by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish, by Claudia Mills, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008, ISBN 0-374-37696-4
Available from Powell's Books

I rubbed my eyelids till they were raw today, crying as I finished reading a children’s novel,The Totally Made-up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish, by Claudia Mills.

 Divorce symbolizes secession
I cried for the misery of Amanda, whose forever-arguing parents were seceding from their marriage and tearing their family asunder. I cried for Polly, the 1860s farm girl in the fictional diary that Amanda was writing for her U.S. Civil War class project. Poor Polly! One brother was fighting for the North and the other for the South.

 I cried for the more than 600,000 soldiers who died in that war and for the estimated 100,000 soldiers under the age of 15, many of whom joined up for adventure.

A battalion of fifth graders
 Finally, I cried for the earnest student teacher I once was, leading a battalion of fifth graders through a Civil War unit.

 I involved my school's art, music, and library teachers in the project. The students painted abstract flags, sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and listened to the sad, sad story of how little Todd Lincoln heard about his father’s assassination. (He was across the street from the Ford Theatre watching a children’s play in another theatre.)

As part of a math lesson, we simulated the cramped quarters of a slave ship, my students huddling shoulder to shoulder on the floor, with their knees hugged to their chests.

 Using the writings of actual children, everyday people, and historical figures who experienced the Civil War, my students made dramatic presentations during literacy.

Hard tack and Ken Burns
We visited another classroom where a Civil War reenactor demonstrated how soldiers of the time dressed and lived. Nobody liked the hardtack biscuits he shared.

At night, I watched the Ken Burns’ PBS series The Civil War over and over to understand what had happened and to bring life to the lecture portion of my instruction.

But…the teacher whose class I was sharing didn’t like the project. She said that some of the students had complained about spending too much time on the Civil War. She said the history lesson should be the history lesson and that math, literacy, art, and library time should be kept separate.

Our partnership erupted into a civil war of sorts. To avoid enlisting students on either side of our battle, I withdrew to work in another classroom.

Bittersweet fiddling
So today, it all came back to me, and I fell in love with Mills’ fictional character, Amanda MacLeish. She is the kind of student who would likely never say that her teacher was spending too much time on the Civil War; the kind of student who connects past and present and enjoys "you were there" learning.

I also fell in love with James, Amanda’s biracial friend who plays a violin solo of the haunting theme song, Ashokan Farewell,  from the Ken Burns series for their fifth grade Civil War concert.

You can hear the tune that James played. Embedded below is a brother and sister duet of the bittersweet Ashokan Farewell that I found on YouTube.