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The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

Rodman Philbrick

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Feb 16, 2022 Linda Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel, adventure, ya, newbery-honor-books, fiction, war, geo-new-york, geo-pennsylvania, families, historical-fiction

I think the author started out with an absurd kind of humor but it got very serious in the last chapters on the Gettysburg battle field. I would not give this book to a middle grader - I think it is more appropriate for a teenager because of the battle scenes. I found it easy to read - it did keep my interest. [This is not a spoiler because the information about Gettysburg is mentioned on the cover of the book.]

I read it because I'm on a quest to read all the Newbery list books. This is a Newber I think the author started out with an absurd kind of humor but it got very serious in the last chapters on the Gettysburg battle field. I would not give this book to a middle grader - I think it is more appropriate for a teenager because of the battle scenes. I found it easy to read - it did keep my interest. [This is not a spoiler because the information about Gettysburg is mentioned on the cover of the book.]

I read it because I'm on a quest to read all the Newbery list books. This is a Newbery Honor Book from 2010. It was a lot better than some of the other Newbery books I've read recently, however I think it would be appreciated more by a teenage boy... maybe one who would like to know what happens when a teenager is sold into the Union army and forced to fight even though underage.

The main character, Homer, is looking for his older brother, Howard. Their unfriendly uncle (by marriage) had custody of them and decided to sell Howard because he was angry. This made Homer run away to try to save his brother from becoming a Civil War casualty.

The book came to me at a time when I've been researching my family tree. I've found several ancestors who died during the Civil War, so maybe the battle scenes affected me more than others. It is strange - I never knew these ancestors but I grieve for them anyhow. One had an older brother killed in the Battle of Walker Creek which was the second battle of the war, in Missouri. He was a Confederate. Another on the other side of my family was in the Union army, killed in Virginia in the Battle of the Wilderness. I have found books detailing the history of each of these battles, and have considered reading them... but just this book (Homer P. Figg) is scary enough! And it is fiction with a dose of humorous situations and a boy who is an excellent and impressive liar.

Okay, enough said. It was an interesting story, and even included a Quaker, escaped slaves, and more you might expect to find in the world during the Civil War years. Very interesting indeed. ...more

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