First book I've read in this series. Well done, will recommend to kids wanting historical fiction. Thanks to Scholastic and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thomas and his sister Birdie are slaves during the time of the civil war. After their Mother passes away and their cousin escapes being sold to another plantation, Thomas discovers that he is about to be sold too! Instead of accepting his fate he and his sister decide to run away north to freedom. Along the way they run into a troop of Union soldiers and are taken back to camp. There they help out and make friends among the men serving. Unfortunately a great battle is just around the corner. Will they survive and make it north?

This is another excellent addition to the "I survived" series. My students love these books and they rarely stay on the shelves for very long. They are also good read aloud books for younger grades. I like that the author includes facts and recommended reading at the end of the book. This is a good way to introduce facts about the civil war to emergent chapter readers.

I think this one is the darkest I Survived that I've read so far, which I think makes sense for the time period.

This was a very interesting read for my son and me. It definitely touched on the more serious parts of this era without getting too in depth. I like the fact that Ms. Tarshis kept this one more realistic in that not everyone lived "happily ever after".

The author is also the editor of Scope magazine! a fantastic researcher and historical writer for kids. This series is best for younger or struggling readers
adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This book was so so so good! It was so interesting intriguing and tense all the way through! I really loved all of the characters and I really really learned a lot! This book was also sad and it really does shed an important light on American history. 
challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

{My thoughts} – Thomas and his little sister Birdie are both slaves. One day some bad men as Birdie puts it come to take Thomas away like they’d come and taken their cousin Clem. Thomas wasn’t about to let that happen so he and his sister took off running into the woods.

They’d found s fairly safe place to lay down and go to sleep. When Thomas woke up he heard soldiers and they were hollering at someone to come out. At the time he’d thought they were there to haul him and his sister back to Mr. Knox the slave owner they belonged to.

That wasn’t the case though. They’d chased a soldier from the North up into the tree and were trying to get him to come down. When he did the beat him and were about to shoot him. Thomas didn’t like that so he threw a skunk at them and saved the soldiers life.

It wasn’t until after the fact he’d learn he was a General. Thomas and Birdie quickly became heroes and were then under the protection of the General and his soldiers.

Thomas and Birdie both started to enjoy looking forward to the next day. Soon they were off to Gettysburg. Soon, there would be a big battle. What would come of Thomas and Birdie?

This book was a nice read. The adventure that Thomas and Birdie followed was well described. It really made you feel like you were right there with them as they were traveling with the soldiers. I’ll admit I even teared up towards the end of the book.

I look forward to reading more books in this series in the future!
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous informative sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A