By reviewer Greta Marlow
Title: Red Moon at Sharpsburg
Author: Rosemary Wells
Primary Audience/age group: 12+
Genre: Historical Fiction
# Of pages: 236
Publisher: Viking/Scholastic
Year of Release: 2007
Part of a Series? No
Rating: 4 (View Scale)
Recommend: Yes, but not enthusiastically
Description: (from book cover) “When the Civil War breaks out in the year 1861, everything changes: schools close, families flee, and young men head off to battle. India Moody’s mama and pa send her for tutoring with their neighbor Emory Trimble, a brilliant young scientist who teaches the eager India chemistry and biology rather than the scriptures and handwriting young ladies are expected to learn. But as the powerful Union army advances toward northern Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, India and her family realize they may be caught in the crossfire. When India’s ailing pa returns to the front, India must summon courage she didn’t know she had to plunge into one of the war’s most tragic and terrifying events: the Battle of Sharpsburg. As she struggles for survival, India gets an education in love and loss, the senseless devastation of war, and the triumph of hope in the face of despair.”
Review: I had really anticipated reading this book, since I love historical fiction for young adults. (And it has such a beautiful cover!) To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed. The history is good, in that it portrays the difficulties civilians in the South faced during the Civil War. The book also has a strong female protagonist, and the plot is interesting. However, I thought Wells sort of hammered readers over the head with the ideas of the need for medical advancement and the limited role of women at that time. And I must confess – having the story told in present tense drove me NUTS! It bothered me so much I am having trouble keeping that from influencing my evaluation of other elements of the story.
Rating: 4, for some violence and “disregard for authority”
Recommend: Yes, but not enthusiastically
Positive: India is a strong character who survives the horrors of war without being mentally beaten down. At the end of the book, she risks her freedom to help a soldier who, according to the rules of war, is her enemy.
Spiritual Elements: There is a thread of religious consciousness running throughout the book, as can be seen in the titles of several chapters. Several of the secondary characters are very religious, some sincerely and some hypocritically. There was one couple in particular who exemplify the Christian principles of forgiveness and mercy. I was a bit unsettled, though, by India’s attitude toward God. She is angry at God, which I can understand, given the events of the war – I am sure many people’s faith faltered under the pressure of the suffering they faced. But she also had an irreverent attitude that bothered me some; she always seemed to think scripture had little relevance and preferred instead to study Latin poetry and chemistry. As her mother tells her at one point, “This is making you godless, India.”
Violence: The story is set in the Civil War, so of course there is violence. However, most of the actual violence happens off stage, and what we see through India’s eyes are the after-effects. Even that is not described in graphic detail, even when India walks across the Sharpsburg battlefield littered with bodies. But there are some gruesome things; for example, soldiers with their faces blown off and a soldier who has had his leg amputated at the hip and been left by his fellows to die in his own filth. One secondary character (who also happens to be one of the very religious ones) commits murder in order to save the lives of several people.
Language: There are a very few instances of mild profanity.
Sexual Content: Nothing is overt. India and her tutor Emory fall in love and share a couple of very brief kisses. There are a couple of implied references to rape as a threat women face in wartime, but they are pretty subtle.
Other: The book has a couple of subplots that focus on what would have been very progressive ideas at the time of the Civil War. First, Emory is convinced that doctors are practicing outdated medicine that makes their patients worse rather than better. As a result, there is quite a bit of information about 19th-century medical practices. Also, the idea of a woman’s “sphere” is important, since India is not interested in the normal feminine behaviors, but instead wants to study science and has as her great ambition to attend a college that she has heard admits women. Everyone (except Emory) tells her she can’t do it, but she is determined.
Rating: 4, for some violence and “disregard for authority”
Recommendation: Yes, but not enthusiastically
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