An engaging, touching, and heartbreaking adventure.
Inspired by a Civil War newspaper article, this middle-grade historical novel tells the story of a devoted dog who accompanies his owner to the battlefield.
It is December 1861, in Chicago, and Bärchen, a large black pointer, is enjoying the warmth of the fireplace when he becomes aware of tension in the family. Louis W. Pfeif has reenlisted in the Union Army, much to the chagrin of his wife, Elizabeth, and their 5-year-old daughter, Louisa. Elizabeth’s father and uncle have raised funds to form a new regiment, and Louis is given the rank of second lieutenant. But once Louis has bid his family farewell and departed the house, Bärchen leaps up and charges the door. He barks “furiously, hurling himself against it again and again.” He insists on joining Louis. And so the fiercely loyal canine heads off to war as a member of the 58th Regiment. His self-appointed mission is to protect his beloved Louis. Caruthers’ Civil War tale follows the 58th from its training in Illinois until April 1862, when it arrives in Tennessee and engages in the brutal Battle of Shiloh. Bärchen quickly endears himself to the young soldiers when he performs his showstopping mock salute: At Louis’ command, he rears up on his hind legs, raising his right paw to his eyebrow. He also gets himself into a variety of scrapes. Without anthropomorphizing the dog, the novel successfully develops Bärchen into a full-fledged central character who expresses himself, as canines do, through movements of his ears, an assortment of vocalizations, and deep sighs of contentment as he settles down beside Louis. The dog’s antics lighten the drama with humorous episodes, but there are also passages that are quite poignant. Caruthers has done her research and creates a vivid portrait of the confusion that reigned during the early months of the war—the faulty weaponry, changing orders, frequent troop desertions, and lack of food. When the 58th reaches Tennessee, skirmishes with the Confederates add violence to the story. But nothing will prepare young readers for the tragedy that befalls Bärchen in the Battle of Shiloh.
An engaging, touching, and heartbreaking adventure.Pub Date: July 7, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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