Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells

The American Civil War comes alive in this novel about a girl from Virginia who sees first-hand the horrors of war. In the beginning India Moody is a smart, optimistic girl who believes that the yanks haven't got a chance against the Confederate Army. She sees her father and many other men go off to war and begins to hear about the brutality and futility of the war. India is tutored by Emory Trimble, a young man who studies bacteria and knows that lives would be saved if doctors would sterilize their instruments. India learns chemistry and biology along with him and dreams of being a scientist. India is poor and her home is in the path of the war. As she grows into a young woman she sees tragedy, understands the inhumanity of war, and sees her home and family destroyed. It's a moving, intense book with glimmers of humanity among the evils of war. It's the best Civil War novel for this age group that I have read. Recommended for 7th and 8th graders and especially for social studies teachers. (And isn't it cool that this is the same Rosemary Wells who wrote my son's favorite Mother Goose collection? She's got a lot of talent!)