by James Cross GiblinBookList : From BookList, May 1, 2005, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.: Terms of Use: *Starred Review*: Gr. 5-8. Giblin never forgets the “story” part of history. In this absorbing narrative, he frames the intertwined tale of two brothers with accounts of their families, friends, the Civil War, and ninteenth-century theater. Edwin and John Wilkes were sons of Junius Booth, also a famed actor, and Edwin learned his craft in part as a young teen, traveling with his touring father to keep him from drinking too much. Alcoholism and depression afflicted the family, but Giblin is brilliant at showing that darkness was only one part of a life. Edwin's support of the North and John Wilkes' passion for the Southern cause drove a wedge in the family, and John Wilkes' assassination of Lincoln--plotted out for readers from historical documents with breathtaking clarity--haunted Edwin and his family. With settings that range from Australia to Germany, from New York to San Francisco, each vividly reconstructed, Giblin's book will engross readers until the very last footnote. GraceAnneDeCandido.: distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.:
From BookList, May 1, 2005, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
*Starred Review*
Gr. 5-8. Giblin never forgets the “story” part of history. In this absorbing narrative, he frames the intertwined tale of two brothers with accounts of their families, friends, the Civil War, and ninteenth-century theater. Edwin and John Wilkes were sons of Junius Booth, also a famed actor, and Edwin learned his craft in part as a young teen, traveling with his touring father to keep him from drinking too much. Alcoholism and depression afflicted the family, but Giblin is brilliant at showing that darkness was only one part of a life. Edwin's support of the North and John Wilkes' passion for the Southern cause drove a wedge in the family, and John Wilkes' assassination of Lincoln--plotted out for readers from historical documents with breathtaking clarity--haunted Edwin and his family. With settings that range from Australia to Germany, from New York to San Francisco, each vividly reconstructed, Giblin's book will engross readers until the very last footnote. GraceAnneDeCandido.
