The River Between Us by Richard Peck (0-8037-2735-6)
I had heard wonderful things about this book and couldn’t wait to read it. Everything I heard was true! This book is set during the Civil War, but is unlike any Civil War book I have ever read. We get to see the lives of a poor family before and during the war, the roles on girls and women in the war, war conditions for boys who joined up, and a look into race relations. And that list can’t even begin to reveal the complexity of the book, the levels of discussion that are possible, and the way in which it transports the reader into the past.
A must-read for everyone, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one wins some awards. There are male and female characters, so both boys and girls will enjoy it, if you can get the boys to see past the girl on the cover. No sexual situations, this one is YA due to the complexity of the story and the war descriptions. I could see this being used in classrooms for history, race, and women’s studies.