Black Angels

January 1, 2010
Gr 7 Up-At the end of the Civil War, three children leave their homes and embark on a journey together. Luke, 11, runs away from his master to try and join up with the Union army. Nine-year-old Daylily was hiding in the woods when her older sister and babies were killed by men she assumes are Yankees. Caswell, the youngest and the only white child, was left to fend for himself when his mother died on the plantation. Their paths converge, and these three unlikely compatriots head to where they think they will be safe. The story itself is somewhat contrived, and the violence these children witness is intense. Daylily's sister is graphically butchered like a hog and all of her babies are murdered as well. Scenes like this are sprinkled throughout the novel whether it is a situation they stumble upon or one that takes place in specific battle scenes. Both Luke and Daylily speak in dialect, as one would expect, but the dialect is not noted with any diacritical marks and is very distracting. Struggling readers will have a particularly difficult time negotiating it. The book ends with the three characters rendezvousing 10 years later, which serves to tie the story up in an unrealistically neat package. Carolyn Reeder's "Shades of Gray" (S & S, 1989) remains a perfect recommendation for showing the impact of the Civil War on children."Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 In this novel set toward the end of the Civil War, three young runaways meet in North Carolina and care for each other, even as they are haunted by the horror of what theyve left behind. Luke, an 11-year-old former slave, saw his mother beaten to death by his father, the massa. Daylily, nine, also witnessed unspeakable brutality in slavery, but her loving granny secretly taught her to read. Then there is white Caswell, seven, whose racist dad is in the Confederate army, and whose beloved mother died when Yankees burned his house. With constant use of the n-word, even by little Caswell, the narrative is brutal, filled with the childrens memories of the warfare they witness. The violence continues after the war, too, when Caswells dad returns and joins the Klan. The novels resolutionthe young people meet 10 years lateris too neat. But Browns first YA novel will grab readers with its searing survival story and, most of all, its questions about the meaning of family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)