March Toward the Thunder

by Joseph Bruchac

Overview

From the multi-award-winning author of Code Talker comes a Native American perspective on the Civil War.

Louis Nolette, a fifteen-year-old Abenaki Indian from Canada, is recruited to fight in the northern Irish Brigade in the Civil War. Though he is too young, and neither American nor Irish, he finds the promise of good wages and the fight to end slavery persuasive enough to join up. But war is never what you expect, and as Louis fights his way through battles, he encounters prejudice and acceptance, courage and cowardice, and strong and weak leadership in the most unexpected places.

This paperback edition includes an author's note, discussion guide, and selected bibliography for further reading.

"A fine choice for readers who want war stories that include plenty of action, as well as reflection." —Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142414460
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/17/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	485,164
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed children's book author, poet, novelist and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. Coauthor with Michael Caduto of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series, Bruchac's poems, articles and stories have appeared in hundreds of publications, from Akwesasne Notes and American Poetry Review to National Geographic and Parabola. He has authored many books for adults and children including Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, Skeleton Man, and The Heart of a Chief. For more information about Joseph, please visit his website www.josephbruchac.com.

Editorial Reviews

* "A carefully researched novel...the many details will give YAs a good feel for what the war was like for those who fought in it." —KLIATT, starred review

"A fine choice for readers who want war stories that include plenty of action, as well as reflection." —Booklist

"Louis is a likable character and readers will follow him with interest, learning much along the way." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Gr 7-10- In the summer of 1864, Louis Nolette, a 15-year-old Abenaki Indian from Canada, is living in New York when a Union recruiter convinces him that it's worth the bounty to join an Irish brigade marching from New York to Virginia. Bruchac fills the account of their battle-filled march with logistical and practical information about tactics, fortifications, and the daily life of soldiers, and some insight into Louis's family and past. Despite its setting, however, the text is remarkably devoid of conflict. Though he is the sole Indian in his regiment, Louis endures minimal chiding from his peers. Almost every battle scene is described in retrospect. Readers experience little action along with Louis, and no central plotline urges them forward. Fellow officers and soldiers are largely one-dimensional, and many characters (including an Irish sergeant, a woman dressed as a soldier, a captured Reb, and a member of a Negro unit) provide token wartime perspectives. Abe Lincoln, Indian General Ely Parker, Walt Whitman, and Clara Barton all make unnecessary appearances. Louis himself, who is predictably described as strong, silent, and valued for his animal-like hearing and vision, shows depth of character only in interactions with another Indian he meets along the march. He is ultimately rescued from a saw-happy field doctor by his mother, who has heard from "the trees" that he needs her. With an unconvincing resolution to an unremarkable narrative, this title will likely be used only by teachers needing a fact-filled supplement to Civil War lessons.-Riva Pollard, American Indian Public Charter School, Oakland, CA

School Library Journal

Fifteen-year-old Louis Nolette, an Abenaki Indian from Canada, enlists to fight with the Irish Brigade in the Civil War. Based on Bruchac's own great-grandfather, Louis proves to be an able soldier in the Virginia Campaign of 1864. Ultimately, as in most wars for most soldiers, it isn't politics or a cause, but the band of brothers forged on the killing fields of Virginia that makes Louis feel he belongs. The author's extensive research is evident. In fact, Louis becomes something of a Civil War Forrest Gump. He meets General Ely S. Parker, the highest-ranking Indian in the Union army; receives treatment from Clara Barton; greets Walt Whitman; sees President Lincoln and Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant visit his camp; discovers a fellow soldier to be "a lass"; and befriends Thomas Jefferson of the United States Colored Troops, whose disconcerting dialect mars the scene. But Louis is a likable character and readers will follow him with interest, learning much along the way. (maps, author's note, further information on the Irish Brigade, bibliography) (Fiction. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews