THE CEMETERY KEEPERS OF GETTYSBURG

High builds on true events for this child’s-eye view of the Civil War battle and its aftermath. His father having marched off to fight for the Union, seven-year-old Fred Thorn huddles down with his pregnant mother when the great battle begins to rage all around. Then, amid the devastation afterwards, he courageously pitches in to help her begin digging graves for the dead. Writer and artist both effectively capture the battle’s scale and terror. High tells the tale in measured, intense free verse, paired to Filippucci’s finely detailed paintings of wide, peaceful landscapes that are transformed into scenes of ruin, strewn with dead horses and shattered trees. Fred closes with his mother’s later meeting with President Lincoln at the renowned dedication of the military cemetery, and the words of the Gettysburg Address. Readers will be touched and sobered by this deeply felt glimpse of battle, and what follows. (author’s note) (Picture book. 7-9)