Hannalee described the bloody scene before her by uttering, “I reckoned it was like looking into hell, and I felt sick inside.”Īlthough Beatty provides readers with a lot of facts and details surrounding the war, her book reads less like a history lesson and more like a thrilling action and adventure story where a new danger or challenge awaits our fearless heroine at every turn of the page. Hannalee and Jem get to witness first-hand the horrors of the battle of Franklin, which lasted only six hours but was a terrible defeat for the Confederacy. Although Beatty targets her book for readers aged ten and older, she doesn’t shy away from depicting the cruelty, ugliness, and inhumanity that comes with war. Like most of the soldiers before them, most of these workers were never heard from again-their futures forever remaining a mystery. ![]() The first half of Beatty’s book is based on actual events that occurred in July 1864 when the Yankee cavalry arrived in Roswell, Marietta, and New Manchester, Georgia, rounded up nearly two thousand mill workers, and put them all on trains heading north to either work in Union mills or to provide household or farm help to northern families. Patricia Beatty’s Turn Homeward, Hannalee is such a book. Precious is the book that not only entertains the soul of a young reader, but also enlightens their mind as well. Turn homeward, Hannalee!” Despite the miles between them and the impossible odds that lie ahead of her, Hannalee made her mother a promise that she would find a way home again and that is what she intended to do. ![]() Before Hannalee is taken away, her mother pulls a button from her blouse and tells her daughter, “Wherever you go, keep this to remind yourself to come home. When Union soldiers arrive in her hometown of Roswell, Georgia, they burn down the mill and gather all of the millworkers-charging each one with treason and sending them to Tennessee and Kentucky by train. She and her little brother, Jem, spend their days working in the mill making cloth for the soldiers while her mother awaits the birth of her fourth child. Twelve-year-old Hannalee Reed’s father died in an Army hospital last winter and her older brother was currently in Virginia fighting for the Confederacy. The Civil War has been raging for three years now. She often co-writes with John Luis Beatty She taught Writing Fiction for Children at several branches of the University of California. ![]() After graduating from college, she taught high school English and history, and later held various positions as a science and technical librarian, and also as a children's librarian. Patricia Beatty was born in Portland, Oregon, and was a longtime resident of southern California. ![]() Her works continue to attract readers of all ages." A committed feminist, Beatty featured both heroines and heroes who engage in dramatic, absorbing, and credible conflicts that involve questions of morality and courage. Critics cite her strong sense of humor, as well as a sharp sense of place, as strong points of her fiction. Reflecting her interest in meticulous research, which she likened to detective work, her stories recreate past times for modern readers. From Contemporary Authors Online: "Patricia Beatty's historical children's fiction invites readers to share in her fascination with the past.
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