Soldier's Heart

"Soldier's Heart" is a very real and descriptive account of a Union soldier's experience in combat action during the Civil War. The story follows Charley, who enlists in the Union army at the mere age of fifteen, even though he had to lie about his age, on his journey through the war and the years after. It is a great resource because after searching through so many books, I feel that there is an abundance of literature about the Rebs, however much less about the Northern side. Charley Goddard was a real person and all of the facts in this story about the war are accurate. There is fiction about him as a person but all of the historical information about the battles are correct.

This book is a valuable tool for the integreated language arts and history classroom but due to its blunt nature, I would have to use discretion based on the students as to whether I would use it or not. It contains so much great information about the war, but there are certain descriptions of battles that are a little gorry. For instance, he discusses the Battle at Gettysburg in great detail telling that: "The cannon ripped them to pieces, wiping them out before they were even in rifle range, slaughtering them like sheep..."

We continue to follow Charley after the war, until he is twenty one, when he feels that is life is falling apart. He is dealing with "shell shock", as they called it then, but PTSD as we know it today. Considering we are currently in a war, PTSD is a very real topic. This is something to consider when chosing this book for a classroom reading, as it can be a very sensitive topic.