A Nation Divided: Stories of the Civil War
Avi. Iron Thunder: The Battle Between the Mointor and the Merrimac; 2007. (Y-Avi
Historical)
Tom takes a job at a Brooklyn ironworks when his father is killed and learns the men are
building a ship to be used against the Confederate ironclad called the Merrimac.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. No Man’s Land: A Young Soldier’s Story; 1999. (YBartoletti)
Because he had been unable to fight off the gator which injured his father, fourteen-yearold Thrasher joins the Confederate Army hoping to prove his manhood.
Beatty, Patricia. Who Comes with Cannons; 1992. (Y-Beatty)
Truth, an Indiana Quaker girl, is staying with relatives who run a North Carolina station
of the Underground Railroad, when her world is changed by the start of the Civil War.
Collier, James Lincoln & Christopher Collier. With Every Drop of Blood; 1994. (Y-PCOL)
While trying to transport food to Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, fourteenyear-old Johnny is captured by a black Union soldier.
Brenaman, Miriam. Evvy’s Civil War; 2002. (Y-P-BRE)
In Virginia in 1860, on the verge of the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Evvy chafes at the
restrictions that her society places on both women and slaves.
Fleischman, Paul. Bull Run; 1993. (Y-PRD-FLE)
Northerners, Southernors, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters
describe the glory, horror, thrill, and disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.
Garrity, Jennifer Johnson. The Bushwacker: A Civil War Adventure; 1999. (Y-Garrity)
While the Civil War rages in Missouri and Rebels destroy their farm home and scatter
their family, 13-year-old Jacob and his younger sister find refuge in an unlikely place.
Hansen, Joyce. Which Way Freedom?; 1986. (Y-PRD-HAN)
Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a Black Union regiment, and soon
becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
Hesse, Karen. A Light in the Storm: The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin; 1999. (YDear Historical)
In 1860 and 1861, while working on her father’s lighthouse on and island off Delaware,
Amelia records how the Civil War is beginning to devastate her divided state.
Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils; 1964. (Y-Hunt/Y-P-HUN)
Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the
family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War.
Keith, Harold. Rifles for Watie; 1957. (Y-P-KEI)
When fighting erupts near his farm, Jefferson Davis Bussey joins the Union forces, and
infiltrates a Confederate camp, and realizes that the enemy is not all that different.
Matas, Carol. The War Within: A Novel of the Civil War; 2003. (Y-Matas)
In 1862, after Union forces expel Hannah’s family from Holly Springs, Mississippi,
because they are Jews, Hannah reexamines her views regarding slaver and the war.
Myers, Anna. Assassin; 2005. (Y-Myers Historical)
In alternating passages, a young White House seamstress named Bella and the actor
John Wilkes Booth describe the events leading to the latter’ assassination of Lincoln.
Nixon, Joan Lowery. Keeping Secrets; 1995. (Y-P-NIX)
In 1863, Peg Kelly is drawn into the dangerous activities of a mysterious woman who had
come to her home after fleeing the raid of William Quantrill on Lawrence, Kansas.
Paulsen, Gary. Soldier’s Heart: A Novel of the Civil War, Being the Story of the
Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota
Volunteers; 2000. (Y-Paulsen)
Eager to enlist, fifteen-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both
the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.
Peck, Richard. The River Between Us; 2003. (Y-Peck)
During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young
ladies who have fled from New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
Rinaldi, Ann. An Acquaintance with Darkness; 1997. (Y-P-RIN)
When her mother dies and her friend’s family is implicated in the assassination of the
president, Emily Pigbush must go live with an uncle she suspects of being involved in
stealing bodies for medical research.
Rinaldi, Ann. Amelia’s War; 1999. (Y-Rinaldi)
When a Confederate general threatens to burn Hagerstown, Maryland, unless it pays an
exorbitant ransom, twelve-year-old Amelia and her friend find a way to save the town.
Rinaldi, Ann. Come Juneteenth; 2007. (Y-Rinaldi Historical)
Fourteen-year-old Luli and her family escape tragedy after failing to tell their slaves that
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation made them free.
Rinaldi, Ann. Girl in Blue; 2001. (Y-Rinaldi/Y-P-RIN)
To escape an arranged marriage, Sarah, dressed as a boy, enlists in the Union Army and
fights before becoming a spy in the home of Confederate sympathizer Rose Greenhow.
Rinaldi, Ann. In My Father’s House; 1992. (Y-P-RIN)
For two sisters growing up surrounded by the Civil War, there is conflict both outside
and inside their house.
Rinaldi, Ann. Numbering All the Bones; 2002. (Y-Rinaldi)
It is the most difficult time for Eulinda, a house slave, even as the Civil War comes to a
close in 1864. Lincoln has proclaimed his “great measure,” freeing the slaves.
Rinaldi, Ann. Sarah’s Ground; 2004. (Y-Rinaldi)
In 1861, Sara comes to work at Mount Vernon, where she tries to protect the safety and
neutrality of the site during the Civil War, and where she encounters her future husband.
Rinaldi, Ann. The Last Full Measure; 2010. (Y-Rinaldi Historical)
In 1863 Pennsylvania, Tacy faces the horrors of the Battle of Gettysburg while trying to
stay out of the way of her brother, who is in charge while their dad serves the Union
Army as a doctor, and to keep her friend, a free black safe from rebel soldiers.
Taylor, Mildred D. The Land; 2001. (Y-Taylor)
After the Civil War, Paul, the son of a white father and black mother, finds himself
caught between two worlds as he pursues his dreams of owning his own land.