From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up?During the summer of 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown covertly gathers his forces to attack the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. His 15-year-old daughter, Annie, is summoned to help keep house and to watch for intruders. She thrills at the chance to become important in the eyes of her distant, Scripture-quoting, dictatorial father. Through the lens of Annie's vision, Rinaldi constructs a believable Brown, one whom Annie alternatively loves, fears, and resents. Readers are given glimpses into the charismatic yet enigmatic leader who could speak of being led by God while at the same time encouraging all sorts of deceit to keep his plans secret, a contradiction that angers his daughter. Annie is also troubled by the strain in her relationship with the young man she plans to marry, who is one of her father's volunteers. In the end, she is devastated by the folly of the attack, the death of her intended, and her father's seeming inability to forgive her for her inadvertent role in the accidental death of a younger sister. This book is written as if it were Annie's journal, her attempt to come to terms with all that has happened and all that she has lost. It is a poignant and deeply moving tale based on extensive research into the life of the real Annie Brown. But Mine Eyes Have Seen is more than just Annie's story. It is also John Brown's. This dual focus, set against the backdrop of the sweeping social and political upheaval of the times, gives readers a broader vision of the period than Rinaldi did in The Second Bend in the River (Scholastic, 1997). An author's note and a bibliography complete the book.?Peggy Morgan, The Library Network, Southgate,
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 8^-12. Rinaldi begins with an actual person, John Brown's daughter, Annie, and weaves fact and fiction into an involving story. The book opens in the Alcott house in Massachusetts where Louisa May encourages Annie to write down the thoughts that trouble her, but the focus shifts immediately to Annie's account of the summer of 1859, which she spent watching for strangers and doing housework in the little house near Harper's Ferry that served as her father's secret headquarters. Annie emerges as a complicated and sympathetic figure, but her position on the periphery of the action makes the book's focus seem slightly off center. Still, hers is an intriguing point of view, and readers will find this a detailed, informative account of what may have happened at Harper's Ferry. Rinaldi's appended author's note helps separate fact from fiction. A good, solid choice for fans of Rinaldi's historical fiction.
Carolyn Phelan
