Chris immediately decides to hate the Union forever. 
The war is soon between two brothers, and Chris is determined to do whatever he can for the Confederacy... even spy for them. There are many other elements to the book, including a friendship with a hunter and spy, Silas; dealing with family, and.... Mules.
At a first glance I was not that thrilled to be reading this book. But I found myself getting into it a bit, and so if you have to read a book about the Civil War, this would be an excellent choice. So often we tend to think of the North as the "Good Guys", and the South as the "Bad Guys". I love how this book tells a Civil War story from the perspective of a southern boy.  It has really given me some insight on the Confederacy side. I think this Newberry Honor book by William O. Steele is appropriate for ages 7+. For the rating, I give it 4 Stars out of 5.

Natalia :-)

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