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| This review is for the content of the 2008 revised edition of this book that has this exact cover. |
“Desperate to help the Union, Emma dresses herself as a boy and enlists as a Yankee soldier, and is soon fighting with her regiment on Virginia battlefields and spying for the Union. While in Richmond, her friend Molly discovers a spy ring against the Confederacy and finds herself aiding their cause. While the war tears the nation apart, both girls must find a way to keep their secrets safe and decide whether they will risk everything--including their lives and freedom--for what they believe.”
Series: Part of the “Liberty Letters” series, but does not seem to be connected to the other books in the series.
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, mentioned, remembered, quoted, & referenced; Prayers & Thanking God; A hymn is sung; Talks about God, Jesus, & salvation; ’H’s are not capital when referring to God or Jesus; Emma says that she felt God meant for her to enlist in the Army and would provide the way and will equip her (Mollie later writes that God prepared Emma from childhood for this task); A man on the Union side tells Emma that he “knows the heart of God and it cannot condone that any child of God should be the property of another man” and says wanting to control another human is the real rebellion against God; Emma reads a book that talks about “whoever thought he would help Jesus, if he were sick or in prison, would help him now by helping the slaves, his afflicted and suffering children”; Mollie wonders if God is only with you when you win a battle or is He there when you lose as well (no answer is given to her pondering); Emma asks God why a young soldier would get hurt; Mentions of God, Jesus Christ, His will, trusting Him, what God thinks of slavery (disapproving), salvation, & the Gospel; Mentions of prayers, praying, & prayer meetings; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, Bible memorization, & Bible studies; Mentions of churches, church going, services, pastors/chaplains, & sermons; Mentions of Christians going to Heaven; Mentions of Christmas & Christmas Eve church services; Mentions of fasting for the success of a certain side of the war; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of freed slaves praising and thanking God; A mention of Bibles being given out to new soldiers; A mention of a miracle; A mention of Godspeed; A mention of a Quaker school;
*Note: A few mentions of people believing others to be evil for not being on their side of the war.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: Four ‘stupid’s; Lying (including Mollie not wanting to lie to her mother, but having to due to secrets regarding the war & also Emma lying when being undercover); Emma didn’t meet the height requirement for soldiers the first time, so she stuffed her shoes and stood tall the second time she tried to enlist (and was accepted); Shooting someone who is trying to steal & in self-defense (barely-above-not-detailed); Experiencing and Seeing gunfire, battles, injuries, blood/bleeding, & nausea because of wounds and blood (up to semi-detailed); Holding people as they die, seeing deaths, grieving, & feeling heavy over it (multiple times, up to semi-detailed); Being captured as a spy & imprisoned (up to semi-detailed); Being bitten by a horse & pain (up to semi-detailed); A horse is killed in a battle (barely-above-not-detailed); Set during the Civil War so it is all about & has many mentions of the different sides, slavery/freeing slaves, abuse and mistreatment of slaves (including being whipped “or worse”), runaway slaves, battles, attacks, weapons, gunfire and bombs, prejudice towards those on the opposite side, fear and concerns over loved ones, & differing opinions on all the elements of the war; All about & many mentions of deaths (including Mollie with grief for her late father), possible or near deaths, dead bodies, injuries, blood/bleeding, amputations, screams of agony, & illnesses (barely-above-not-detailed); All about & many mentions of spies, traitors/treason, deception, arrests, & spies being sentenced to death by hanging; Many mentions of prisons/jails & prisoners of war; Mentions of thieves, stealing, & killing or harming others when stealing from them (stealing includes soldiers shoot a cow and eating it without permission of the farmer which Emma writes that she’s not saying it was right of them to do, but she understands why they did it as they had been marching for days without food); Mentions of fires & vandalism; Mentions of lies & lying (including those who lied about their ages to be able to enlist); Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of Emma’s cruel father and her mother giving her blessing to escape (later, Emma notes that she understands the “bondage of fear” that slaves face because of her father); A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of alcohol (implied for medical use); A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of the Mexican War; A mention of a tobacco farm;
*Note: When undercover, Emma has to color her body with silver nitrate and put on a wig to pass as a fugitive slave (twice; done with intentions to spy and not racism); Mollie asks Emma how she takes care of her “bodily needs”and keeping her secret when she “tend to business” & Emma writes back that many of the men relieve themselves in pits, but others are more private so she tries to find private spots (she doesn’t blame Mollie for asking because she would be curious too); Mollie is given “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to read by an abolition which her relatives have said is “nothing but Yankee propaganda”, but she reads it twice and is angry at what happened to the characters (she does wonder if it was made by someone trying to drum up support for the war); Mentions of books & authors (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” & a biography of Josiah Henson).
Sexual Content- Mollie writes about other girls going to party with the soldiers and talking about which regiment is the most handsome; Mollie’s great aunt talks about boys coming to court Mollie and introduces her to some young men; The epilogue shares about a budding romance; A few mentions of an older sister’s romance (that leads quickly into marriage); A mention of a soldier’s girlfriend; A mention of flirting;
*Note: Emma has disguised herself as a boy after leaving her family and is now a field nurse in the war (it’s said that she has bandages binding her chest); Mollie figures out that Emma is more comfortable with wearing pants because of how she grew up; Mollie recalls when she first met Emma, who was disgusted as a boy (noting that “he was [actually] a she”).
-Mollie Turner, age 16
-Emma Edmonds
P.O.V. switches between them via letters
Set in 1861-1862
224 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Whew. That was a history lesson written in an interesting way—through the letters of two best friends, one who is a young woman who has disguised herself as a boy to join the Civil War! After starting this book, I had to do some quick research to see if that was even a possibility of a woman hiding her gender to be able to fight in the 1860s and sure enough, it was. I was totally thinking it was far-fetched and prepared to suspend my disbelief as I read this book, but research says that 400-1,000 women fought in the Civil War. I’m a little shocked I didn’t know this, but the Civil War has never been a favorite time period of mine to read. That would honestly be the biggest downfall of this book to me: it took most of the book for me to get into the story and that’s truly because I’ve always found the Civil War to be horribly sad. I ended up making notes while I read and researching a lot in between letters to try to somewhat keep up with all the battles, locations, and who-was-who in the historical sense.
I debated on my personal rating because, like I said, it took a while to power through this book and it’s not my favorite historical setting, but I think it was ultimately a 3.5 star rating for me. However, I can truly see the value in reading this book and greatly enjoyed the faith content throughout it. I would imagine this could be a good addition for homeschool families adding this book to their curriculum about the Civil War—especially if they want something deeper with more information than the American Girl books but still not gory or gruesome in the details. There were quite a few sad moments in this book because of deaths, but the faith content helped make it beautifully done.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
