Hearts of Stone

December 1, 2006
Gr 6-8-Hannah, 15, her younger brother, and her twin sisters are orphaned when their father dies in fighting for the Union and their mother has a fatal heart attack when bushwhackers assault their home. They leave East Tennessee for Nashville to be with their only relative. When they arrive, they discover that their aunt has died. Homeless but not hopeless, Hannah struggles to keep them alive, and they eventually end up at a refugee camp set up by the Union forces. An army doctor and his wife are quite taken with the twins and offer to adopt them. Hannah wants only to return to their farm but Jasper likes his job with the railroad and wants to make it his lifes work. Hannah is torn between her promise to her mother to keep the family together and to do what is best for her siblings. The idea for the book was based on a reenactment of civilian refugee camp life sponsored by the Ladies Soldiers Friends Society. However, the value of the story lies not in its historical content but in the description of the mixed emotions and suffering of friends and neighbors who suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict, the desperation of civilians in wartime, and the unending attempt of a teen to uphold a promise. The book would make for interesting discussions about authority, family bonds, and selflessness."Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2006
War has torn the soul out of Hannah's little Cumberland Mountain community in east Tennessee. While some neighbors steadfastly support the Confederate cause, Pa has joined the Union army. Mama and 15-year-old Hannah bravely carry on until Mama's sudden death after a nerve-shattering attack of bushwackers. Hannah then embarks on a perilous journey to Nashville with brother Jasper and their young twin sisters, hoping to meet up with an aunt--an iffy prospect at best. When the kids arrive, they find out that Aunt Ellen has passed away. Battling starvation and homelessness, they survive any way they can, at one point gathering cigar butts on the streets for a merchant who reuses the tobacco to roll cheap cigars. Ernst movingly shows that the calamity and upheaval of war extends far beyond the battlefields. Meanwhile, the plucky Hannah gradually beats the odds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)