A Novel of the Civil War by Margaret McMullan

It is the spring of 1861 and the serenity of Smith County, Mississippi has been shattered by Abraham Lincoln's declaration of war on the South. Young and old are taking up arms and marching off to war. But not ten year-old Frank Russell. Although he is eager to enlist in the Confederate army, he is not allowed. He is too young, too skinny, too weak. After all he's just "Shanks," the baby of the Russell family.

War has a way of taking things away from a person, mercilessly. And this war takes from Frank a mighty sum. It's nabbed his Pa and older brother. It's stolen his grandfather, his grandmother. It has robbed Frank of a simpler way of life, food, his boyhood. And gone are his idealistic dreams of heroic battles and hard fought victories. Now all that replaces those images are questions: Will I ever see my father and brother again? Why are we fighting this war? Are we fighting for the wrong reasons? Will things ever be the same around here?

Praise for How I Found The Strong

A Booklist Top 10 First Novel for Youth

"McMullan's first work for children is exquisitely written, its elegant prose fully up to portraying both the pastoral beauty of Mississippi and the horrors of war."

"McMullan sketches [her] characters memorably and tempers the drama with wry humor...A sobering view of the Civil War and a heartening look at a boy's coming of age."

"This first novel is one of the best of the many recent books about young people in the South caught up in the bloody conflict around them."

"McMullan probes some dark corners often unexamined in children's Civil War books."

"I recommend this terrific book for any reader with a taste for adventure, action, romance and drama."

"This book really made me feel that I was in the Civil War era and pulled me into the story. I would recommend this book to anyone searching for something really good to read!"

Listen To Margaret's Essays On NPR:

1. Visiting Schools (MP3)
2. Traveling with James (MP3)
3. Summer Vacation (MP3)
4. The Art of Losing (MP3)

* Booklist's Top Ten First Novels for Youth.

* Indiana Best Young Adult Book of 2005

* Winner 2005 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award for Fiction

* Winner 2006 Mississippi Library Association Special Award

* 2006-2007 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee

* Chosen one of two books to represent Indiana on the American Library Association's "Many Voices, One Nation" booklist

* 2005 Capital Choice Award Nominee

* 2005-06 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Nominee, Vermont

* Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominee, 2007

* Unanimously voted a "Great Book" by the state of Maryland Book Consortium, 2004

* Evansville, Indiana's One Book/One Community Youth selection 2004

* Selected Indiana's featured book for the 2007 National Book Festival, Washington, D.C.

Book title: HOW I FOUND THE STRONG
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN: 0-618-35008-X
Publication date: April 2004
Hardcover, 144 pages
Reading Level: Ages 10-14/ Young Readers, JUV FICTION
Store Price: $15.00
For book orders contact Karen Walsh, Publicity Manager
Email: Karen_walsh@hmco.com
Phone: 617-351-3647