Death on the River

November 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-Readers follow Jake Clay, a teenager serving in the Union army, as he is injured and taken to Andersonville. He encounters numerous unsavory characters and circumstances during his tenure at the camp, and by the end of his story he comes to terms with what he has seen and done. The strength of the novel is in Wilson's descriptions of both the moral and physical filth found at the prison camp. Readers feel Jake's disgust and fear. Unfortunately, the novel seems little more than situations, many graphic in nature, tacked together to illustrate the true suffering endured by soldiers during and after the war. While Jake matures in the end, the other characters lack much depth. With the wealth of Civil War literature available to teens, this one isn't a first choice."Hilary Writt, Sullivan University, Lexington, KY"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2009
Grades 8-10 Im haunted. I can go home now, but I fear Ill take a part of Hell with me, Jake laments as the Civil War ends and the notorious prison camp that was Andersonville unravels. The teen soldier witnessed horror as a prisoner, whether from roving gangs of Union soldiers brutalizing fellow prisoners for personal gain, or unspeakable conditions perpetrated by their Rebel overseers. Billy Sharp, a ruthless, streetwise operator, takes the young soldier under his wing. At every turn, Jake wrestles with the notion of personal responsibility and conscience. If he condones Billys savagery against others, does that make him just as guilty? Is there such a thing as honor when faced with a crisis of survival? When the overloaded steamboat carrying them north explodes, he gets a chance to make a stand. Teen fiction rarely gets so involved with notions of morality in war, and this is a thoughtful, provocative work, although its graphic brutality limits the audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)