SuitabookMarch Toward the Thunder
Joseph Bruchac
- Reading
- Read in manageable stretches, pausing after battle scenes to check in. You could also keep a note of how Louis’s perspective on leadership and the people he meets develops.
- Themes
- Prejudice and acceptance: Louis, an Abenaki teenager from Canada serving in the Irish Brigade, encounters both prejudice and acceptance. These contrasting experiences place questions of belonging and treatment within the wartime story.
- Leadership and character: During repeated battles, Louis encounters strong and weak leadership, as well as courage and cowardice in unexpected places. The story brings different examples of conduct and leadership into Louis’s wartime experience.
- Historical storytelling: The novel draws on the author’s great-grandfather’s experiences and includes historical facts and details within Louis’s Civil War story. Historical detail and a family connection are woven into a fictional account of a young soldier’s experience.
- Worth knowing
- Battle after battle is part of Louis’s experience, so warfare and its dangers are central rather than incidental. Consider whether you would prefer to read alongside him or pause to talk about what happens.