Iron Thunder

As a schoolchild I learned of the famous battle of the Monitor vs the Merrimac. I couldn't have told you much about what I learned many years ago other than I remembered both ships were iron-clad; a new idea in shipbuilding. Iron thunder is told from Tom, a 13 year old Brooklyn boy's point of view. He gets a job as assitant/errand boy to the Monitor's designer. While the ship is frantically being built, Tom is approached by Confederate spies hoping to glean information about the mysterious ship that's being built in New York. There is quite the element of suspense just from that subplot. Moreover though, the Monitor was an experiment. Most people didn't think an iron ship could float at all, let alone be a powerful warship. Even though I, as an adult reader, KNEW the outcome of what would come of the Monitor, I was still pulled in and wanted to keep reading as the author described the setbacks in construction. The battle scene is well written and moves fast. There is a nice glossery of terms that kids should be directed to before reading as well as a worthy authors note at the end. There were a few passages where I thought that some younger readers might not understand what was going on (not a fault in the writing, just from the reader's own youth and inexperience in life) so when my 4th grader reads it I will be sure to remind her to ask about any scenes she's confused by. It's nice to have history presented in an accesible, exciting manner. The book is completely pro-Union. As the author points out, history is written by the victors. The North won the Civil War; the book represents a pro-Union point of view. All in all, a refreshing, different read. It will get some minds really thinking about the layers in history; in this case the work that went into the cumulating battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. My only gripe: many kids (including mine) choose a book by its cover (literally. This cover would be completely uninteresting to my 9 year old girl. Petty, maybe, but true. It's on my daughter's reading club list so that's why we have it; I'm glad she is getting the exposure to it.