Taken By the Enemy

Blue and the Gray Afloat #1

by Oliver Optic

Oliver Optic wrote some 125 books and more than a thousand stories for children during the last half of tthe 19th sentury. Among the best is the Blue and Gray Series.Taken By The Enemy is the first book in the series and introduces the characters and events that figure in subsequent books, giving chlidren a personal as well as historical picture of the Civil War that will broaden their horizons with every fresh page.

Genres: Civil War

351 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1883

About the author

Oliver Optic was the pen name of William Taylor Adams, a Massachusetts schoolteacher whose magazines and stories for children reached a very wide audience from the 1850s through the turn of the twentieth century.

Reviews

[Sarah]

Very seriotypical. Sevreal racial slers are used against people of color, which while correct for the time were bothersome. Also, everyone form the north was good, smart, and noble while those from the south were liers, cheats, scoudrals. The plot was somewhat interesting, but not enough to make up for the seriotypes.

[Rachel]

A lively story based at the very start of America's great Civil War. I absolutely loved the nautical twist this book gave to a popular period in our nation's history. Oliver Optic's writings remind me greatly of the beloved G.A. Henty stories, as they are styled very similarily, so if you enjoy those you are sure to love this book.

The book begins with father and son steaming to the south to “rescue” a daughter/sister from her uncle's house where she has been staying, but this bodes as a dangerous mission as blockades are beginning to be set up and the entire nation has declared war between the brothers of the North and the South alike. The tale follows their mission, their rescue, and their escapades as they try to leave what has fast become enemy terittory.

Well described, and written with detailed nautical terms and manuevers. I would not say it's the best nor the most detailed book based on the actual war and it's politics, but perhaps one of the best from a sea-faring stance that I have yet to read, and certainly an exciting, fun plot and ship-full of characters!

[Rick]

Written a mere 25 years after the end of the Civil War, I was interested in this series for it's historical perspective. His voice is quite dated compared to contemporary YA fiction. On one hand, I did enjoy some aspects of this book. On the other hand, I didn't enjoy them enough to want to continue reading the series.