My Brother Sam Is Dead (by James Lincoln Collier)

A quick read, pace, and hook keeps this acclaimed book glued to curious readers eyes, searching for the truth advertised in its tell-tale and revealing, title "My Brother Sam Is Dead". I give this book as a ready recommendation for teachers to give to their middle-grade students and a factual novel for historical fiction-obsessed bookworms. Told from the point of view of the Timmy, the brother of the obviously deceased, Sam, this tale gives a detailed, and sometimes harrowing, description of the bloody American Revolution in the experience of innocent eyes. The confusion of "what is the side I should be on" and the suffering inflicted upon the people, whether Patriot of Torry, is written well into the plot and ideas of the young Timmy. Teenage boys would especially find the violence realistic to their taste and appealing. To watch out for, language, infrequent but often strong; violence, occasional though a bit iffy; negative messages, the authors often give just the bad sides of the British and Patriot causes; and bad role models, Sam puts fighting before his family, even when his father is dead. A bit to keep your eye on, but I don't think it will faze the real messages of the story. This book is widely used in literature within middle schools and makes a memorable read for your young students and history-ground minds. Personally, the book was a bit too quick for my taste and I didn't like the depressing themes too much. The characters are nothing spectacular and I wouldn't recommend your kids act like a lot of them. But they will probably open up some interesting conversations about the Revolutionary War and the two sides of this war, the Americans and the British, the Patriots and the Torries, even the Torry Timmy and the Continental Sam. Be prepared for some mind-opening conversations and a new view of America's fight for independence.