Do You Know Them? Families Lost and Found After the Civil War by Shana Keller and Laura Freeman - ADVISABLE

Do You Know Them? Families Lost and Found After the Civil War by Shana Keller, illustrated by Laura Freeman. PICTURE BOOK Atheneum (Simon), 2024 $19. 9781665913072 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE 

APPEALS TO SEVERAL

Each day Lettie does small jobs to help her Uncle Charlie and pay for her keep and save precious pennies for something very important. Each Sunday she stands in front of the congregation and reads the Lost and Found People ads in the newspaper out loud, in case someone has information, or to share the joy when someone is found. One day she hopes that she and Uncle Charlie will also have good news. 

Don't dismiss this as another Civil War story - instead, it adds more dimension to life after the War when Black families were scattered all over the country, and sometimes the world, trying hard to reunite. Our 8th-grade curriculum covers post-Civil War, so I am excited to share it with our teachers. The characters are Black. 

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS