Gunpowder Girls: The True Stories of Three Civil War Tragedies
Written by Tanya Anderson
Narrated by Carrie Olsen
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Tanya Anderson
Tanya Anderson is an award-winning editor of books for young readers. Her particular passion is to create engaging nonfiction books for reluctant readers, those who are capable readers but who have become uninterested in reading. Anderson discovered this need when she taught high school history and English. She continues in her role as a teacher and guide through the books she edits and writes. Anderson graduated from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, after a dozen years in the education field, she followed her dream of joining the children's book publishing world. She has worked for more than twenty years in various editorial functions for Pages Publishing Group/Willowisp Press, Guideposts for Teens, SRA/McGraw-Hill, Darby Creek Publishing, and now has her own book packaging company, School Street Media. Besides working with some of the most wonderful authors and illustrators in the business, Anderson has also had more than thirty books published in the children's and educational book markets.
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Reviews for Gunpowder Girls
42 ratings17 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book provided an interesting look at one civilian's experience during the Battle of Gettysburg. The boxes of historical information, the period photographs, and the map the author included really complemented Tillie's own words. I'm older than the target audience, but I would especially recommend this book for younger readers who could learn about history through the eyes of someone their own age.*Note* I received a copy of this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers for my honest opinion.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An interesting and informative book about an eyewitness to the battle of Gettysburg. In simplifying the narrative, though, the author appears to project a bias, though it might have been unintentional.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This slim volume tells the tale of three arsenals that exploded during the height of the Civil War, causing multiple deaths and great concern among the area residents who thought the enemy was on their doorstep. Coming from the Pittsburgh area I was surprised to see that was the first, and most damaging explosion. The author includes interesting sidebars and a lengthy bibliography. There are three times the amount of citations for Pittsburgh as either of the other two cities even though the text of the book seems to be evenly divided. What I don't understand is the bibliographic section on women and child labor. Those books discuss topics that occurred well after the civil war and although interesting, seem out of place in this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5GUNPOWDER GIRLS by Tanya Anderson tells the tragic story of 140 women and girls who were killed in arsenal explosions during the Civil War.This quick-read is told in three parts including the catastrophes at Allegheny Arsenal, Confederate States Laboratory, and Washington Arsenal. The author weaves in primary source materials and interesting informational pages to bring the events to life for middle and high school readers. The book includes an epilogue, author’s note, endnotes, bibliography, recommended readings, and index.Librarians will find this book to be a welcome addition to the history collection. Pair it with other little-known events in the American Civil War. Or, connect it with other tragedies in women’s history.Published by Quindaro Press October 11, 2016. ARC from the publisher.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a quick read, but certainly not an easy one. Ms. Anderson does a wonderful job of making the reader care about her subjects, making the tragedies of which she writes all the more heartbreaking. In addition, I learned quite a bit about the process of ammo making during the Civil War.Disclaimer: I received a free copy for review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/53.75 Stars A YA historical account of 3 civilian tragedies during the American Civil War in which most of the casualties were girls and women. A book for students interested in the topic that is written more like a novella than a collection of historical facts with a subject matter that is long overdue. A few photographs are included as well as a decent bibliography. LT Early Reviewer
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this time of women organizing to march in Washington, D.C. to assert their value and rights, this book connects beautifully. This is a documentation of the history of woman and girls who worked in arsenals during the Civil War to provide munitions for soldiers. The author describes in detail how difficult the lives were for these people and how dangerous as they marched forward into disaster. The explosions and the ensuing investigations had been largely forgotten in the pursuit of history of the Civil War. The home front death tolls were horrific. As we look at issues in today's world, there is much that echoes down from the past. The women and girls were ruled over by men who would abide no disruptions to productivity. The investigations were fraught with political overtones. All of this happening in the north and the south during the war. There is also a focus on the role of African American women in the war efforts. Most intriguing is the description of how women covering clerk positions during the war for the U.S. government fought for and won the right to equal pay with men for those positions when the men returned from war to their jobs. Equal pay for equal work in the 1800's....amazing! The book also provides recommended reading which should be helpful to any reader wishing to pursue this line of interest.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before their granddaughters and great-granddaughters went to work for the war efforts in World Wars I and II, women and young girls were employed on the home front in the U.S. Civil War. This book provides a history of three tragedies affecting young women and girls working in Civil War ammunition factories in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Anderson describes their work, provides details of the circumstances that led to each disaster, and gives an account of each of the subsequent investigations. Anderson provides a list of all who were killed in each of the explosions. She has calculated the victims' ages from their ages in the 1860 census. The plentiful and clear illustrations enhance the reader's understanding of the more technical details in the text. The primary sources for Anderson's research are the historical newspaper accounts of the tragedies. Anderson provides both a selected bibliography of resources with information about these three events, as well as recommended reading lists on the Civil War and on women and child labor reform. This well-written history is recommended for all middle and high-school library collections. Anderson's compilation of lists of fatalities for each explosion will make this a worthwhile purchase for many genealogical collections as well.This review is based on an advance review copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thnak you, Tanya. Your book should be standard reading in all American Elementary Schools. Not only have you ensured these brave souls are not forgotten, but you have enlightened us all as to the lesser known roles of women during war-time. Your thorough research and vivid depiction of these historical events have shined a stunningly bright light on such subjects as, but not limited to, child labor, workers' rights, suffrage, work-place safety and many others. I truly commend your inclusion of African American Women and their vital impact to keep our nation free and whole. May all your endeavors be Blessed by The Holy Father. . . SMILE!!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love history, especially American Civil War history. This book was a treat because the whole concept of it was about something that isn't well known and women! It was tragic, really, but so well researched and I really, really liked it. It opened up a whole new part of the war to me. I would recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5During the Civil War, ammunition was made by girls and women in tightly packed workshops. Dealing with inflammable materials, the smallest mistake could be fatal. This book tells the story of 3 different ammunition workshop tragedies which killed about 150, some as young as 10 years old, and many burned beyond possible identification.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As a future social studies teacher, I am always looking for books that are historically accurate, use primary sources and provide students with a look at an important event from a different perspective. This book meets all of the above. Here the author provides the reader with a look at some of the important roles women played during the Civil War that often put them in harm’s way as they worked long shifts in the arsenals that supplied each side with the necessary ammunition for war. The book looks at why women took on these dangerous jobs, what was involved in performing them and what happened when things went wrong, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. I will definitely be using this book when teaching any lessons about this time period in our nation’s history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I've been reading books about history and wars this late months. I honestly had no idea about the US Civil War before starting this book; I just knew it had been a war between two sides of the country. However, this book opened my eyes regarding this event in history. Tanya Anderson tells the story of three woman in the middle of the Civil War, describing the roles of woman in the war and the way the battles, soldiers, slavery, politics, discrimination, and others worked during that time. Her writing makes the pages fly easily, and the information in the pages is described in a way that doesn't make you want to "run away", but want to investigate and know more.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I received a free advanced copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway in exchange for an honest review.Very interesting story about three tragedies that took place at three different arsenals where women were making ammunition for the men fighting in the Civil War. There seems to be so much written on the Civil War with regards to battles, soldiers, slavery, politics, etc. that it’s fascinating to read about the lives of everyday women who left the home and went to work to help support their families. It’s a fairly quick read, but packed full of information and a well written narrative that keeps you interested in the events leading up to and following these tragic munitions explosions. I only wish the author was able to write more about the lives of these women and their roles in supporting the war effort. This is a great supplemental book to a unit on the Civil War or a jumping off point for a research project on the role of women in the war.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Author Tanya Anderson scoured primary sources to research the history of girls and women who worked in the ammunition factories during the American Civil War. Child labor, strict production rates, and other unsafe working conditions lead to the three tragic explosions in Pennsylvania, Virgina, and Washington, D.C. Anderson recounts the need for ammunition, wages, and other factors that result in loss of life and property. Photos, background information, endnotes, and a bibliography round out this historical book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.I have read numerous books on the Civil War, but I was completely ignorant of the three tragedies related in this nonfiction book: the young women, mostly immigrants, who assembled ammunition and were killed in accidental explosions on both the Union and Confederate sides of the war. These work place disasters took place decades before the Triangle Shirt Company Fire revolutionized work place safety. These were women tightly packed in rooms--and adorned in hoop skirts--who sat still for hours at a time as they packed cartridges. In only one of the cases was a woman the cause of the disaster; the other two were caused by the actions of men outside of the building. While investigations were made and some new safety standards were instituted, no one was held accountable, and the families (who in some causes lost multiple members) were not compensated for their losses.It's a short, educational, and heartbreaking book. Anderson's writing is excellent. Illustrations and photographs throughout greatly illuminate the text; for example, they show how the ammunition was assembled and how the buildings were arranged. The target audience for the book is YA, and I think this would be a very eye-opening book for teenagers and adults when it comes to 19th century labor practices and the desperation of the times. Kudos to the author for exploring this topic and paying tribute to these women who were lost and forgotten.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love reading about the strong women, The girls in the books worked hard during the war and sometimes are forgotten in our history books. The book shows the compassion the women for the family, country and each other.