SPOILER ALERT: in the Revolutionary War drama My Brother Sam is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier … Sam, the brother, DIES!
My Brother Sam Is Dead (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This moderately entertaining read (it is loads better than #42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi, IMHO ) was published in 1974. It is a Newbery Honor Book, a Jane Adams Honor Book, was named by the American Library Association as a Notable Children’s Book and was a finalist for a National Book Award in 1975.
It also consistently lands on various banned and challenged book lists around the country.
ALA Seal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On our matrix the only reason I can think it might be challenged is the use of Offensive Language (which clashes oddly with the main character’s mostly religious approach to life) and the Violence.
Not bad for YA Historical Fiction. But is ‘not bad’ good enough? It attempts to give a balanced look from both the Tory and Patriot side of the conflict. In that way it was better than the History Channel’s appallingly inaccurate Sons of Liberty, so points there. But the History Channel, alas, did not set the bar very high.
Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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