Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero

Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero

http://store.johnhendrix.com/product/nurse-soldier-spy-the-story-of-sarah-edmonds

While women were not permitted to serve in the military until 1901 in the Army Nurse Corp and 1908 in the Navy Nurse Corp1, that didn't stop Sarah Edmonds and many others from crashing through that glass ceiling in disguise.  The first book I read along similar lines was Pam Munoz Ryan's Riding Freedom.

http://www.pammunozryan.com/riding-freedom/

Even dressed as a man, there were many assumptions made about Sarah/Frank.  That she was too young to sign up to be a soldier.  You know, since she hadn't yet grown facial hair.  Frank trained as a soldier, nurse, and then finally worked as a spy, dressing as a freed slave.  In the Author's Note, it also mentioned that one of her disguises over time was that of an old Irish woman, perhaps the most ironic of her disguises.  Overall, the story is intriguing as a stand alone, but I find the author's note to leave me wanting to read more about Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye and the work she did both during and following the war for veterans and African Americans.  The mere fact that her memoir and story were published in her lifetime (and became a bestseller) and that her work as a soldier was eventually recognized are most telling that bravery and bending gender roles and expectations are nothing new.

http://marissamoss.com/ 
http://johnhendrix.com/portfolio/

Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero
Author: Marissa Moss
Illustrator: John Hendrix
ISBN:978-0-8109-9735-6
Published 2011 by Abrams Books for Young Readers (oops!  This was on the "New" shelf at my library but it's not so new.  I loved it, so I'm still going to review it a smidgen late)
To review, I borrowed this copy from the public library.  And since it's from 2011, there is little chance that I'll be having a review copy sent!

1 http://www.womensmemorial.org/H&C/Resources/hfaq.html