My Brother's Keeper

Virginia's Civil War Diary #1

by Mary Pope Osborne

Mary Pope Osborne's book, part of the relaunch of the My America series, tells the story of Ginny , a young girl who keeps a journal during the Civil War's Battle of Gettysburg.

Virginia Dickens has promised to keep a journal for her older brother Jed. And Ginny finds plenty to write Pennsylvania Volunteers arrive in the town square reporting a big battle in Virginia and calling for more men to join their ranks. Rumors fly that the Rebs are headed to Gettysburg, and the Battle of Gettysburg ensues. Suddenly, Ginny's quiet town is filled with the injured.

Ginny's brother Jed has joined the Union army, and they find him wounded in a makeshift hospital. With Ginny's nursing, he recovers, and Ginny is is able to witness the President's Gettysburg Address.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Civil War, Fiction, Historical, Diary

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will Osborne.

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phrases could get repetitive at times but overall the story was enjoyable.

[Brittany Cullen]

I enjoy these books because they are easy to read and you can get an idea of what it was like to live in the time period of all the events. this one is about a father and brother going off because the confederates are going to invade so the daughter stays behind. But the pa returns and brother did not so they go off looking for him and find him and bring him home. It was really good and detailed and its always neat that it is in a diary set up.

[Mariann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew I would enjoy reading about history many, many years after taking it?

[Ashtyn Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is in the style of a diary written by a girl named Virginia B. Dickens. This is the telling of a battle between Confederate and Union soldiers in Gettysburg, Virginia during the Civil War. This book can be incorporated into a classroom for teaching purposes is when discussing President Abraham Lincoln, as well as slavery and the treatment of races other than white during this time period. My Brother’s Keeper provides students which a different perspective on the Civil War. They will be able to read more about the emotional, economical, and societal struggles individuals experienced. This book is appropriate for a younger audience. The language and writing style is simple - there are certain phrases that are repeated multiple times throughout the book (“What do I truly think?” and “What do I truly feel?”) which adds emphasis on Virginia’s opinions and feelings. An element I personally enjoyed from this book is the character. She provides realism to the situation (doesn’t “romanticize” the Civil War) and provides are range of emotions that students may be able to relate to. Her mother died when she was young, she worries for her brother’s health, and experiences the harsh realities of being female in the mid-1800s.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl named Virginia who lives in Gettysburg during the Civil War. Virginia's brother Jed has entrusted her with his diary and has told her to write down all her experiences while he goes to hide his family's horses at his uncle's house. Virginia writes about the many battles that take place during the Civil War leading up to the infamous Battle at Gettysburg. She writes about her fears, but mostly about how much she is afraid that her father and brother will never return.

I really liked this book. I think the author did a very good job of capturing the thoughts of a little girl during war time. Through the small journal entries the reader is really able to connect with Virginia and her friends while learning about life during the Civil War. I really loved the pictures and historical facts at the end of the book that really helps the reader understand some of the happenings in the book.

I would love to give this book to a 2nd-4th grade girl who loves history. This book makes history real without shoving facts down one's throat. It makes readers interested to find out more about the story and the history behind it.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Brother's Keeper tells the story of Virginia, a girl growing up in Gettysburg, PA. She is writing in her brother's journal as he and her father go into the countryside to try and protect their Uncle's farm from being looted by Confederate soldiers. Little did they know that they were leaving 9-year-old Ginny to witness the bloodiest battle in American history.

While the story does an adequate job of portraying the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath it is too short to pack the punch that other Civil War stories deliver. It also felt a bit lazy to gloss over the time between the end of the battle and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by writing an entry every month or two.

A fine middle grades book about the Civil War if you've read all of the others on the subject, but there are better books on the market!

[C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Brother's Keeper was a beautiful short historical-fiction book. The main character is not much of a writer, but when her dear older brother goes off to war, he asks her to write in his diary. It is a sweet way to give her something to do, take her mind off worry, and in the end, she grows to enjoy writing.
The story is rich with emotions and tugs at your heart. I enjoyed it and recommended this book for fans of historical fiction, especially during the civil war period. The book’s lessons of family, siblings, love, struggle, survival, and hope are evident throughout the story.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was an American Girl girlie not a Dear America girlie growing up so this was a first read for me. I know this series doesn’t always hold up to the test of time from the original publication. It wasn’t a bad book and I think as a kid I would have read it after going to Gettysburg. It was a decent story, although short. It gave historical facts and didn’t gloss over the gruesome battle for the target audience. I love Mary Pope Osborne and her Magic Treehouse series so this was fun to read another one of her stories. This would be a decent book for an upper elementary classroom for sure.

[Deanm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot because this is my favorite genre. I'm going to describe the story. The story is about a young boy and his pa/dad going to war. They didn't come back until their sister/daughter came to find them. The daughter/sister was very scared until shes was brave enough to find them.I liked the character virginia because she was very brave and very smart as a young girl.This book is a must read.

[Britney Padilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children’s Historical Fiction
Grades 2-4.
This story is written in diary format by a little girl named Virginia. It takes place in 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania days before the Battle of Gettysburg. In this story Virginia’s father and brother, Jed, leave her in the care of Reverend McCully and his family while they help her Uncle Jack hide his horses from the Confederate raiders. Jed leaves her in charge of his journal so that she can be his eyes and ears while he is away. The first few entries talk about her daily life adjusting to her life with the McCully family. She mentions that there a lot of troops gathering in the area and then suddenly the battle begins. Virginia recounts heard the cannons fire and gun shots being fired from the McCully’s home. She then sees wounded soldiers in the streets, people screaming, and horses running free. Virginia then begins to question why her brother and father have not yet returned. Days later her father does return and is confused when she asks him where her brother was. He tells her that he had sent him back to Gettysburg weeks earlier. They then set out together in search of her brother. Her father then begins to lose hope of finding him. Will they find him or is it too late? President Lincoln makes an appearance towards the end of the book as he gives his famous Gettysburg Address. Strengths of this book include strong character development as Virginia opens up to her emotions in the diary. She recognizes anger for being left in the care of the McCully’s, fear as she sees the wounds of the soldiers, and hope for the future when Lincoln arrives to Gettysburg for his speech. Another strength this book has is the way that Virginia sees soldiers of both sides of the battle. There is no bias towards the opposing side, she is actually happy to see one of the Confederate captains has survived the battle. I would recommend this title for children as complimentary reading as they learn about the Civil War. It is not too gory in its details for the target audience. It also describes the daily lives of the civilians during that time period leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg. This title has a few black and white photographs at the end of President Lincoln, a Union soldier, and a photograph of three children that was found on the body of a Union soldier. The illustration on the cover is an oil painting portrait of a little girl in white that is supposed to be Virginia.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Pope Osborne is known for her Magic Tree House Series. I knew she wrote books about mythology and American myths as well, but I did not know she wrote children's picture books, nor some of the Dear America series books.

While this book was simple and I definitely wasn't the target audience, I think it would be a good introduction to the Civil War for a young child. It is told in diary format and shows what the battle of Gettysburg would have been like from a child's perspective.

[Justine Liddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Virginia B. Dickens keeps her brother's diary (because he is away) of the day's before the Battle of Gettysburg 1863. Her brother Jed was captured and released and wounded. He recounts his journey in a story for and sends it to Washington, D.C. they like it and would like him to come to D.C. when he is well.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this book 4 stars because it delivers quality information on the Civil War while developing the characters within a lower readability. It is a perfect book club book for a striving reader who will learn much about the CW in this piece of historical fiction. It is a challenge to find lower leveled texts that appeal and communicate such information to middle-grade readers.

[Ashleigh Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these books now because I loved them as a child- yes, it’s simplistic and short, but they helped cultivate my love of history then, and brings me genuine joy on the rare occasions I reread one of these My America or Dear America books 💛

[Catherine Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a nice book. Virginia is such a brave character. The story was very easy to read and easy to grasp. It's quite a sad story, learning how many patriotic and innocent soldiers lost their lives during Civil War. Though it's a children's book, this is a great story to learn about American history for beginners. There's no such thing as young and old to learn and read for this kind of book.

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was sometimes a little brutal to read because I just visited Gettysburg in 2019 & it made the picture of the war so vivid. Such a devastating time. I usually can read books of this age group & length in one sitting but I needed a bit of a break with this one. Really well written.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the books in this series of books is so nostalgic for me. I remember reading these books in middle school and just enjoying them. It has been almost 20 years since I have read these but I have enjoyed the two that I have read so far.

[Summer Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my second grader. She did really well with this level, and it was an excellent foundation book for civil war history for her age. I'll be looking into other books in this series to continue with her.

[Brooklyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda iffy about counting this cause it’s like barely 100 pages but it was alright. Too short to really get much out of it. I get to the end though and the authors name looks so familiar?? THE GIRL WHO WROTE THE MAGIC TREEHOUSE! Big fan, 5 stars.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written for a slightly younger age than Dear America, this is a good way to get young elementary kids into history. The writing is simple, prehaps overly so, but is very clear.

[Kaylanl · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the BEST "My America" book in my opinion

[Freshta Masoud · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book about Civil War...written from the perspective of a teenage girl name Virginia. It is a book that reveals all the struggles and pains that children suffered from during the war.

[Janis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not wild about one. Too repetitive. It got old fast for me. However, the third book of this set is the best of the My America series in my opinion, so I’m glad I didn’t give up on Virginia.

[Mom & Dad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sad and a lot of death.

[Stephanie Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good quick read

[Brent Buttorff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is highly readable, informative, and enjoyable, and this book is exemplary in each of these areas.

[Lee]

Not really sure where the story can go from here, but this one was good.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

not christmassy but im glad I picked it up

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Graphic writing about a brutal time.

[Beth Kaminske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice story about The Gettysburg battle . Sure to be of interest to those 9-11 year olds