Mine Eyes Have Seen

by Ann Rinaldi, Martin C. Brown

In the summer of 1859, fifteen-year-old Annie travels to the Maryland farm where her father, John Brown, is secretly assembling his provisional army prior to their raid on the United States arsenal at nearby Harpers Ferry.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Civil War, Historical, Teen, Childrens

1 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Ann Rinaldi (b. August 27, 1934, in New York City) is a young adult fiction author. She is best known for her historical fiction, including In My Father's House, The Last Silk Dress, An Acquaintance with Darkness, A Break with Charity, and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons. She has written a total of forty novels, eight of which were listed as notable by the ALA. In 2000, Wolf by the Ears was listed as one the best novels of the preceding twenty-five years, and later of the last one hundred years. She is the most prolific writer for the Great Episode series, a series of historical fiction novels set during the American Colonial era. She also writes for the Dear America series.

Rinaldi currently lives in Somerville, New Jersey, with her husband, Ron, whom she married in 1960. Her career, prior to being an author, was a newspaper columnist. She continued the column, called The Trentonian, through much of her writing career. Her first published novel, Term Paper, was written in 1979. Prior to this, she wrote four unpublished books, which she has called "terrible." She became a grandmother in 1991.

Rinaldi says she got her love of history from her eldest son, who brought her to reenactments. She says that she writes young adult books "because I like to write them."

Reviews

[Sarah Newbrough]

This book is incredible. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about history (specifically the Civil War)!

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mine Eyes Have Seen" by Ann Rinaldi is a captivating historical novel set during the American Civil War. I chose this book for my monthly reading prompt which was Historical fiction for January. This book skillfully intertwines fiction with real historical events, providing a compelling perspective on the impact of war on everyday lives. Narrated through the eyes of Susanna Smith, the story delves into personal struggles amid the broader social and political upheavals of the time.

Rinaldi vividly portrays the challenges faced by civilians during the war, addressing issues like scarcity of resources, emotional loss, slavery, and women's rights. The characters are well-developed, contributing to the rich historical narrative. While the pacing occasionally feels uneven, the novel offers a poignant glimpse into the complexities of the era.

"Mine Eyes Have Seen" is a thought-provoking exploration of the Civil War's human toll, blending history with fiction. Despite some pacing issues, the book remains impactful, earning a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it to those interested in a compelling mix of history and personal narrative.

[Allison Beaufort · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young adult historical fiction book I picked off a friend's shelf while visiting them (two months ago, ha) and just now finished. Centering the perspective of Annie Brown, daughter of Harper's Ferry raid architect John Brown, the book describes the 2-3 months that Annie spent bunkered up in a house while militants gathered and planned ahead of the raid. I appreciate at the end of Rinaldi's books, she goes into detail between what is fact - and where her research drew her - and which parts were fictionalized.

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew this was a high school level Scholastics book when I began reading it, so I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I've been trying to educate myself a little bit on Harpers Ferry, and this is the story of John Brown's 15 year old daughter Annie and the things that she witnessed in the months leading up to that fateful day in October 1859 when her father attacked the Federal Armory in Harpers Ferry, helping to excite the events that lead to the Civil War. It's historic fiction, so of course the conversations and motivations of the characters can only be speculated at. But I thought Rinaldi did an excellent job of creating a very compelling, as well as educational, story that I found difficult to let go of. Her writing was quite poetic at times, and I was moved by the growing sense of foreboding inherent in each page. As I finished the book, I felt sad for the real person Annie Brown, and how helpless she must have felt as she had to stand by and watch as events much larger than herself shaped her future. It's definitely worth the read.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Annie Brown, a daughter of John Brown. It covers the period just before his raid on Harper's Ferry, and how he and those working with him lived in a farmhouse for some time, gathering strength, weapons and working out just how they were going to conduct their raid. Annie was alone to do 'women's work' and to serve as a look-out for the group, although she was not going to be taking part in the raid itself nor in its planning.

John Brown was a fanatic, period. In today's world he'd be placed along with the various militants who blow themselves up and kill innocent people. I think there would really be a major question about his very sanity in what he did, the way he treated people, and what he planned to do.

Opposing slavery? Fine.

Being an abolitionist? Fine.

Refusing to listen to people who knew the mission was basically a suicide attack? Stupid.

Killing innocent people and trying to set up your own government with its own army? Unacceptable.

Still, it's a worthwhile book to read and another one showing how good a writer Ann Rinaldi is.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this is likely caused by me disliking history themed stuff in general, I didn’t like this book at all. I found myself needing to put this down very frequently for me to be able to continue to read it. In the beginning of the book, I was mildly interested in the book, but by the time I got to the end, I was very bored of it and wanted to put it down. Annie Brown, a teenage girl, hides several slaves inside of her house to help them escape the torture that they were going through. She finds herself having several anxiety attacks, and an alternate identity, due to putting herself in danger so much to help the slaves. Her father is Christian, and leads a resistance against slavery throughout the book. I would not recommend this book to people like me who dislike learning about history, unless that is your thing. This book had almost no climax, and was a very unusual book when compared to books I usually read. I’m rating this as 2 stars, because of it being overall a overwhelmingly bland read.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is everything we Readers come to expect of Rinaldi's writing: beautiful, rich, compelling. Like all of her stories, this one is deeply rooted in historical fact, with only the order of certain events changed up a bit, and the personal thoughts of the characters for the most part fictitious. The people and events surrounding John Brown are brought to vivid reality with Rinaldi's words; she breathes new life into long-dead people, helping the Reader to understand them in a way that few history books can do. Annie is a totally sympathetic heroine, and as a Reader, I could not help but feel really frustrated with John Brown, as we are supposed to. If you know anything about John Brown, then you'll know the end is tragic. It is made more so by the Author's beautiful, simple writing style, and I felt absolutely devastated for Annie.


G--damn is used once, but there is no other content.

[Patty G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the time spent just before John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry from the preceptive of his 15 year old daughter, Annie. Annie and her sister-in-law spent several months at the Kennedy Farm where John Brown was stratigizing and assembling his men. Annie struggles with the love/hate relationship that she and her siblings have with her father and his God-like attitude in his mission to free the slaves.

I was able to visit the privitaly owned Kennedy Farm this past fall and had read other account about Annie Brown's time spent here. Combining the visit and this book truly brought history to life. A good book for teen readers.

[AlixJamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this was an excellent book, I couldn't help but be frustrated at the stupidity of John Brown. Did that man actually think that he was doing a good work? Killing people is never a good work. Freeing the slaves was a noble cause, but I think he shot himself in the foot in the way he went about it.
Mine Eyes Have Seen is also really sad. I so wanted Annie to just get Dauphin and leave before something bad happened. Unfortunately, they were too loyal and they paid dearly for it.
The romance in this book was fresh and sweet, and not overdone -- just enough to keep you wishing for more!

[Des · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an overall interesting story with little character development. Not much going on aside from the main plot and there is no real climax to it but it still presents an unusual viewpoint on the slave trade during that era. Find the Pa character entirely worthless as a parent and actually don't feel the least bit of sympathy for and of his failed endeavors. Annoyed for sure the way the family accepts him as he is and think that it's just unbelievable that anyone could follow Pa's crazy adventures.

[Traci · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work of historical fiction was very enjoyable. It's the story of Annie Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown (raid on Harpers Ferry). I purchased it from scholastic & the elementary school library even had a copy, but I think it should be a higher-than-elementary-level book. Unless you have mature, exceptional readers. But it also might be a nice read-aloud companion to Virginia history or US Civil War history. Definitely recommend it.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sad book but absolutely fascinating. It is the story of John Brown and his daughter. I never really knew anything about him, but his religious zeal tore apart his family and caused the deaths of most of his followers. His daughter Annie is never quite good enough for him, and she goes with him to help when he puts his impossible plan for freeing slaves into action. The elements of family dynamics and religious frenzy make the story very interesting.

[Emily Farrar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally loved it. I'm obsessed with reading about the Civil War, and John Brown was a big part of it, and I'm not sure people understand that since he was before the war. I never even knew about him until that "America: the Story of US..." I mean I'd heard his name but never knew anything about him.
I will say one thing, he was a busy man... He had at least 20 kids over his life...........

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann Rinaldi is great! She writes these historical fiction novels that really are interesting. Every novel has some sort of main character that is usually a girl and they have some part in history. They also tend to all fall in love with somebody that has an influence on their decisions in the books. I really enjoy reading her stuff because I like the history stuff.

[Daneen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Annie Brown, daughter of John Brown who fought slavery, by Annie Brown. It is an interesting view from which to tell the story. The story is fiction because the author filled in the blanks that Annie left in her story of her summer with her father and his army in the Kennedy Farm at Harper's Ferry.

Great story and great history!

[Nada khaled · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie brown wrote down her thoughts during the civil war, Annie is the daughter of John Brown, who is was against of economic and social differences between the North and the South, So he was leader of slaves in american civil war.




the novel is good, to who is has interest on american history.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book about events happening prior to the Harper's Ferry incident through the eyes of Annie, one of John Brown's (the crazy (really, he was bonkers) leader of this endeavor) daughters. I don't know much about this point in history so I was nice to learn via story form. I like Rinaldis style of writing.

[Ann Valdez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ann Rinaldi is a great writer of historical fiction. This book is about a 3.5 for me. I appreciated the latter half of the book and the author's notes were interesting. I understand the Harper's Ferry incident and John Brown better than I did 2 days ago. This time spent at the Kennedy farm prior to the big event in history is told from daughter Annie Brown's point of view.

[Mary Tuttle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read a good deal about John Brown, I found it very interesting to read about him and his family from a different point of view. Would the Civil War have come about without John Brown's Raid? Perhaps. But it was a precipitating factor, as it brought the eyes of the nation to the issues surrounding slavery.

[Kaarin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Ann Rinaldi, and this is one of her stronger books. One of the things I really like about Rinaldi's works is her painstaking research and interesting protagonist perspectives, and this book is a good example of both.

[Sarah Tilatitsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK SOOOOOO MUCH THAT I WOULD READ THIS OVER 10 TIMES!!!! No, I swear. This book is heartbreaking, brave, true and yet so good and wholesome. I swear that people would read this book and love it and not say that it sucks. Read, enjoy, and love. ☺☺☺

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great historical fiction story from Rinaldi! This book focuses on the Harper's Ferry Raid that John Brown undertook in the years leading up to the Civil War. It is John's daughter, Annie, who assisted with the raid, who is given a voice in Mine Eyes Have Seen. Engaging read!

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book I had a like/dislike relationship with. The characters were ok, the plot was ok, and setting was fine however parts of the book I just did not like and others I did. So historical fiction fans be warned it's kind of a toss up if you'll like this book or not -don't say I didn't warn you ;)

[Angelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beautiful story even though its end is a tragic one. :( i love it. i love annie brown. i love mrs. huffmaster. i love martha. i love every character :)nice story of john brown's fight against slavery in Kansas by ms. ann rinaldi :) God is good!

[Carolyn Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting especially since I'm headed to Harper's Ferry this weekend (that's why I read it.) John Brown was certainly a fanatic! Glad he wasn't my father, he sure wasn't nice to his bazillion children.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars for me. I was interested in the beginning and by the end I was mildly interested. Overall it was just ok to me. I probably enjoyed reading the history at the end of the book more than the book itself.

[Mckenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago. It is based on a true story which I knew nothing about before I read it. It was pretty interesting

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broke my heart. It's about John Brown, his conspirators, and his children before the raid on Harper's Ferry. If you know history you know what happens, but it's still very sad.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good historical fiction.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has a sad ending