The Drummer Boy's Battle

Trailblazer Books (Chronological) #15

by Dave Jackson, Neta Jackson

After their father dies, Robbie Robinson and his older brother, Peter, join the British army in order to make a living for their family. At first, army life is exciting, even fun. Then in 1854, they are sent to Russia to right in the Crimean War—Peter as a member of the famous Light Horse Brigade and twelve-year-old Robbie as a drummer boy. But the brothers are separated during the doomed charge of the Light Brigade, and Robbie fears for Peter’s life.

An injury to his left hand brings Robbie to Barracks Hospital in Scutari, Turkey, where he hopes to find Peter. Instead he meets Florence Nightingale, a nurse working hard to change for the better the way nurses do their jobs. Robbie becomes Florence’s "right-hand man," running errands, delivering messages, and reporting alarming hospital conditions to her. But the doctors and officers running the hospital want to put a stop to Florence’s improvements. Will Robbie and his friend find a way to succeed in spite of the challenges?

Soldiers are dying all around him, and only Florence Nightingale can help save them!

An adventure story, ideal for readers 8-12 year of age.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Childrens, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Young Readers

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Dave and Neta Jackson are a full-time husband/wife writing team who have authored and co-authored many books on marriage and family, the church, relationships, and other subjects. Their books for children include the TRAILBLAZER series and Hero Tales, volumes I,II, III, and IV. The Jacksons make their home in Evanston, Illinois.

Reviews

[Karina (Karina's Christian Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number of pages: 146

Genre: Historical Fiction

Series: Trailblazers (all books are unrelated missionary stories)

Age recommendation: 8-14ish

Summary: When their father dies, Robbie and his brother join the army to help support their family. When Robbie is injured in battle, he ends up at a hospital where Florence Nightingale and her female nurses are trying to improve the hospital conditions for injured soldiers. Robbie becomes Florence’s right hand man.

My thoughts: I love this book. I really enjoyed seeing how Florence Nightingale took it upon herself to improve conditions in the hospitals (if they could even be called such). Good nutrition, a clean environment and drinking water are essential in recovery, not secondary issues that can be dealt with later.
I liked seeing the story from the perspective of a kid too. It was more interesting to see how an outsider (and a young kid at that) saw the situation, rather than seeing it through Florence’s frustration.
It kind of shocked me that hundreds of years ago, 12-year-old boys could be sent to war as drummer boys. I can’t imagine asking that of a kid!
I loved the story. I thought it was so interesting to see Florence Nightingale work and the benefit of the reforms she made through the eyes of a young drummer boy in the army. I was very impressed by her strength and dedication to improving the lives of injured soldiers and others in hospitals looking for treatment.
By way of Christian content, while I don’t want to say it was completely lacking, I honestly can’t really think of anything right now. There may be some prayers, or mentions of turning to God for help, but for the most part I’d say it was pretty minimal on the Christian side.
I like how Robbie kind of just adopts different people into his family. He’s so kind-hearted and I just love his character, as well as his friends.
Overall, this was another great book from Dave and Neta Jackson’s trailblazer series.

My personal rating: 4/5 stars.

Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...

[Stephen Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

An historical fiction of Florence Nightingale during the Crimean war. It gives good insight into aspects of her work, but there is a troubling anti-marriage message as Nightingale religiously guilt trips nurses that express a desire to marry soldiers that they fell in love with while nursing them back to health. I’m not sure if this is historically accurate to Nightingale or just something from the authors, but like many missionary books, it runs a risk of presenting an over emphasis on “good works”.

⚠️Parental Warning ⚠️
“Hellhole of a hospital”
A man used to think “of nurses as ‘loose women’”.

[Grace Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book for school, and enjoyed it a lot!

[Sarah Roberts Lundy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story for our entire family of 5, ages 8-43! Loved this story.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know that this was for eight to twelve year olds and was a christian
group of books but as people in my family joined the army at young ages I wanted to find out about drummer boys. Of course some important parts of the story were left out and the story was actually about Florence Nightingale rather than Robbie Robertson, so I was somewhat disappointed there and I'm not sure he would have gotten out of the army so easily after the war had ended.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

See the first book in the series (Spy for the Night Riders) for a full review.