All Their Names Were Courage - Hardcover

Gr. 4-6. The winning premise of this epistolary Civil War tale should hook plenty of readers. Inspired by her love of horses and her friend Isaac's facility for drawing them, 11-year-old Kentuckian Sallie Burd asks both Union and Confederate generals to describe their favorite steeds, and then compiles a book of their responses. In letters to her older brother, William, a Union soldier, Sallie describes her project's progress, as well as keeping him up to date on local events and conditions; William in turn provides vivid, sometimes poignant, reports on camp life and his state of mind. By war's end, Sallie has received 13 answers--ranging from Stonewall Jackson's affectionate tribute to his Little Sorrel ("When we pause in our marches, Sorrel lays himself down like a dog") to Sheridan's quiet praise for his Rienzi. There's a note from a wounded veteran rebuilding his life with a horse's help. Drawing many, perhaps all, of her anecdotes from historical records, Denslow opens an inviting window to the past with these consistently short, simply written missives and appreciations. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved