Joseph Schwartz’s Story

Fourteen-year-old Joseph, son of German immigrants, lives in a working-class Baltimore neighborhood and is a scholarship student at a private academy on the other side of town. Like the rest of his family, he’s a Unionist in a city that leans toward the Confederacy. Joseph struggles to keep his integrity as he hides his political views—as well as his family background—from his rich classmates. And that’s how he finds himself caught up in the Pratt Street riot.

Reviews

“Reeder creates her youthful characters in turmoil in ways that will reflect the lives of today’s youth, while accurately portraying a brief historical period not often addressed in depth in Civil War literature.”
—The ALAN Review

“Includes convincing period details.”
—School Library Journal