Historical Fiction: The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart

Title: The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart 

Author: Kristiana Gregory

Illustrator: None

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc., 1996

ISBN: 0-590-22653-3

Summary: This book is part of the well-known Dear America series. These books take young readers through the lives of girls who lived during important parts of our history. This book is the diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, who lived during the Revolutionary War. It took place in Valley Forge, Pa in 1777. The book takes us through each of Abigail's days as a young girl during this tough time in American history.

Evaluation: Growing up, I absolutely loved the Dear America series. I owned and read every single book in the series, and The Winter of Red Snow is one of my favorites. There are no illustrations in the books, which make them more appropriate for older, independent readers. However, they are both educational and entertaining. As a reader, you get to feel like you are actually experiencing these historical events because the book is written in the form of a diary. With the Winter of Red Snow, you can feel like you really experienced the Revolutionary War. At the same time, though, while fiction, it is still very informative of the actual events that went on during the war.  This book series is a great way to teach about historical events, while making it fun to read about, and not like you are reading out of a text book.  A downfall, however, is that they do not appeal to young boys, as they are always written from a young girl's perspective. 

Rating: I would give this book 5/5 stars, along with all of the other Dear America books in the series.