My Brother Sam is Dead
Written by James and Lincoln Collier
Reviewed by Kayla D. (age 11)
This story is about a boy named Timothy and his family. Timothy's brother Sam wanted to go to war, and their father didn't want him to go. He went anyway, so his father went after him. No one was sure who was for the British and who was for the Patriots in their town. Mr. Heron was one person that people thought was for the Patriots. In one part, Tim decided to do Mr.Heron a favor. He had to deliver letter at Fairfield. Tim thought it was a secret letter about Patriot things. On the way, he ran into Betsy who was Tim's girlfriend. They started to fight over the letter. Eventually, Betsy got the letter. Then she opened the letter, and then Tim read the letter. The fight was really about nothing. After a while when it was winter, Tim and his father rode down a road to Verplanks to sell beef. Then they met some cowboys and they wanted the cows, but father didn't let them have them. So they decided to hit Tim's father over the head and take him away. Then Tim decided to get revenge. He was going to trick them by acting like they were the escort instead of cowboys. But after a while he had found out that his father went to jail and eventually died. He was really sad for a long time. Later on, Sam was put in prison for stealing, so Tim was going to get Sam freed. Tim got to see him Sam but he couldn't get him out of prison. Then two men shot him twice and he died.
I liked the characters, Sam, Tim, and their father because they're brave and couragous. Tim changed a lot in the story because his dad died and he had to do his chores and his dad's chores too. My favorite part was when Betsy and Tim were fighting about the letter to Mr. Herron. I liked it because it was funny when they fought. As I was reading the book, I really thought that it was interesting and you learned a lot of things about the Revolutionary War from this book as you read it.
I recommend this book for older kids to read this book because it is good if you are interested in wars and stuff. I think that only upper grade kids could read it.