ANNIE BETWEEN THE STATES

A third of the major battles of the Civil War took place in Virginia. The last state to leave the Union and the state with the most residents voting against secession, Virginia, ironically, suffered most from the horrors of the war. Elliott’s novel opens with the Battle of Manassas and a sea of confusion as Union troops retreat across the property of 15-year-old Annie Sinclair. By the end of the war, Annie’s home and all of her relationships have changed irrevocably. Battle scenes are so powerfully drawn that readers will be engaged from chapter one. Though history lessons sometimes intrude on the narrative, Elliott does an admirable job of balancing the human story and the historical context. Her excellent author’s note fills in the complicated history of the era, and the bibliography includes a fair number of resources for young readers. A rich experience for Civil War history buffs. (timeline) (Fiction. 12+)