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Trailblazer Books (Chronological) #15
The Drummer Boy's Battle: Florence Nightingale
Trying to provide for his family after his father dies, Robbie Robinson is thrust into the Crimean War as a drummer boy. Ages 8-12.
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1997
About the author
Dave Jackson
245 books76 followersDave and Neta Jackson are a full-time husband/wife writing team who have authored and co-authored many books on marriage and family, the church, relationships, and other subjects. Their books for children include the TRAILBLAZER series and Hero Tales, volumes I,II, III, and IV. The Jacksons make their home in Evanston, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 23, 2026
Number of pages: 146
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Trailblazers (all books are unrelated missionary stories)
Age recommendation: 8-14ish
Summary: When their father dies, Robbie and his brother join the army to help support their family. When Robbie is injured in battle, he ends up at a hospital where Florence Nightingale and her female nurses are trying to improve the hospital conditions for injured soldiers. Robbie becomes Florence’s right hand man.
My thoughts: I love this book. I really enjoyed seeing how Florence Nightingale took it upon herself to improve conditions in the hospitals (if they could even be called such). Good nutrition, a clean environment and drinking water are essential in recovery, not secondary issues that can be dealt with later.
I liked seeing the story from the perspective of a kid too. It was more interesting to see how an outsider (and a young kid at that) saw the situation, rather than seeing it through Florence’s frustration.
It kind of shocked me that hundreds of years ago, 12-year-old boys could be sent to war as drummer boys. I can’t imagine asking that of a kid!
I loved the story. I thought it was so interesting to see Florence Nightingale work and the benefit of the reforms she made through the eyes of a young drummer boy in the army. I was very impressed by her strength and dedication to improving the lives of injured soldiers and others in hospitals looking for treatment.
By way of Christian content, while I don’t want to say it was completely lacking, I honestly can’t really think of anything right now. There may be some prayers, or mentions of turning to God for help, but for the most part I’d say it was pretty minimal on the Christian side.
I like how Robbie kind of just adopts different people into his family. He’s so kind-hearted and I just love his character, as well as his friends.
Overall, this was another great book from Dave and Neta Jackson’s trailblazer series.
My personal rating: 4/5 stars.
Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Trailblazers (all books are unrelated missionary stories)
Age recommendation: 8-14ish
Summary: When their father dies, Robbie and his brother join the army to help support their family. When Robbie is injured in battle, he ends up at a hospital where Florence Nightingale and her female nurses are trying to improve the hospital conditions for injured soldiers. Robbie becomes Florence’s right hand man.
My thoughts: I love this book. I really enjoyed seeing how Florence Nightingale took it upon herself to improve conditions in the hospitals (if they could even be called such). Good nutrition, a clean environment and drinking water are essential in recovery, not secondary issues that can be dealt with later.
I liked seeing the story from the perspective of a kid too. It was more interesting to see how an outsider (and a young kid at that) saw the situation, rather than seeing it through Florence’s frustration.
It kind of shocked me that hundreds of years ago, 12-year-old boys could be sent to war as drummer boys. I can’t imagine asking that of a kid!
I loved the story. I thought it was so interesting to see Florence Nightingale work and the benefit of the reforms she made through the eyes of a young drummer boy in the army. I was very impressed by her strength and dedication to improving the lives of injured soldiers and others in hospitals looking for treatment.
By way of Christian content, while I don’t want to say it was completely lacking, I honestly can’t really think of anything right now. There may be some prayers, or mentions of turning to God for help, but for the most part I’d say it was pretty minimal on the Christian side.
I like how Robbie kind of just adopts different people into his family. He’s so kind-hearted and I just love his character, as well as his friends.
Overall, this was another great book from Dave and Neta Jackson’s trailblazer series.
My personal rating: 4/5 stars.
Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...
May 3, 2025
An historical fiction of Florence Nightingale during the Crimean war. It gives good insight into aspects of her work, but there is a troubling anti-marriage message as Nightingale religiously guilt trips nurses that express a desire to marry soldiers that they fell in love with while nursing them back to health. I’m not sure if this is historically accurate to Nightingale or just something from the authors, but like many missionary books, it runs a risk of presenting an over emphasis on “good works”.
⚠️Parental Warning ⚠️
“Hellhole of a hospital”
A man used to think “of nurses as ‘loose women’”.
⚠️Parental Warning ⚠️
“Hellhole of a hospital”
A man used to think “of nurses as ‘loose women’”.
May 20, 2020
Read this book for school, and enjoyed it a lot!
June 24, 2025
Fantastic story for our entire family of 5, ages 8-43! Loved this story.
September 3, 2015
I know that this was for eight to twelve year olds and was a christian
group of books but as people in my family joined the army at young ages I wanted to find out about drummer boys. Of course some important parts of the story were left out and the story was actually about Florence Nightingale rather than Robbie Robertson, so I was somewhat disappointed there and I'm not sure he would have gotten out of the army so easily after the war had ended.
group of books but as people in my family joined the army at young ages I wanted to find out about drummer boys. Of course some important parts of the story were left out and the story was actually about Florence Nightingale rather than Robbie Robertson, so I was somewhat disappointed there and I'm not sure he would have gotten out of the army so easily after the war had ended.
July 29, 2015
See the first book in the series (Spy for the Night Riders) for a full review.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews