Iron Thunder
The Battle between the Monitor & the Merrimac
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
When his father is killed fighting for the Union in the War Between the States, thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll must take a job to help support his family. He manages to find work at a bustling ironworks in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, where dozens of men are frantically pounding together the strangest ship Tom has ever seen. A ship made of iron.
Tom becomes assistant to the ship's inventor, a gruff, boastful man named Captain John Ericsson. He soon learns that the Union army has very important plans for this iron ship called the Monitor. It is supposed to fight the Confederate "sea monster"--another ironclad--the Merrimac. But Ericsson is practically the only person who believes the Monitor will float. Everyone else calls it "Ericsson's Folly" or "the iron coffin."
Meanwhile, Tom's position as Ericsson's assistant has made him a target of Confederate spies, who offer him money for information about the ship. Tom finds himself caught between two certain dangers: an encounter with murderous spies and a battle at sea in an iron coffin
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This fascinating adventure taken from U.S. history begins in Brooklyn in 1862, when Tom Carroll, 13, is hired at the Iron Works in Greenpoint for a secret project, derisively known around the borough as "Ericsson's Folly." John Ericsson, a Swedish inventor, is trying to build an ironclad ship that can battle the Merrimac, a Confederate ship being outfitted with metal plates in Virginia. Working to support his widowed mother and ailing sister, Tom becomes Ericsson's aide-de-camp. His insider status makes him a target of Secessionist spies, who offer gold coins in exchange for details about the ship; when Tom refuses, the bribes escalate to threats. Additionally, there's intense pressure to get the ship finished Yankee spies report the Merrimac is almost done and concerns persist about whether it will actually float. When the Monitor leaves port, Tom's aboard, safe from rebel spies, but nervous about heading into the war that has already claimed his father. The spectacular clash with the Merrimac caps this intense and action-packed account of a battle that changed the course of naval warfare. Illustrated with period engravings, this is gripping historical fiction from a keenly imagined perspective. An endnote detailing Avi's research at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., makes this a book that could launch a thousand field trips. Ages 8-12.
