the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
5.0
This is simply one of the best historical fiction reads I've picked up in a long, long time. My 13-year-old son loved it! I loved it so much, I would be excited to teach it to 7th grade, instead of another Civil War book that is traditionally taught in 7th grade.
For one thing, the MC is younger, and infinitely easier for students to relate to, as he behaves as a kiddo - wanting to fight and help support his mother, even after losing a brother in battle, entering the military by lying about his age, playing his bugle, wanting fiercely to go home and circumnavigating the rules whenever he can.
I know, first-hand, how daunting it can be to teach a new book, no matter how well written or what a great story it is, if you can't find resources to support it, or those resources do not fit the lesson plan format you use and therefore require extensive revision and reworking.
So, good news! The author's wife, Debbie Shoulders, is a middle school teacher, and she put together lesson plans that you can use for the opening chapters.
They've graciously shared several lesson plan samples. In addition, I formatted and included a secondary reading for her paired text lesson, "Children on the Battlefield." These lessons are intended for middle school students, although the book is appropriate for younger, accelerated readers, as well.
The LPs are copyrighted, so please credit Debbie Shoulders when you use them. Thank you, Michael Shoulders, for generously sharing! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post this here. Visit my blog to download the three sample lesson plans and the formatted reading at : https://amb.mystrikingly.com/blog/crossing-the-deadline-teaching-resources
For one thing, the MC is younger, and infinitely easier for students to relate to, as he behaves as a kiddo - wanting to fight and help support his mother, even after losing a brother in battle, entering the military by lying about his age, playing his bugle, wanting fiercely to go home and circumnavigating the rules whenever he can.
I know, first-hand, how daunting it can be to teach a new book, no matter how well written or what a great story it is, if you can't find resources to support it, or those resources do not fit the lesson plan format you use and therefore require extensive revision and reworking.
So, good news! The author's wife, Debbie Shoulders, is a middle school teacher, and she put together lesson plans that you can use for the opening chapters.
They've graciously shared several lesson plan samples. In addition, I formatted and included a secondary reading for her paired text lesson, "Children on the Battlefield." These lessons are intended for middle school students, although the book is appropriate for younger, accelerated readers, as well.
The LPs are copyrighted, so please credit Debbie Shoulders when you use them. Thank you, Michael Shoulders, for generously sharing! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post this here. Visit my blog to download the three sample lesson plans and the formatted reading at : https://amb.mystrikingly.com/blog/crossing-the-deadline-teaching-resources
vanhooked_on_reading's review against another edition
4.0
I've been lucky enough to hear the author speak to students that I teach twice, so I know how much research went into this book. While this is a book of fiction, many of the people and all of the places represented are real. This was an interesting way to hear an account of what the Civil War was like. I also enjoyed seeing the way his characters interacted, &the overall hopefully feeling in this book. I don't typically like war stories, so there were some places where it did drag for me. I'm chalking that up to it just being outside my normal genre. Overall, this was a great look into life in the Civil War, with lots of places that taught me something new. It's a staple on my middle school bookshelf.
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