Samson and the Charleston Spy: A Lowcountry Adventure

The protagonist of SAMSON AND THE CHARLESTON SPY may be the definitive underrepresented voice in middle-grade fiction today: he's a boy and a Southerner, confronting the Civil War from the Confederate perspective.

When Samson Collier and three sixth-grade friends witness the bombardment of Ft. Sumter offshore from their homes, they decide that the Yankee soldiers at the fort must have been forewarned about the attack-since no one was killed although the structure appeared to be wrecked. They...