Leigh Ann Conners was eleven years old in the spring of 1861, when the Civil War began. Living in Georgia where her family operated a cotton mill, Leigh Ann had an unusual family life. Her father was unwell and her mother had left the family, leaving her to mainly be raised by her older brothers. This led to the headstrong young girl often having conflicts with her strict older brothers. The war changes everything, however, as over the next three years Leigh Ann must cope with her brothers fighting in a war that is increasingly creeping closer to home.

Three years later, in 1864, the Union Army led by General Sherman arrives in Georgia. Because the family uses the mill to produce cloth for the Confederate army, they are considered enemies of the Union. Leigh Ann's attempts to help only cause further disaster. The mill is burned, and Leigh Ann, her sister, and the other female mill workers are captured and sent north. Because the family uses the mill to produce cloth for the Confederate army, they are considered enemies by the Union army when it arrives in Georgia in 1864. Leigh Ann's attempts to help only cause further disaster. The mill is burned, and Leigh Ann, her sister, and the other female mill workers are captured and sent north. These events force Leigh Ann to grow up and mature as she faces danger and hardship.

Leigh Ann’s Civil War was overall an enjoyable historical fiction read. Ann Rinaldi, as she always does in her historical novels, has taken an event from history and brought it to life. The novel is based on the true story of the female mill workers captured by the Union army, a little-known event from the Civil War that I hadn't known about before reading this book. There were a couple of things I found a bit problematic, however - Leigh Ann’s dysfunctional family history was a bit of a distraction at time from the main story of her experiences during the war, and there were some magical elements thrown in that didn’t really make a lot of sense. While it was not my favorite book by Ann Rinaldi, I would still recommend Leigh Ann’s Civil War to young adult readers who enjoyed other books by Ann Rinaldi or who like historical fiction set during the Civil War. ( )

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Ann Rinaldi has added to her amazing collection of historical fiction. LEIGH ANN'S CIVIL WAR focuses on a family in the Confederate South battling not only the nation's Civil War, but also their own family's inner problems.

Leigh Ann has been raised by her two older brothers since she was about four years old. Their mother, who claims she was never meant to be a mother, took off, leaving the children with her husband. At first he was busy running the family-owned textile mill, but then he fell ill and the responsibilities of the mill and running the family went to his sons, Teddy and Louis.

Now that the war has begun, responsibility has increased yet again. The two brothers head off to battle, but soon return when one is injured and the other is needed to keep the family business from falling into northern hands.

Being the youngest, Leigh Ann has escaped a lot of the family tension, but as the Yankees get closer and closer to their plantation, family turmoil escalates. With her father now unable to take care of even his own personal needs, papers have been filed declaring her oldest brother, Teddy, to be her legal guardian. However, her mother sees it as an opportunity to step back into the family to lay claim to whatever she can.

With the Civil War as the backdrop for the story, readers are able to watch history unfold as well as what happens within Leigh Ann's family. An older sister is secretly married while visiting her soldier boyfriend, and she returns pregnant. Tension increases in older brother Teddy's marriage as he spends more and more time keeping the mill running. Despite a crippling war injury, Louis is elected mayor and takes on the responsibility of running the town. All the while, Leigh Ann tries to behave as a good southern girl should, but her desire to help her family often causes her to step beyond the boundaries set by her brothers.

In this new release Ann Rinaldi highlights the South's struggle to hang on to their way of life as war crept closer and after the Yankees took control. She artfully reveals this one family and its efforts to survive and protect their own during dangerous times. ( )