The Civil War of Amos Abernathy
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
An ALA Rainbow Book List Top 10 Selection * Golden Kite Award Winner * New York Public Library Best Books for Kids * ALA Booklist Top 10 First Novels for Youth * Jane Addams Award finalist * Lambda Literary Award Finalist
A heartfelt debut novel about a boy’s attempt to find himself in the history he loves—perfect for fans of Dear Sweet Pea and From the Desk of Zoe Washington.
Amos Abernathy lives for history. Literally. He’s been a historical reenactor nearly all his life. But when a cute new volunteer arrives at his Living History Park, Amos finds himself wondering if there’s something missing from history: someone like the two of them.
Amos is sure there must have been LGBTQ+ people in nineteenth-century Illinois. His search turns up Albert D. J. Cashier, a Civil War soldier who might have identified as a trans man if he’d lived today. Soon Amos starts confiding in his newfound friend by writing letters in his journal—and hatches a plan to share Albert’s story with his divided twenty-first century town. It may be an uphill battle, but it’s one that Amos is ready to fight.
Told in an earnest, hilarious voice, this love letter to history, first crushes, and LGBTQ+ community will delight readers of Ashley Herring Blake, Alex Gino, or Maulik Pancholy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In an earnest debut that explores representation in the past and present, a gay 13-year-old history fan in Illinois works to center LGBTQ voices while competing to design a historical exhibit. Long a junior volunteer at the living history park that his mother runs, white Amos Abernathy feels like "the nineteenth century is in my blood," though he acknowledges that "life back then wasn't easy." Amos is particularly knowledgeable about Abraham Lincoln, and when he meets Ben Oglevie, a white homeschooled boy from a religious family, he's drawn in by Ben's grasp of Lincoln facts. A crush follows, and then ongoing "complete and utter silence" from closeted Ben. Meanwhile, as the park grapples with matters of historical inclusion and erasure—resulting in Amos learning about Union soldier and trans man Albert D.J. Cashier—Amos's best friend, Chloe Thompson, works to become the park's first Black female blacksmith. Alternating between Amos's candid 2021 letters to Albert and a first-person accounting of 2022 events, Leali's slow-moving narrative proves a sometimes didactically rendered but still engaging contribution to the canon of historically focused LGBTQ novels. An author's note details the story's beginnings. Ages 8–12.
