Darcy H. Bradley, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Attracted to the promise of money, new clothes and a modern rifle, Louis Nolette, a 15-year-old Abenaki Indian, enlists in 1864 on the Union side of the Civil War. As a newcomer to a highly-regarded Irish Brigade fighting in Virginia, he experiences friendships that cross racial, ethnic and even gender boundaries as well as the horrors of war. Solid research and a story based upon Bruchac’s Abenaki great-grandfather bring a fresh angle to the usual heroes of the Civil War. Louis’ strong ties to his family and their traditions as herbalists and basket-makers never waivers as he negotiates the complexities of new friendships and warfare. After six months of heavy fighting and the loss of many comrades, Louis himself is wounded and sent to a field hospital. Instead of getting better, he weakens from the unsanitary conditions and poor care. His mother secures his release from the Army and takes him home to the land she has purchased with their earnings. Over time, Louis is healed through his mother’s natural medicine practice. Although he could stay at home, in the end Louis decides there is a higher purpose for re-enlisting. When added to other enduring stories from the Civil War such as Paul Fleischman’s Bull Run or Gary Paulsen’s Soldier’s Heart, Bruchac reminds us that it was a multicultural and multiethnic mix of men and women who endured on behalf of a United States, the one we have today. 2008, Dial Books/Penguin Group, $16.99. Ages 12 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2009)
Fifteen-year-old Louis Nolette doesn’t join the Fighting 69th Irish Brigade for his dedication to the Union. Louis is Canadian and Indian—the Civil War is not his war by any measure. But he has incentive nonetheless. The money he gets for a signing bonus and the wages he will earn can help his mother buy land. Just as important, Louis is wondering what it would be like—if it would be possible—to be considered an equal among white men. It’s a feeling the Abenaki boy has never known. So he lies about his age and joins the Union Army. Joseph Bruchac’s meticulously detailed and riveting novel of the Civil War follows the fortunes of Louis and the rest of his “mess,” the soldiers with whom he does indeed form a bond of friendship. Over four months during the spring and summer of 1864, Louis knows boredom and battle, fatigue and fear beyond measure as a member of the Fighting 69th on the Virginia campaign. As an Indian, Louis has a distinct outlook on his fellow soldiers and the war, yet he is undeniably one of them as well, part of a group of men (and one woman in disguise) who would die for one another. Louis’s story looks at the war that summer both on and off the battlefield, illuminating the horror of war and the occasional incompetence of its leaders while always keeping the bond that forms among soldiers at the heart of the story. CCBC Category: Fiction for Young Adults. 2008, Dial, 298 pages, $16.99. Age 12 and older.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 8))
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) 2008, Dial, 304p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 10 up. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, May 2008 (Vol. 42, No. 3))
Louis Nolette is a 15-year-old Abenaki Indian from Canada, but Union recruiters in 1864 are eager to sign him up to fight in the Civil War anyway: they need all the soldiers they can get. For his part, Louis is eager for the money to send home to his mother, but he also despises slavery and longs for the respect he hopes the uniform will provide him, rather than being viewed as a “dirty Indian.” He joins the New York Irish Brigade and fights his way south through the hot summer of ‘64 in the Virginia Campaign, alongside some memorable companions. He ends up injured in a field hospital at Reams Station--but determined to fight again. This carefully researched novel is based on the experiences of Bruchac’s great-grandfather, as an author’s note at the end explains. From lice to scratchy wool underwear, amputated limbs, and the songs the soldiers sing, the many details will give YAs a good feel for what the war was like for those who fought it, with the added perspective of the prejudice experienced by both Native American and African American soldiers. Louis certainly proves his worth as a soldier; however, his overall experience is the focus, rather than just the battles he fights. A good supplement to study of the Civil War, this will appeal to fans of historical fiction. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2008, Penguin, Dial, 304p. maps. bibliog., $16.99. Ages 12 to 18.

Ellen Spring (Library Media Connection, January/February 2009)
Joseph Bruchac has written a masterpiece about the Civil War from the perspective of an Abenaki Indian, Louis Nolette, who has been approached by a military recruiter. Although living in Canada, Louis feels that fighting against slavery is his duty. Bruchac got the idea for this novel from his great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War. Readers learn about various battles, but Bruchac focuses more on the everyday aspects of Louis’s life, such as having to wear the same clothes for months on end, and on his growing love for the men in his Irish unit and his meeting and close friendships with a Mohawk Indian and men in the ‘colored’ unit. We follow Louis’s journey until he is severely wounded and goes home to mend. His loyalty is such that he decides to rejoin his unit after he is healed. This book is an example of first-rate historical fiction. It could also be used in a multicultural unit studying the Native American heritage. Two maps are included for checking action locales, and a selected bibliography of the best sources that Bruchac used is helpful for additional fact-finding. This is an interesting, well-written, and thoroughly researched story. Highly Recommended. 2008, Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin Young Readers Group), 304pp., $16.99 hc. Ages 10 to 14.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, June 2008 (Vol. 61, No. 10).)
It was probably the respect associated with the uniform, rather than the salary or even the sign-on bonus, that convinced Louis Nolette to succumb to the enticements of the Union recruiter and join the Irish Brigade in the Civil War, even though few could lay less claim to Irish heritage than the Abenaki teen relocated to the U.S. from Canada. Regardless of motivations he doesn’t completely understand himself, Louis is now slogging through Northern Virginia in a deadly game of hurry up and wait, alternating frustrating periods of suspended hostilities with fierce engagement with General Lee’s forces. Bruchac reconstructs the Fighting 69th’s battles in the closing year of the Civil War through the experience of the fictional underage teen, loosely based on Bruchac’s own great-grandfather. Although accounts of individual battles are riveting, it is Louis’s relationship with his messmates that shapes the novel. No one quite knows how to categorize the bronzed soldier in their section (“You a mulatter or a Injun?”), and the confusion and good-natured teasing rankle Louis; he manages to recognize, though, that this is an ungainly first encounter for all of them, and the extreme demands of war quickly bond the young men with unshakable loyalty. Bruchac interjects a substantial amount of orchestrated serendipity with historical figures, but on the whole, the blend of military history and human interest will keep readers thoroughly involved in Louis’s drama Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, Dial, 304p.; Reviewed from galleys, $16.99. Grades 5-9.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2008)
Teenager Louis Nolette, an Abenaki Indian from Canada, joins the Union Army. His brigade, the Fighting Sixty-ninth (the "Irish Brigade"), participates in some of the most desperate and bloodiest battles of the war. Rich detail coupled with a unique personal perspective (Louis is based on Bruchac's great-grandfather) result in a fascinating look at the final years of the Civil War. Category: Older Fiction. 2008, Dial, 298pp, $16.99 (hb). Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Jenny Ingram (VOYA, October 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 4))
In 1864, fifteen-year-old Louis Nolette, an Abenaki Indian from Canada, lies about his age to join the Union Army, knowing that his signing bonus will enable his widowed mother to buy land in Quebec. For five months, Louis is a member of the Irish Brigade, fighting the Civil War in Virginia until he is wounded and returns home. The brigade is constantly on the move, and their only high points are a few hours of leisure spent swimming or playing marbles and the periodic arrival of the mail wagon. Louis finally makes a true friend when he meets Artis, a Mohawk Indian who understands how Louis has had to adapt to this new lifestyle. Over time, the brigade becomes more tattered, loses members, and gains inexperienced soldiers. Their return to fight at old battlefields signifies how never ending the war appears to them. Much of the story is technical. Bruchac describes battlefields and tactics as well as the use of equipment, which combined with a map of the battles fought by the Irish Brigade will appeal to boys interested in war. Some history of the Abenaki Indians and their removal from New England is also presented, paralleled with Ireland's colonization by the British, told by characters in the story and also in a historical afterword. Bruchac is clearly interested in history, and his novel will be useful in the classroom. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2008, Dial, 304p.; Biblio., $16.99. Ages 11 to 15.