William O. Steele (1917–1979)

Chris Brabson is full of hate. He hates the Yankee soldiers who are camping in his beloved Tennessee woods; he hates their snotty Northern ways and their belief that they know what's best for the South; he hates that they've taken all of his family's food to feed their own troops.

And he hates that his own brother has joined the Union side of the war when, to Chris, it is clear that the Confederacy is the side to fight for.

When his hatred proves more powerful than good sense, Chris spies for the Confederates, revealing that a Union wagon train is camped in a valley near his home - and his brother is probably in that train. Caught in the bitter battle at dawn, Chris discovers that in war, nothing is clear-cut - good and bad are equally laid to waste by the horrors of the battlefield.… (meer)

My brothers love survival stories, so when I picked this book up off the shelf recently, I guessed they’d probably love it. Sure enough—they did! I can’t say as it was my favorite read ever—I found the adventure and danger a little much at times—but overall, it was an interesting read. And it made for a good read-aloud! The part I found most interesting was the description of the hard winter. I don’t know that I’ve ever read about a winter this difficult—I had to wonder if it was based on fact, or was just the author’s vivid imagination. If you have children who enjoy adventure stories, and like danger, this could be a good choice.

CW: A description of a man who was brutally killed at the beginning of ch. 3. I skipped a paragraph or two here when reading aloud.… (meer)