with every drop of blood by james lincoln collier

Then he' s captured by Cush, a runaway slave. When there' s a request to take his mules and wagon on a bold mission to supply the Rebel troops, Johnny can' t resist. Johnny promised his father, wounded while fighting for the South, that he would take care of the family and not run off to fight. He's heading for prison camp wondering what will become of his family and himself. Johnny doesn't like taking orders from a black, but he has no choice. Then he's captured by Cush, a runaway slave.

When there's a request to take his mules and wagon on a bold mission to supply the Rebel troops, Johnny can't resist. 'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title.īook Description Mass Market Paperback. Ages 10-up.Ĭopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. The sensitive treatment of this unlikely relationship recalls Patricia Calvert's equally fine novel, Bigger. When the war ends, Cush and Johnny set off toward home together, the latter observing, 'For sure it is going to be a long time before kids of slaves and kids of slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood,' but adding that staying friends is worth a try.

At first Johnny takes advantage of his captor's kindliness, but ultimately he becomes friends with Cush and even saves his life. Instead, he and the family's team of mules are captured by Blue Coats even worse (to him), the soldiers are black, and the youth suffers the ignominy of taking orders from a former slave his own age, Cush Turner. But a few months after Pa's death, Johnny undertakes a dangerous mission to bring food into besieged Richmond-and maybe avenge his father's honor. When Pa is wounded in action in 1864 and comes home to die, he extracts a promise from Johnny, the book's 14-year-old narrator, to stay on their farm in Virginia and look after the family.

The Collier brothers ( My Brother Sam Is Dead ) here paint a strong, affecting picture of the Civil War era, of the grueling work and privations of the home front as well the chaos and carnage of the battlefield.

With every drop of blood by james lincoln collier