Will at the Battle of Gettysburg 1863 by Laurie Calkhoven- ESSENTIAL

Calkhoven, Laurie.  Will at the Battle of Gettysburg 1863, 144 pgs.  Puffin, 2012.  $5.99.  Language- PG.  Violence- PG.  Sexual Content- PG.  Young Will has dreams of joining forces to fight in the Civil War.  His father and older brother have already left home to support the Union and Will, age twelve, is now left in charge of his siblings and his mother at home.  But his greatest dream is to a drummer for the Union army.  Little did Will know that when the Rebels came to Gettysburg, he would get caught in the middle.  The real war was nothing like his dreams.  “In a few minutes, grey uniforms outnumbered the blue ones around our house.  ‘Shoot that man going over the fence!’ one of them yelled.  There was a loud bang and then a scream.  I closed my eyes and slumped against the wall, swallowing hard.  This was not the battle of my daydreams.”  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Although most of the bloody gore of the actual events were left out, there is enough to be cautious about little ones reading this novel.  There is more reality in this chapter book than one would guess, but it’s well written and part of history.  It was interesting to see the events of the war through a 12 year old boy’s perspective.  Although historical fiction, the story seemed real!    EL.  ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer: SL.