NEWS
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September 2024
The Soldier’s Friend
Walt Whitman’s Extraordinary Service in the American Civil War
Calkins Creek/Astra
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Kirkus Best Book 2024
Shelf Awareness Best Book 2024
Kansas NEA Reading Circle
"In Golio’s thoughtful and tender presentation, Whitman is the consummate friend. Lewis’ richly textured watercolor paintings...convey the heart of this beautiful story."
Kirkus, *starred review*
"This moving picture book biography from Golio and Lewis explores the work that poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) took on during the U.S. Civil War. ...Graceful, light-filled watercolor spreads depict hazily chaotic battles, city scenes, and Whitman’s face and faraway eyes as he wrestles with the pain he encounters."
Publishers Weekly, *starred review*
"In describing how Whitman devotedly gave aid and comfort to thousands of wounded Civil War soldiers as a volunteer nurse, Golio pays tribute to a great soul who matched deep wells of compassion with equally profound love for both his country and its people."
Booklist
"Appropriately placed excerpts from Whitman's poetry, and a letter to his mother, underscore the deep connections between his words and his deeds. ...An author’s note providing more details about Whitman and a bibliography conclude this fine book."
The Horn Book
In December of 1862, Walt Whitman left Brooklyn, New York, for the war-torn South after seeing his brother’s name
on a list of wounded Union soldiers. What he found on the battlefields completely changed his life, as he came
face to face with not only the wounded, but the dying. Whitman spent the next three years working part-time in
Washington, DC, visiting and ministering to soldiers in the city’s many military hospitals. Caring for the sick and dying was not easy, but Whitman was committed to his chosen service. He became known as “the soldiers’ friend,” and was bound—in his own way—to save and heal the America he wrote about and loved so deeply.
Walt Whitman is celebrated as an iconic American poet, but few know of the crucial and heroic role he played
tending to the wounded and dying in Civil War hospitals. The Soldier's Friend - Walt Whitman's Extraordinary Service
in the American Civil War (Calkins Creek/Astra) highlights Whitman’s compassion and offers a memorable example
of empathy, making this a perfect social-emotional learning title for young readers.
New York Times-bestselling author Gary Golio and Caldecott Honor artist E. B. Lewis bring Whitman’s story and his passion for America to life, complete with quotes from Whitman’s works, and extensive backmatter, which includes
a bibliography and photographs.
