Title: The War Within	Author: Carol Matas
Genre: Historical Fiction	Suitable Age Category: 10+
Publisher: Scholastic	Number of Pages: 140
Summary: This book is about the Green family who own a general store in a small Southern town in the state of Mississippi during the American Civil war. The Union army (from the North) under the command of General Grant  has taken over the town and has ordered that all Jews leave and the Greens are Jewish. The Greens go to Memphis, Tennessee. where Hannah, the daughter discovers for the first time discrimination because they are Jewish.  This makes her very sad and she begins to fight another war, a war against prejudice. Will she succeed or fail?
Rating: I thought this book was very good because the author makes the reader live all the things that were happening during that time in history. She tells a good story, and writes about religious discrimination and not about prejudice because of the colour of one's skin. It is a very serious book.  I would definitely give it a ranking of 4 stars. My favourite part of the story was when the private (a ranking in the army) fell down and the captain (another ranking in the army) tried not to laugh. I didn't like the part when the girls were learning to dance. I think that part could change. Back to History

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