Bravery, war, shortages, death, slavery and a fight for freedom. Carolyn Reeder’s Across the Lines addresses all these topics and many more through a touching, historical fiction story. Although the story gets a bit slow in the middle, Across the Lines tells a great tale, while informing you about the civil war and giving you fascinating insights by divulging a story that focuses on two main characters, an escaped slave and his master.
This book, Across the Lines starts out on a plantation where two young boys play, one a slave, Simon and the other his master, Edward. As they play, huge Union ships, that “must be the whole Yankee fleet” (pg. 1), come to conquer their land and set up a Northern war base. Edward and his family are forced to flee to Petersburg to live with their aunt and in the rush Simon is able to escape to the freedom he has longed for all his life. Soon Simon discovers that being free is not easy. He goes to help the Union army, only to discover that just because he is free does not mean that he will get respect. While in Petersburg, Edward feels how hard it is to have loved ones fighting in the war, especially when they’re side, the south, is losing. As the book goes on, both boys really feel the harsh realities of war. Whether they face shortages, death or even having no place to turn, Simon and Edward learn that living through a war, no matter what side you’re on, is difficult and painful. “Numbly, Edward watched her collapse onto the bottom step sobbing. He stood there helplessly, wondering what he should do, until to his great relief Mary Beth ran down the stairs, eyes red and hair disheveled, drew the little girl into her arms.” (pg. 144)
Personally, I really liked Across the Lines and loved that I got to see how both the North and the South were affected by the war. The only part I was not a fan of was the middle of the book. It was a little dull and nothing really happened of importance or of excitement. I really liked, though, how the book gave me a real inside look and helped me learn things I never thought of. Throughout the book, Simon’s story taught me a lot. I had always assumed that because they were fighting for the North, Union soldiers strongly wanted slaves to be free, but I learned that they did not care about the slaves at all and still treated them terribly. “He stomped his huge boot just in front of Simon’s bare toes. They boy sprang back, and with a roar of laughter, the soldier stomped at him again. “Dance, monkey, dance!” shouted men who had quickly gathered in a circle around him to watch.” (pgs. 100-101) The author, Carolyn Reeder was very descriptive and had a nice flow to her writing. Overall, I extremely enjoyed Across the Lines and would recommend it to anyone who finds the Civil War interesting or even just wants to read an excellent story.
Across the Lines gives you so much information about the Civil War, but intertwines it with a heartwarming story about two boys who have to discover the good in themselves and in others. Even though the story dragged in the middle, the book still left you feeling satisfied and moved. I think everyone would enjoy this wonderful book and be touched by its message that no matter that color of your skin everyone deserves respect and freedom. ( )

ACROSS THE LINES Book Review
Imagine your best friend stolen from you. Even worse, he was stolen by free will. This is what happened to Edward. Although the reason his best friend ran away was because he was also a slave. Edward had never realized this. But Simon, his best friend, did. He liked Edward, but he wanted freedom more.
Across the Lines is a great book by Carolyn Reeder. It is a historical fiction about two boys, Edward and Simon. Edward is the “master” of Simon his “slave”. This book is full of drama, suspense, surprises, and racism from both Confederates and the Union. For example: “‘Must be a sheep,’ the soldier said, rubbing his knuckles across Simon’s bare head…’Or maybe a monkey.’” (100)The book Across the Lines was good because of all the action and startling elements creating a realistic Civil War Era setting.
The setting begins on a plantation called “Riverview”. It then moves to a City called Petersburg. It takes place like I said in the Civil War Era. The story is told from a third person point of view, focusing on the boys, Edward and Simon. Edward is rather shy, lonely, and confused. He uses all his feelings in art. “Edward swallowed hard and gripped his sketch pad.” (10) Simon is independent and intolerant. He notices more racism after leaving slave hood. Other characters include a servant named Jocasta, Edward’s mother, Simon’s brother Ambrose, and Edward’s siblings and cousins. The mood is very gloomy and dismal, with loneliness playing a key role as well.
The story starts out on a plantation called “Riverview” in the midst of the Civil War. When forced out of their house by Union soldiers, everything starts to fall apart. As Simon stays with the union and Edward leaves tension and suspense rises. The Climax arrives when it becomes obvious that the confederates are losing the war. “…Yankees in pursuit… little hope for us in the west now… Confederates abandoning Savannah.” (152)The book ends with a chance encounter and I can’t say anymore without spoilers.
I think the author achieved this purpose if it was to paint a picture of the division the Civil War caused between people you might’ve known your entire life. The book shows the timeline throughout the book by telling you which day the events described occur on. One downside may be that everything seems to happen pretty slowly. I would recommend it if you were to have to pick it out of a group of books from the same genre. 6.5/10 stars.
Don’t get me wrong the book itself was written very well but it seemed to drag things out and not move very far. It did leave me feeling for the characters, but in a way I could walk away from it. In the end the book was a good junior high level read but lost entertainment a little. If you decide to read it remember anything can happen during war. ( )

“’WHAT DO YOU SEE MARSE EDWARD?’ HE ASKED. ‘YANKEE SHIPS AND A LOT OF THEM’.”

Across the Lines was written by Carolyn Reeder. The genre is historical fiction. Across the Lines was an interesting because it was adventurous.

The setting takes place in Riverview and in Petersburg. The book is told in the third person. The main characters are Simon, Edward, and Aunt Charlotte. There is a happy sad mood in the book.

The book is about when Simon runs away when the union army takes over Edwards’s house. Edward had to go his aunt’s house to stay because they took over his house. Simon runs away to the union army and he finds his long lost brother! He was so happy but then when the union army tries to take Petersburg Simons brother gets killed. At the end of the book Simon and Edward reunite.

This book was not the type of book I would like to read because it was too long and the vocabulary was difficult. One of the weaknesses of the book is that there was not enough action.

The book left me with some knowledge about the hardships of the Civil War. I would like to recommend this to a high-schooler because of the vocabulary. ( )

The book Across the Lines Really described how the war could affect slaves and normal people. Across the Lines was a good title for this book because two best friends were actually across the lines. The former slave was on the North because he escaped and got free but Edward a normal slave owner was his owner and he had a hard time understanding why he would want leave. This book was historical fiction and written by Carolyn Reeder.
Across the Lines setting was on both sides of the war north and south. The people who tell the story is a boy named Simon and a boy named Edward they both had different points of view between the wars and switched back and forth between the two characters. The mood is sad because a war is happening.
Across the Lines was very describing and detailed about how different type of people in the civil war reacted and what they did. The book showed how slaves and normal people would live during the war. Lots of slaves got free and they didn’t know what to do so they joined the Union army and fought. Younger ones who couldn’t fight helped around the camp like Simon in the book lots of slaves including Simon just worked for food and shelter. But on the other hand the normal people sometimes watched the war!

The author showed his purpose very well in the book. The writing is very good you can tell what the author is trying to tell you. I found this book very interesting. I recommend this book to others because it was very adventuress and tells how life was during the civil war. I would give this a 7 if I had to rank it out of 10.
The book really showed how life was during the war and was very good. I recommend this book for people who are interested to a book that is entertaining and shows different points of views between the north, south and slaves life.

Have you ever wondered what living in the Civil War would be like? Trust me it is no fun. How do I know this? Thanks to the book "Across the Lines". During the Civil War families had a very hard time surviving. The soldiers did to.
Lots of soldiers died because of harsh weather or starvation. People who were not even in the Civil War died because of food shortages and other things. Edward in "Across the Lines' had to hunt for food, he was told to kiss black birds because they were eating their garden because of their slave Jiscotta once the blackbirds were dead the slave Jiscotta took the meat from the blackbirds and made blackbird soup with some of the vegetables they had left. That dinner was conciterd one of their good dinners. Living in the Civil War was very hard.
In "Across the Lines" there was a big family and they had servants. The boy named Edward was best friends with his servant Simon. Right before the Civil War began Simon snuck away to be a free slave while Edward was trying to look for him because they were moving to his aunts to be "safe". Edwards father and uncle were in the war and then his brother wanted to join the war to serve his community and family. Edwards, his siblings, and cousins, only sall their dad and uncle a couple of times during the war. So Edward became the man of the house even though he was barley a teenager.
Later in the war Duncan got really sick and some of Simmons friends died. Edward had the resposbility to get medicine for his older brother that was sick, because his mom and his aunt were taking care of him. The hospital that Edwards mother told him to get it from didn't have any more. So Edward had to go to the union hospital to get some. and had to go into the Yankees territory that wasn't safe for him and he ran into a lot of trouble just trying to get the medicine. but along the way when he was at the hospital his uncle was there and get the medicine for him so he didn't get himself into more trouble.
Simon had it worse then when he was a slave. For one thing he had a hard time trying to find things to eat. Then when the war was getting closer to Simon, a guy he thought of as a father was almost killed in the war and that was all he had. he had to witness dead people and hear the screams of his "father" getting his leg amputated. He was also always moving around to find better places to stay and he finally found one where he belonged.
People in the war and people who were not in the war did not have it easy. At some points people just wanted to die because of starvation or because winter was there and it was cold. I know I wouldn't want to live in the war!!!!! Would you?!