A great book for younger middle school students. Includes the themes of what it means to be grown-up and brave.

Well written with accurate historical detail on the US Civil War.

An activity would be to read and compare and contrast to Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage. ( )

No Man's Land, by Susan Bartoletti kicks off toward the beginning of the U.S. Civil war in Georgia. In the beginning A 14 year old boy named Thrasher Magee is living in Georgia with his parents and three sisters. When an enlistment officer comes to town Thrasher's friend Baylor, who is around the same age but slightly larger than Thrasher, decides to enlist underage. Thrasher gets caught in the moment and enlists in a desperate attempt to prove to his father he is brave and is ready to become a man after an alligator attack humiliated him. Throughout the story Thrasher is faced with challenges as he grows from a young fourteen year old boy among men to become a young man among his fellow soldiers. During the novel Thrasher is faces hard times, hard fights and things not many fourteen year old boys could imagine. But after fighting and being injured in battle he meets people and friends who teach him more then he expected, and finally after all his troubles he returns home a man in not only his own but in his friends, family and father’s, but most importantly his own. This book is very easy to read and to follow and really gets into the accent and feel of what its like to be a young boy in the war. it's exciting and is filled with fun characters and lots of action. ( )