Do You Know Them?: Families Lost and Found After the Civil War

Gr 1-4--Readers have a chance to learn a little more about American history and the quest for loved ones to reunite in the wake of the American Civil War. Lettie's fictional story covers how paid advertisements were part of individual and community efforts to reconnect friends and family in the era before telephones. Keller's poignant portrayal of Lettie's plight--a young girl who has been separated from all of her kinfolk before slavery was outlawed--becomes a means for comprehending the widespread suffering, loss, and grief post-war and amid all the transitions that followed. Freeman's moving digital art, rendered in a subdued palette of browns, dark greens, and reds, helps set the story in the past and serves as a perfect contrast to the rainbow of brighter colors that appear as the sun lighting up a church's stained glass windows during a moment of hope. Educators and parents will appreciate the instructional layers of this work of historical fiction, which centers the roles of hard work, sacrifice, literacy, and community in the tasks of finding family after the historical and intergenerational traumas of American slavery. The author's note adds useful context and distinguishes between the fictional story and the real advertisements the author found in her research. VERDICT All libraries serving elementary youth and older will want to add this to the shelves covering the Civil War.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

A Black girl looks for her family via newspaper ads following the Civil War's end in Keller's heartwarming fictionalized account, which features reprints of authentic historical ads. Lettie, whose family "had been sold and lost long before enslavement was abolished," saves the pennies she makes sewing and sweeping to place an advertisement seeking information about them. Until she can save the necessary 50[ for her own ad in the Richmond Planet, Lettie pores over the newspaper with her uncle Charlie and reads aloud to her church congregation. When a Salt Lake City man posts a notice about having found his father via the paper, Lettie feels hope, and her patient saving and slow wait eventually yield an exciting reply for her and for Uncle Charlie. Alongside images of one-cent pieces, Freeman's digital illustrations employ light and shadow in textural portraits that move between past and present in this intriguing reflection on the Civil War's aftermath. An author's note concludes. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)