Recently I released my second e-book to help students, teachers and parents better understand the historical fiction novel- My Brother Sam is Dead.
The My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide is available via Amazon.com's Kindle edition. It is more extensive (67 pages) than any other guide available and the information in it is based on 14 years of research. I grew up in Redding, Connecticut and was surrounded by all that Tim Meeker speaks of in this book. There was so much I could have explored, but I was only 12 years old and never made those connections. So what this examination of My Brother Sam is Dead really is, is an opportunity to prevent children of the current generation from missing out on all this great history. I put a lot of effort into this book for that very reason.
If you purchase or borrow this My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide at Amazon.com you will find in it:
Chapter One:
About the Book My Brother Sam is Dead
My Brother Sam is Dead is told in the first person by 10 year old Tim Meeker of Redding Ridge. It recounts the hardships endured by Tim and his family during the early stages of the Revolutionary War.
When Tim's older brother Sam returns home from Yale College in New Haven to announce he’s joining the rebel forces, it greatly impacts the rest of his family who wish to remain neutral and/or avoid a rebellious war with England. Tim's family is Anglican and thus loyal to the Church of England; a split with England would greatly affect them...
Chapter Two:
Setting of the Book My Brother Sam is Dead
Redding, Connecticut is located in Southwest Connecticut. Its size is 31.5 square miles, about five miles from north to south, roughly seven miles from east to west. It encompasses 4.9% of Fairfield County.
I also provide background information on Redding before and after the Revolutionary War.
Chapter Three:
Real Life vs. Events Fictionalized in My Brother Sam is Dead
The intent here is to point out real life vs. My Brother Sam is Dead events that relate to Redding, Connecticut. The quotes come directly from the novel; below the quotes are the historical facts these quotes are based on.
Chapter Four:
Places you can visit related to My Brother Sam is Dead
Redding Ridge:
This is where the Meeker's lived. Be sure to explore the Christ Church cemetery, you'll be amazed at how many characters from the book are buried here.
Across the street from the Church looking North are the fields Tim runs across when he attempts to steal back his Father's Brown Bess from Sam.
Chapter Five:
The Characters in the Novel My Brother Sam is Dead
Read all about the characters in the book and learn about the real life people the characters are based on.
Chapter Six:
Why has My Brother Sam is Dead been Challenged or Censored in the Past?
Learn why the novel earned a top 10 listing on the American Way's most challenged book list in 1996.
The 67 page My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide is available via Amazon.com's Kindle edition.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Suggested Reading List: My Brother Sam is Dead
Suggested Reading
My Brother Sam is Dead Related
1. Brother Sam and All That
by Christopher Collier with an essay by James Lincoln Collier.
Historical Context and Literary Analysis of the Novels of James and Christopher Collier.
1999 Clearwater Press, ISBN 0-9667657-0-2
2. Westchester County During the American Revolution, 1775-1783
by Otto Hufeland
3. Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It
by George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin
American Revolution
1. The Whites of Their Eyes
by Paul Lockhart.
Bunker Hill, the First American Army and the Emergence of George Washington.
Harper, New York, 2011.
2. Washington’s Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring
by Alexander Rose.
Rose unfolds the story of a Long Island-based spy ring of idealists and misfits who kept George Washington informed of what was going on in enemy-occupied New York.
Bantam; 1st Edition (April 25, 2006)
3. George Washington, Spymaster
Thomas B. Allen.
How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War
National Geographic Children's Books (January 9, 2007)
4. The Bridge Not Taken: Benedict Arnold Outwitted
by Damon Greenleaf Douglas
Best account of the 1777 British Raid on Danbury written to date. Amazing resource that includes primary source documents, maps.
Westport Historical Society, 2002, ISBN 0-96487-592-6
5. Don Troiani's Soldiers of the American Revolution
by Don Troiani and James L. Kochan
From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Washington to Cornwallis, from the Minute Men to the Black Watch, these pages are packed with scenes of grand action and great characters, recreated in the vivid blues and reds that defined the Revolutionary era.
Stackpole Books (January 3, 2007)
6. Yankee Doodle Boy (Joseph Plumb Martin)
by George F. Scheer
A young soldier’s adventures in the American Revolution told by himself.
Holiday House/New York, 1995, ISBN 0-8234-1176-1
Historical Fiction books covering topics related to the American Revolution
1. Guns for General Washington
by Seymour Reit
This book tells the story of Henry Knox’s daring mission to cross 300 miles of forest bring 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to George Washington’s army in Boston. This is a significant event in the early part of the Revolutionary War, a mission which many thought was impossible. This book tells the story from the perspective of Knox’s 19 year old brother Will.
2. The Secret Soldier: The Story Of Deborah Sampson
by Ann McGovern (Author), Harold Goodwin (Illustrator), Katherine Thompson (Author)
When "Robert Shurtliff" enlists as a common soldier in the Continental army, no one suspects there is anything unusual about him. The new soldier serves bravely for a year and a half. It is not until "he" is hospitalized with fever that his secret is discovered. Private Shurtliff is really a woman - 23 year-old Deborah Sampson!
3. Toliver's Secret
by Esther Wood Brady (Author)
A timid girl is asked to help the Patriots by delivering a secret message.
4. Patriots: Young Adult Historical Fiction Novel about the Battle of Bunker Hill
by Gregory T. Edgar
2nd Place Winner of the 2010 Premier Book Award in the category of Young Adult Fiction. Three teenage boys - two Americans and one British – learn that war is not the glorious adventure they thought it would be, and that their enemies are human beings after all.
For more check out my collection of My Brother Sam is Dead e-books at Amazon.com's Kindle. You can read them for free with a Prime account.
My Brother Sam is Dead Related
1. Brother Sam and All That
by Christopher Collier with an essay by James Lincoln Collier.
Historical Context and Literary Analysis of the Novels of James and Christopher Collier.
1999 Clearwater Press, ISBN 0-9667657-0-2
2. Westchester County During the American Revolution, 1775-1783
by Otto Hufeland
3. Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It
by George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin
American Revolution
1. The Whites of Their Eyes
by Paul Lockhart.
Bunker Hill, the First American Army and the Emergence of George Washington.
Harper, New York, 2011.
2. Washington’s Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring
by Alexander Rose.
Rose unfolds the story of a Long Island-based spy ring of idealists and misfits who kept George Washington informed of what was going on in enemy-occupied New York.
Bantam; 1st Edition (April 25, 2006)
3. George Washington, Spymaster
Thomas B. Allen.
How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War
National Geographic Children's Books (January 9, 2007)
4. The Bridge Not Taken: Benedict Arnold Outwitted
by Damon Greenleaf Douglas
Best account of the 1777 British Raid on Danbury written to date. Amazing resource that includes primary source documents, maps.
Westport Historical Society, 2002, ISBN 0-96487-592-6
5. Don Troiani's Soldiers of the American Revolution
by Don Troiani and James L. Kochan
From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Washington to Cornwallis, from the Minute Men to the Black Watch, these pages are packed with scenes of grand action and great characters, recreated in the vivid blues and reds that defined the Revolutionary era.
Stackpole Books (January 3, 2007)
6. Yankee Doodle Boy (Joseph Plumb Martin)
by George F. Scheer
A young soldier’s adventures in the American Revolution told by himself.
Holiday House/New York, 1995, ISBN 0-8234-1176-1
Historical Fiction books covering topics related to the American Revolution
1. Guns for General Washington
by Seymour Reit
This book tells the story of Henry Knox’s daring mission to cross 300 miles of forest bring 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to George Washington’s army in Boston. This is a significant event in the early part of the Revolutionary War, a mission which many thought was impossible. This book tells the story from the perspective of Knox’s 19 year old brother Will.
2. The Secret Soldier: The Story Of Deborah Sampson
by Ann McGovern (Author), Harold Goodwin (Illustrator), Katherine Thompson (Author)
When "Robert Shurtliff" enlists as a common soldier in the Continental army, no one suspects there is anything unusual about him. The new soldier serves bravely for a year and a half. It is not until "he" is hospitalized with fever that his secret is discovered. Private Shurtliff is really a woman - 23 year-old Deborah Sampson!
3. Toliver's Secret
by Esther Wood Brady (Author)
A timid girl is asked to help the Patriots by delivering a secret message.
4. Patriots: Young Adult Historical Fiction Novel about the Battle of Bunker Hill
by Gregory T. Edgar
2nd Place Winner of the 2010 Premier Book Award in the category of Young Adult Fiction. Three teenage boys - two Americans and one British – learn that war is not the glorious adventure they thought it would be, and that their enemies are human beings after all.
For more check out my collection of My Brother Sam is Dead e-books at Amazon.com's Kindle. You can read them for free with a Prime account.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Vocabulary Used in My Brother Sam is Dead
My Brother Sam is Dead Vocabulary-
Period Slang: Used in Camp or in the Field
Adjutant: an officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.
Beetle-Headed: Dull, Stupid.
Brown Bess: A soldier's fire-lock (musket). "To hug Brown Bess" is to carry a fire-lock, or serve as a private soldier.
Chicken-Hearted: Fearful, cowardly.
Cur: A cut or curtailed dog, disabled from chasing game. Figuratively used to signify a surly fellow.
English Burgundy: Porter (wine).
Flip: Small beer, brandy, and sugar.
Fusillade: A discharge from a number of firearms, fired simultaneously or in rapid succession. A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.
Gill: One gill is equal to 1/2 cup of liquid. Soldiers were allowed a gill of Rum per day when on fatigue, and at no other time.
Grog: Rum and water. "Groggy" or "Groggified" is to be drunk.
Ground Arms: To stack firearms on the ground.
Hook: To steal. "My shirt was worn so I headed out of camp to hook one."
Huzza: Said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of the English, both civil and military; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.
Jack Tar: A sailor.
Lobster(Back): A British soldier, from the color of his clothes (Red).
Loggerhead: A blockhead or stupid fellow, also a double-headed, or bar-shot of iron.
Neck Weed: Hemp. Used as rope in the time period.
Pottage: A thick soup. Rod: A measurement of width, 16.5 feet is a rod.
Sallied: Usually means to breakout or depart.
Scaly: Mean, sordid.
Surly: Unfriendly, crabby, grumpy. Used to describe someone of that nature: "Major Williams was a surly fellow."
Sutler: A sutler or victualer is a civilian who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.
Tattoo: A beat of the drum, or signal for soldiers to go to their quarters, and a direction to the *sutlers to close the tap. * A sutler or victualer is a civilian who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.
Trainband: Local Militia. Volunteer soldiers formed to protect townships.
Vanguard: The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle.
Period Slang: Used in Everyday Life
Anvil: A heavy steel faced iron block.
Breeches: Trousers ending above the knee.
Ciphering: Transforming a message into secret code via math.
18-21-14 = R-U-N
Cholera: An acute infectious disease of the small intestine, caused by the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae.
Commissary Notes: A Commissary is a store or market for military personnel, so a Commissary Note is a certificate given in lieu of currency for use in the store.
Drover: One that drives cattle or sheep to market.
Forage: The act of looking or searching for food or provisions.
Fusillade: A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.
Hardtack: A hard biscuit or bread made with only flour and water.
Hogshead: Any of various units of volume or capacity ranging from 63 to 140 gallons.
Hundredweight: 100 pounds.
Jerked Beef: Long slices or strips of beef dried in the sun or near a fire.
Johnny Cake: Cornmeal bread usually shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle.
Leggings: Tight, form-fitting trousers that extend from the waist to the ankles.
Loft: Unpartitioned room overlooking another room.
Pallet: 1. A fire shovel; 2. A bed of straw
Papist: A Roman Catholic
Plowshare: The cutting blade of a plow.
Populace: The general public; the masses. A population.
Pound: Unit of money- equivalent to twenty shillings sterling
Powder Horn: Where you kept your gun powder
Scrip: A piece of paper representing or acknowledging value, such as a receipt or certificate, given in lieu of currency.
Seining: To catch or fish with a net.
Sloth: Aversion to work or exertion; laziness.
Shilling: A coin worth one twentieth of a pound.
Thatch: A house roof made with a plant material (such as straw).
For more check out my collection of My Brother Sam is Dead e-books at Amazon.com's Kindle. You can read them for free with a Prime account.
Period Slang: Used in Camp or in the Field
Adjutant: an officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.
Beetle-Headed: Dull, Stupid.
Brown Bess: A soldier's fire-lock (musket). "To hug Brown Bess" is to carry a fire-lock, or serve as a private soldier.
Chicken-Hearted: Fearful, cowardly.
Cur: A cut or curtailed dog, disabled from chasing game. Figuratively used to signify a surly fellow.
English Burgundy: Porter (wine).
Flip: Small beer, brandy, and sugar.
Fusillade: A discharge from a number of firearms, fired simultaneously or in rapid succession. A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.
Gill: One gill is equal to 1/2 cup of liquid. Soldiers were allowed a gill of Rum per day when on fatigue, and at no other time.
Grog: Rum and water. "Groggy" or "Groggified" is to be drunk.
Ground Arms: To stack firearms on the ground.
Hook: To steal. "My shirt was worn so I headed out of camp to hook one."
Huzza: Said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of the English, both civil and military; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.
Jack Tar: A sailor.
Lobster(Back): A British soldier, from the color of his clothes (Red).
Loggerhead: A blockhead or stupid fellow, also a double-headed, or bar-shot of iron.
Neck Weed: Hemp. Used as rope in the time period.
Pottage: A thick soup. Rod: A measurement of width, 16.5 feet is a rod.
Sallied: Usually means to breakout or depart.
Scaly: Mean, sordid.
Surly: Unfriendly, crabby, grumpy. Used to describe someone of that nature: "Major Williams was a surly fellow."
Sutler: A sutler or victualer is a civilian who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.
Tattoo: A beat of the drum, or signal for soldiers to go to their quarters, and a direction to the *sutlers to close the tap. * A sutler or victualer is a civilian who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.
Trainband: Local Militia. Volunteer soldiers formed to protect townships.
Vanguard: The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle.
Period Slang: Used in Everyday Life
Anvil: A heavy steel faced iron block.
Breeches: Trousers ending above the knee.
Ciphering: Transforming a message into secret code via math.
18-21-14 = R-U-N
Cholera: An acute infectious disease of the small intestine, caused by the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae.
Commissary Notes: A Commissary is a store or market for military personnel, so a Commissary Note is a certificate given in lieu of currency for use in the store.
Drover: One that drives cattle or sheep to market.
Forage: The act of looking or searching for food or provisions.
Fusillade: A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.
Hardtack: A hard biscuit or bread made with only flour and water.
Hogshead: Any of various units of volume or capacity ranging from 63 to 140 gallons.
Hundredweight: 100 pounds.
Jerked Beef: Long slices or strips of beef dried in the sun or near a fire.
Johnny Cake: Cornmeal bread usually shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle.
Leggings: Tight, form-fitting trousers that extend from the waist to the ankles.
Loft: Unpartitioned room overlooking another room.
Pallet: 1. A fire shovel; 2. A bed of straw
Papist: A Roman Catholic
Plowshare: The cutting blade of a plow.
Populace: The general public; the masses. A population.
Pound: Unit of money- equivalent to twenty shillings sterling
Powder Horn: Where you kept your gun powder
Scrip: A piece of paper representing or acknowledging value, such as a receipt or certificate, given in lieu of currency.
Seining: To catch or fish with a net.
Sloth: Aversion to work or exertion; laziness.
Shilling: A coin worth one twentieth of a pound.
Thatch: A house roof made with a plant material (such as straw).
For more check out my collection of My Brother Sam is Dead e-books at Amazon.com's Kindle. You can read them for free with a Prime account.
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