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Book Reviews of When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America)

When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America)
When Will This Cruel War Be Over The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson - Dear America
Author: Barry Denenberg
ISBN-13: 9780590228626
ISBN-10: 0590228625
Publication Date: 9/1/1996
Pages: 160
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 65

3.8 stars, based on 65 ratings
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

5 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

mimicthesky avatar reviewed When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America) on + 48 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A Confederate girl growing up in the South during the Civil War reveals the hardships of southern life as the war tore her family and the nation apart.
reviewed When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America) on + 11 more book reviews
Wednesday, November 23, 1864
Sometimes I try to remember what our lives udes to be like, but it has been so long I have difficulty conjuring up the images. I can, at times, picture the house when it was alive and full of activity.
This is a fictional journal of the life of a young girl during the Civil War.
reviewed When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America) on + 10 more book reviews
Wednesday, November 23, 1864
Sometimes I try to remember what our lives used to be like, but it has been so long I have difficulty conjuring up the images. I can, at times, picture the house when it was alive and full of activity-everyone getting ready for a carriage ride into town or perhaps an excursion into the countryside. Mother giving the servants last minute instructions, Father and Brother Cole seeing to the bags, and me sitting at my vanity for what I am sure must have seemed like endless house...Those days are gone forever-I am no longer young.
At times I feel like I am a thousand years old-that is waht this cruel war has done to me.
confuzzledbooks avatar reviewed When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America) on + 487 more book reviews
Young Emma Simpson lives in Virginia in 1864 during the middle of Civil War. She writes in her diary about the trials, Emma, her mother and other family members survive through. The men in the family are fighting in the War. Food rations start to dwindle as family and friends get sick and some die. Based on a real person we see the dark side of war in America's past.

I find these Dear America books interesting and wish I had them when I was younger. They do tend to be pretty dark. I guess that is to show children they have it easier these days. These Dear America book do usually end with death of the diary writer or just an abrupt ending, which probably meant death as well. This one I am happy to say actually has info on what really happened to Emma after the war.

As I mentioned I dislike the fact that the stories are so dark, in these series of books. I do not know how much of the diaries are real or made up but i guess when people usually write in their diaries it is not because something good is happening or you are working out some happy through your mind. It would be nice to read one Dear America with a happy conclusion.

I will continue to read the dear america books because they have a charm about them and they make me feel like I am learning. I do wonder how close they are to the actual history but how will I ever know.
reviewed When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson (Dear America) on + 19 more book reviews
Excellent