Silent Witness
by Robin Friedman, Claire A. Nivola
At the beginning of the Civil War, Lula McLean's family home in Manassas, Virginia, is taken over by the Confederate army and used as its headquarters. Forced to flee by the oncoming Union army, Lula and her family and her favorite rag doll move south to a small village called Appomattox Court House. Then one day in 1865, Lula left her doll behind, and what happened next made history.
Paperback
English
Brand New
Publisher Description
Four-year-old Lula McLean lived on a plantation overlooking Bull Run Creek.There her family grew wheat, corn, and oats.In July 1861, troops fighting in the newly begun Civil War arrived on the McLeans' front lawn in Manassas, Virginia.The peaceful countryside where Lula often spent time playing with her favorite rag doll became a campsite full of cannon and trenches and tents.Wilmer McLean decided to relocate his family to a tiny village called Appomattox Court House, away from the war and the troops.But a few years later, on April 9, 1865, as Lula played with her rag doll, two visitors in tall boots made their way into her house.Lula and her doll were about to become part of American history.Robin Friedman and Claire A.Nivola reveal, through the story of Lula and her beloved doll, the story of a nineteenth-century family who saw the Civil War unfold before their very eyes.
Author Biography
Robin Friedman is an advertising copywriter and freelance writer for several newspapers and magazines in New Jersey. The Silent Witness is her first children's book with Houghton Mifflin.Ms. Nivola has written and illustrated several children's books, including Planting the Trees of Kenya. She lives with her family in Newton, Massachusetts.
Review
"Friedman's economical text clearly shows how the Civil War touched the life of a young child. The watercolor-and-gauche illustrations and folk-art style add a sense of comfort to the turmoil and destruction of the war." School Library Journal "This picture book set during the Civil War emphasizes the ways in which warfare can touch an individual. . . . The finely executed watercolor and gouache paintings, reminiscent of primitive art, accentuate the idea that this war was an intimate part of everyday life in the South." -- Horn Book Horn Book --
Review Quote
"Friedman's economical text clearly shows how the Civil War touched the life of a young child. The watercolor-and-gauche illustrations and folk-art style add a sense of comfort to the turmoil and destruction of the war." School Library Journal "This picture book set during the Civil War emphasizes the ways in which warfare can touch an individual. . . . The finely executed watercolor and gouache paintings, reminiscent of primitive art, accentuate the idea that this war was an intimate part of everyday life in the South." -- Horn Book Horn Book
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