Rarely has war in general, and the Civil War in particular, been portrayed so clearly and realistically for young readers, perhaps only in Gary Paulsen's "Soldier's Heart," which spanned the war and many battles. Peck offers not a sweeping view, but rather a sliver -- the hospital and camp in Cairo just before the Battle of Belmont. It's an ugly sight, and not one that will leave any reader in doubt about the glory of war. When they arrive, Noah is sick with dysentery, but getting him well may be a mistake -- health is a ticket into hell.

All of this is done with Peck's trademark razor-edged prose. Few modern authors, for adults or children, wield a pen with the surgical precision Peck brings to every sentence. There's a cadence to his paragraphs that speaks of long experience and attention to detail, and that carries his passions in succinct and poignant rhythms. On a father's past: "Apparently, my dad had been young once, but I couldn't picture it. Even at the age of fifteen I knew but little about who he was and where he'd come from. And so I knew but little about myself." On boys playing soldier: "Did they even know it could end with them killing one another in some godforsaken loblolly far from home." On Noah's departure: "But he was gone from us, and the time the showboat come was a bright dream I must have had before the world went dark."

From the book:
They lay where they'd been sick. They sprawled in their messes because they were too weak to get to the privies, if there were privies. In the afternoon light slanting through canvas, they looked like old men. One sat at the end of his cot with a bucket and a dipper at his feet. He was badly wasted, and his cheeks were sunk to where he looked like a death's-head. "Tilly?" he said.

Noah. It was Noah. We couldn't faint nor flee now.