My children and I just finished reading this great book today called Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder. The setting of the story is just after the Civil war ended and is written for early to middle elementary. Although I think anyone would enjoy this story. We used this book as a family read-aloud and I enjoyed this book immensely . We read through this book in about a week. It is classically written and is not only great for supplementing with the Civil war unit but also great for teaching moral character and values.
The antagonist in this story is a 12 year old boy named Will, who is left bitter after his mother, father, two sisters and brother have all died due to circumstances during the Civil war. He is then sent to live with his Aunt Ella and Uncle Jed. His uncle Jed did not fight in the war and Will believes him to be a coward and will not even so much as call him "uncle". However, while living with the only family Will has remaining he is taught a very important lesson about standing up and fighting for what you believe is right and begins to view his uncle in a whole new way. I would recommend this book to anyone studying about this part of our nation's history. Although this book is historical fiction it gives great thought as to the struggles that many families may have faced during this time.
