Gunfire at Gettysburg

This is an excellent book to help stimulate young minds about history. It can be a bit frustrating, though: you need to keep track of where you start the story line choice in order to return to it if you take a short-sighted option and the story ends too soon. Evenly addresses both sides of the War Between the States: state's rights in the South and the disgust of slavery in the North. Doesn't sweeten the issues to the extent that the reader (my 8 year old son) doesn't understand the implications of war (split families, brutal behavior, etc.).

My 7 year old son brought this book home from school this winter. He and my 11 year old daughter were spellbound listening to the story. The unique part of this book is the 10 or so different outcomes depending on choices presented throughout the story. They re-read the book several times, each time picking a different outcome. Gunfire at Gettysburg also stimulated their interest in history, as they asked many questions about the characters in the book. The storyline has many exciting moments such as encounters with soldiers, including General Lee. Since it was told from the perspective of a young boy, it was very easy to imagine yourself there during the battle. Since we read the book, we have been to visit Gettysburg twice in the last six months including attending the battle re-enactment last weekend. Now they have rented the movie "Gettysburg" ! Thank you for getting the kids away from Nickleodeon! There are several more titles in this series also. A format like this is a great way to teach history to kids.