Escape by Night

Gr 3—5—A boy and his dog find a wounded soldier's journal as the man is taken to a makeshift Confederate hospital at the First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, GA. When 10-year-old Tommy returns it to its owner, Redmon Porter, the two develop an unlikely relationship. Tommy finds Red likable yet mysterious, especially when he begins to read portions of his journal aloud, which include his poetry with lines like, "I only tell the stars above the longing of my soul/To fight till death in early morn/to make a nation whole." Red's clothes seem oversized, and his silence with everyone except a slave and Tommy is also confusing. Could he be a Yankee soldier or a spy? This adventure combines intrigue with soul-searching moments as Tommy weighs his options against the values of his Christian teachings by his father, the Reverend McKnight. The succinct and simply written narrative will appeal to reluctant and younger-grade readers while the full-page black-and-white pen-and-ink sketches provide the visual time and epoch setting of the story.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI