Hattie’s War

Gr 4-6–Serko’s debut tells the story of the author’s ancestor, a woman who had to find her way in the wake of the Civil War. Hattie Howell is a 13-year-old struggling under the weight of a family inheritance—the same anxiety and depression that hurt her mother and siblings in the years after her father died in service to the Union army. Seeking answers to her “melancholy,” Hattie begins to investigate the circumstances of her father’s death. She solicits information from family members and military colleagues, all the while drawing pictures of the world as she encounters it. This book emerged from stories told in Serko’s own family. It includes an appendix with historical documents, photographs, and explanations to contextualize the things that Hattie encounters, from addiction to psychiatric hospitals. Although this book clearly arose from thoughtful research, the language and reasoning of the characters skews toward a presentist perspective. Some of the citations provided in the appendix section also lack heft, such as the reference to a Wikipedia article summarizing the war time line. Nevertheless, this book should entice readers to further explore the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction.