Casey over There

by Staton Rabin, Greg Shed (Illustrator)

Seven-year-old Aubrey's older brother, Casey, sails away to fight in the Great War and when there is no word from Casey, Aubrey writes a letter to Uncle Sam.

Genres: Picture Books, Historical Fiction, Childrens, War

32 pages, Library Binding

First published April 9, 1994

About the author

Staton Rabin has a B.F.A. in film from New York University. In addition to writing for children, she is a screenwriter; a popular speaker about the art, craft, and business of writing for film; and a veteran story analyst for Scr(i)pt magazine, screenwriters, and producers. Staton Rabin lives in Irvington, New York.

Reviews

[Jessica Simmons]

"Uncle Sam wants you," read 7-year-old Aubrey and his big brother Casey. Soon Casey joins the U.S. Army and sails to France to fight in World War I. At home Aubrey sends letters and packages to Casey, but they take a long time to get to his brother. When there is no reply, Aubrey starts to worry, so he writes a letter to Uncle Sam. Aubrey gets a letter from Woodrow Wilson in response. At first, he is hopeful, but it is not until Casey is home that Aubrey is at peace.

I picked this book up at a secondhand book store because the story and illustrations were warm and beautiful. Aubrey exhibits active hope, what some people call naivety but is actually a valuable trait. I like the idea that President Wilson responds to Aubrey's letter in place of Uncle Sam, who is too busy with the war effort. In her author's note, Rabin shares that Wilson respected children, and I would be interested to look more into this topic.

Lots of children have experience missing loved ones as the effect of divorce, death, military service, foster care, distance, etc. In this sense, they can relate to Aubrey, and maybe he can offer them hope. If the class discussed World War I, this would be a great resource to remind students of the humanity of wartime. If I had to connect an activity with this book, I could create math problems about the story, such as how far the distance is from Brooklyn (Aubrey's home) to France and then how long the mail would have taken to get from one brother to the other during the war.

[Felicity Hyannis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. It reminds me of when my best friend’s older brother, who was like an older brother to me, was drafted to Việt-Nam. His name was also Casey.
The illustrations are really gorgeous, they look like old photographs. The book shows scenes of Casey fighting in France and Aubrey playing in New York. You get to see how their lives mirror each other: Casey gets trench foot from sitting in the mud, while Aubrey sprains his ankle playing with his friends.
Aubrey’s mother is very worried about Casey, and Aubrey just misses him. So he decides to write a letter to Uncle Sam himself. I liked the response he got, and also the author’s note at the end. The ending of the book was an immense relief to me, as Casey comes back relatively unhurt.
There are a lot of references to the times, such as Mary Pickford, Coney Island, and Black Jack gum. The clothing in the illustrations is accurate, and this would be a very good book for teaching about World War One and the 1910’s.
The book is emotional, but I did not find it too depressing. It has an uplifting ending, and there is a sense of hope throughout.

[Misbah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a true story at first, but it's still sweet nonetheless.

Aubreys older brother Casey goes of to fight in WW1 and Aubrey and his family miss him very much. When Casey hasn't written back in awhile, Aubrey writes to Uncle Sam and he gets a reply from President Wilson. After the war ends Casey returns home.

[Jourdan Coliman]

This is a picture book for older grades. It talks about two brothers who write letters to each other during WWII. One brother is a soldier in the war and the other is a young boy. With this I would have students compare and contrast the two perspectives of the brothers and their experiences with the war.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the colors and illustrations of this book. They stood out to me most out of everything.

[Hannah McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me very emotional and I could not stop crying towards the end of the story just because of how sweet it was. It was one of my favorites that I have read. If I used this book within my classroom, I would use this book to show what life was like during the early 1900’s, especially around the time of the Great War. I could do Jackdaw assignments by having the students play games like they did during this time or a research project. This book would also be a great way to comfort students of military parents/siblings and give insight to students who do not have family members in the military. This book also gives a great history lesson for students about the 1900’s.

[Colleen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is best for Kindergarten through 3rd grade. It tells the story of a young boy names Aubrey and his brother Casey in New York City during the time of World War I. Casey is sent off to fight in the war while Aubrey waits for him. When the letters from his brother stop coming in, Aubrey writes to Uncle Sam asking if he was done using his brother; President Wilson responds to the young boy. In the time that his brother is away, Aubrey plays classic games of the time such as kick the can and going on the Coney Island ferris wheel. I enjoyed this book because it really achieved its goal of conveying the hardship of war. It is filled with sentiments ranging from the innocence of youth to the destruction and misery felt by the families along with those deployed themselves in the war overseas. It is extremely well written and very thoughtful; overall, I really appreciated and enjoyed reading this book because of its mix of fictional events and non-fictional themes. This book could be used in a social studies or history lesson to learn about another side of war: the toll it takes on families. It could also be used as a basis for an activity on letter writing; students could listen to this book and write their own letters conveying their thoughts on what they had learned about this time period thus far from previous lessons.

[Erin Swinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful way to show parallels for upper elementary grades in how things might have been for WWI. This is a historical fiction book in the fact that WWI did happen but this is a fictional story about a little brother and his big brother Casey fighting in the war. This is a WOW book for me based on the illustrations and how the book was written in a way that shows the different emotions that could happen for those who were in the war but also for those who were waiting for their loved ones to come home. I would use this book like I previously said to show parallels between what people in the war were going through but also not only the parents of those who were in the war and their emotions but also the brothers (and sisters) and how they may have felt to have their (brother or sister) in another country during war. I would also use this book to do a writing activity to allow students to write letters to soldiers who might be overseas now and start pencils to allow them to have a connection first hand. I remember when I was in elementary school and writing a letter to a soldier and I felt so important like Casey's little brother when I got a letter back directly just to me!

[Samantha Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Aubrey and his older brother Casey. Casey is serving in the “great war” and him and Aubrey exchange letters. However, when the letters stop coming, Aubrey writes a letter to Uncle Sam to see what is going on. Casey does return in the end, though much thinner and injured. The text is sparse at times, but the pictures add so much more to the story. Great book for young readers, recommended for ages 6 and up. The story of Aubrey and Casey is realistic, but not factual, and references real events in history, making it a historical fiction book. This is a great way for young kids to get a glimpse into the past and into the concept of war. It could be used in a lesson on how to write letters, how to format letters, handwriting, why we write letters, and much more.

[Molly Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really touching to me. You could read this to young children and introduce them to the different holidays, or talking about different ways that authors use to write text-this is a book of letters. It is a great book to integrate social studies. This book takes place during a different time period. It is a book of letters written to a brother who is in the army fighting overseas in France during the Great War.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

little boy's brother goes to war. like how the boy parallels little boy life at home and then brother's experience as soldier in trenches...gets trench foot. includes Pres Wilson

[Yingyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about two brothers, one fighting in the Great War in France, the other waiting and worrying about him back in New York. It reflects the life of families and soldiers in the war time.