Before I get to the review of this YA book I would like to say, Sorry I haven't been around lately. You see we have been working for about three weeks on getting our house ready to put on the market. Every time we thought we were ready something else would come up that had to be done to it. I just hope now everything is done and ready for show!
On to the review:
Review: The Ghosts of Lone Jack
By Lance Lee Noel
YA
This wonderful book is about Jared Millhouse, a young boy that has lost his mother. Him and his father,Rob, are from Lee Summit, Kansas but spend their summers with Virgil, Jared’s grandfather in Lone Jack, Missouri. Jared never had any friends during his visits but this particular summer that changed. Several of the town kids befriend Jared and together they battle the biggest bully in town but that’s not all!
You see during the Civil War a battle was fought in and around Lone Jack. Hundreds of Union and Confederates were killed and are buried in the town cemetery. The problem is that their spirits are stuck in Lone Jack and can’t get out. Jared with the help of his new friends plus Girus, his grandfather and father, the adventure begins to solve this mysterious puzzle. Something very strange is happening in Lone Jack!
This is the first Young Adult book that I have read in years and I really didn’t know if I would enjoy it since my interest in the civil war is on the lives of the soldiers and their families but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was refreshing and enjoyable. It held my interest, wanting to find out how Jared and his friend were going to handle the bully of Lone Jack and then the ghosts, why were they still there, what were they going to do next. I also have to say that Lee Summit is only about 3 hours from my hometown of Wichita, Kansas and yes Wichita is mentioned plus Missouri has always been Kansas’s rival since before the Civil War started.
Overall, I would highly recommend The Ghosts of Lone Jack
for any young adult. My daughter, who is a civil war buff and working on her History Major would of really enjoyed this book if it had been around several years ago.
I would like to bring to your attention what I believe is a unique book, Hiram's Honor: Reliving Private Terman's Civil War, ISBN 978-0615-27812-4. This is a book dedicated to the descendants of Civil War soldiers and is available on a returnable basis from book distributors such as Amazon, Ingram and Baker and Taylor.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the factual breath of its coverage, the richness of the experiences portrayed about the common soldier, and the approaching 150 year anniversary of the Civil War, I thought this book might be of interest to you for a review.
Written by an accomplished author from Ohio (Mansfield) and a direct descendant, it is a largely unknown but riveting true story about a soldier captured at Gettysburg and sent to Belle Island and Andersonville who miraculously survived 17 months! Written in the first person in dramatic fashion, it is a meticulously researched story reviewed by experts at Gettysburg, Manassas, Andersonville, and the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal.
Chapters from the book and recent reviews by the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal and The Civil War News can be examined at http://clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/articles/ohio/whirlpool_of_death.htm and http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/data/articles/Terman_CHAPTER%2014%20SURVIVAL%
http://www.civilwarnews.com/reviews/2010br/january/hiram_terman_b011004.html
Publishing information and the buzz about Hiram's Honor can be seen at http://hiramshonor.blogspot.com/