Janet L. Rose (Children's Literature)
When the Union army invaded the South, they closed the clothing mills and took the workers (mainly women and children) as prisoners. They were sent north and hired out as servants, farm hands, and mill workers. Twelve-year-old Hannalee and her ten-year-old brother, who were mill workers, were taken from their mother and sent north. Some of the people who hired the Southerners hated them because their sons or husbands were killed in the war. Some were sympathetic and understanding. Hannalee had promised her mother she would return home. One day she escapes from her family, dons trousers to masquerade as a boy, finds her brother, and heads home. She encounters southern outlaws, wounded soldiers, and Southerners who have decided to stay in the north to live a better life. Also, she and her brother witness the bloody battle of Franklin. This little-known aspect of the Civil War tells what happened to some of the poor Southerners who were trying to eke out a living on their own. Patricia Beatty presents a variety of viewpoints and emotions from both the North and the South, all of which are believable and gives children an insight as to what life was like in the 1860s and the horrors of war. 1999, Beech Tree Books, $5.95 and $10.25. Ages 9 to 12.