Scar

February 1, 2016

Gr 5-8-The unlikeliest of heroes, 16-year-old Noah badly wishes to serve in the Continental Army, but a childhood accident that has left him lame prevents him from enlisting. After a Mohawk raid leaves their settlement in ruins, Noah treks to the nearest fort to inform the army and becomes swept up in the local militia's pursuit of the attackers. When the doomed retaliatory efforts claim most of the men, Noah flees, finding himself face to face with one of their enemies, a Native American boy about his age. Both boys are seriously wounded, are separated from their people, and have only each other to depend upon if they are to survive. Told in alternating chapters over the course of three days, Mann's re-creation of the Battle of Minisink and its aftermath straightforwardly introduces readers to events and figures seldom visited in children's books. While few would argue the Revolution's significance to the colonists, many forget that Native peoples fought a similar battle for basic freedoms during this time. Mann's narrative is unique in that it sheds light on this part of Native American history and, in particular, the Iroquois Confederacy's alliance with the British. At times, the historical conflict is overshadowed by the protagonist's inner struggles and memories, but the rich, exhaustive research is evident within the writing as well as in the biographical information provided at book's end. The epilogue's significance, easily the most fascinating part of the story, will likely be lost to some, but for readers interested in this time period, Mann has created a springboard for immersion in a sadly overlooked yet important part of our history. VERDICT A worthy purchase for its thought-provoking portrayal of a military skirmish seldom explored in children's literature.-Rebecca Gueorguiev, New York Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2016
The Revolutionary War forces a sheltered but determined boy to come of age. The year is 1779; the Revolutionary War is underway. Sixteen-year-old Noah Daniels, frustrated by his crushed foot and patronized by strong-willed women, wants nothing more than to prove himself and honor his late father. He joins the militia as Benjamin Tusten's assistant in the bloody Battle of Minisink but finds himself wounded and befriending "Scar," a wounded Mohawk soldier allied with the British--but only after brutally beating the man. Noah's narration, weaving between flashbacks and his current predicament, evokes the disjointed terror of a nightmare, mocking his heroic fantasies. War, he learns, confuses everything, and Mann demonstrates that chaos throughout. The self-deprecating humor of Noah's relationships with women leavens the mood, yet the sympathy it fosters also intensifies such horrors as scalpings and a boy choking on his own blood. Noah, intuiting that the Mohawk are also fighting for their freedom, wonders, "Wasn't that the same thing I was fighting for?" The somber ending provides no easy answers. An epilogue gives background on the real Battle of Minisink--including a vague mention of a Colonial soldier "probably" buried by Indians, on whom this book is presumably based. An appendix gives brief biographies of the real soldiers who appear in the book. A sobering characterization of not only a historical battle, but war itself. (bibliography) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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April 15, 2016
Grades 5-8 Eager to be a hero in the Revolutionary War despite a childhood leg injury, Noah rushes off with the local militia to avenge a deadly British raid on his New York farming community. Downed by musket fire during a skirmish, he languishes in the woods, only to find an injured Indian boy nearby. Though he is at first furious to discover his enemy, Noah eventually begins to sympathize with the younger boy, whom he nicknames Scar due to a facial marking. Over the course of this fateful day in July 1779, the two manage to communicate. Noah's insightful narration allows readers a glimpse into a tiny rural community's life under British rule and provides a nuanced view of the tensions between settlers and natives caught in the cross fire of military strategy. A war story with plenty of plotaided by Noah's flashbacks and a somewhat surprise endingthis brief, thoughtful story also is a remarkable meditation on the horror and loss that war brings to a community.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)