Emma Eileen Grove

When Emma, her older brother, and her younger sister left their home behind to seek refuge with their relatives in St. Louis, they thought they had left the worst of the destruction wrought by the Civil War behind. And they have. However, on board the Sultana, a paddle wheel boat headed up the Mississippi River, they find a new terror when the boat explodes and catches fire. Separated from their brother, Emma and her little sister must stay alive and find a way off the burning boat. An action-packed survival story filled with historical details.

Good characters. Good background plot. Good not over descriptive, but historically correct action. Good subject. Good book... what more can I say?

What if a war tore your family apart and changed your life forever? What if your mother was dead and you didn't know whether your father was dead or alive? What if you had to journey far from your home, and during that journey were surrounded by the enemy? What if your older brother was always getting into fights with the enemy soldiers and you, just twelve years old, had to rely on yourself and take care of your little sister on your own? What if the riverboat you were travelling on suddenly blew up and you had to fight to keep yourself and your little sister alive? What if you suddenly had to take help from your enemies if you wanted to live to see the next day? In Emma Eileen Grove, Kathleen Duey gives a powerful answer to these questions. Read this book or your missing out on something great!

Emma's mother died of an illness during the Civil War, and Emma and her brother and sister havn't heard from their father, a Confederate soldier, in a long time. Emma, her brother, and sister take the steamboat Sultana north to St. Louis to live with relatives. But when a explosion occurs on board the Sultana, Emma must fight for survival - and is helped by the people she least expected help from.

This is the story of Emma, a 12 year old Southern Girl. Emma is going north after the Civil War with her brother and sister. But luck has it she is stuck on the boat THE SULTANA and it is full of Yankees. Emma hates the Yankees after what they did to her family. Her father went off to fight them and she hasn't heard from him yet. And the Yankees stole everything from her farm. And the Mother was sick and she didn't take well to having no sheets and then she died. So now Emma is on the boat. But a disaster happens. There is an explosion. Emma makes a friend in someone she never knew and she must save her life.