James Collier (1)

I picked this one up along with several other books by James Lincoln Collier at the library. I've long been a fan of his [b:Lost Treasures: The Teddy Bear Habit - Book #3|500896|Lost Treasures The Teddy Bear Habit - Book #3 (Lost Treasures)|James Lincoln Collier|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175284082s/500896.jpg|489000], and since I was thinking of that at the library one day, I picked up several more books of his on a whim.

But With Every Drop of Blood almost got returned to the library unread. I read another book of his first, [b:Outside Looking in|2849814|Outside Looking in|James Lincoln Collier|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1294550011s/2849814.jpg|2875938], and it had been rather disappointing. And despite the old maxim, the cover of With Every Drop of Blood was remarkably boring-looking, at least for me. Still, I hadn't gotten around to returning it before I ran out of reading material, so I ended up giving it a try.

I'm glad I did. It turned out to be one of those books that you can't put down; you have to know what comes next. Gripping, you know what I mean? It's the story of a Southern boy during the Civil War, but told in relatively modern language (albeit not irritatingly so).

There's a bit of synchronicity here, as it happens. The very first thing in the book is a statement by the authors about the language in the book, specifically - and I hate to mince words, but this review is going up on Facebook and I have young readers - the "N-word". They use it several times for historical accuracy, but use it less than the people at the time would have.

That said, the book is certainly appropriate for ages 12 and older, and probably appropriate for most children from 10 up. And it's certainly very readable, very compelling, and fascinating. The only criticism I can make is that it ends rather rapidly. And when I reached the end, I very much wanted to know what happened next!… (more)