Gr 4-7-Thirteen-year-old Tom lands a unique job working on the construction of the Union's first iron-plated ship in 1861 Brooklyn. After navigating the threats of Confederate spies and the sometimes-doubtful genius of the ship's inventor, the boy has suspenseful adventures that culminate with the intense experience of war underwater. Line drawings and historical images illustrate the era. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The Confederacy has built a monster ship to break the Union's blockade of the Atlantic coast, and 13-year-old Tom Carroll has a new job at Rowland's Continental Iron Works in Brooklyn helping to build its opponent. The Monitor, Captain John Ericsson's invention, is being called "Ericsson's Folly" and "the iron coffin," and Tom will sail with Ericsson and his crew into one of the greatest naval battles in history. Tom is the eyewitness in this entry in the I Witness series, so the volume is strong on firsthand observations and intelligent commentary, but short on historical background and context. Period illustrations, engravings, photographs and maps provide additional information. The bibliography is limited, but readers may find themselves so absorbed in Tom's exciting narrative that they will seek out for themselves other good works on the Civil War. (glossary, author's note) (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This fascinating adventure taken from U.S. history begins in Brooklyn in 1862, when Tom Carroll, 13, is hired at the Iron Works in Greenpoint for a secret project, derisively known around the borough as "Ericsson's Folly." John Ericsson, a Swedish inventor, is trying to build an ironclad ship that can battle the Merrimac, a Confederate ship being outfitted with metal plates in Virginia. Working to support his widowed mother and ailing sister, Tom becomes Ericsson's aide-de-camp. His insider status makes him a target of Secessionist spies, who offer gold coins in exchange for details about the ship; when Tom refuses, the bribes escalate to threats. Additionally, there's intense pressure to get the ship finished-Yankee spies report the Merrimac is almost done-and concerns persist about whether it will actually float. When the Monitor leaves port, Tom's aboard, safe from rebel spies, but nervous about heading into the war that has already claimed his father. The spectacular clash with the Merrimac caps this intense and action-packed account of a battle that changed the course of naval warfare. Illustrated with period engravings, this is gripping historical fiction from a keenly imagined perspective. An endnote detailing Avi's research at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., makes this a book that could launch a thousand field trips. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Decked out with the appurtenances of nonfiction maps, a resource list (leaning toward upper-level titles), and a generous array of contemporary prints for illustrations Avi's historical novel views the construction of the Monitor and the ensuing epochal battle with its Confederate rival through the eyes of an actual but fictionalized crew member. Narrating in a clipped style that speeds the tale along nicely, 13-year-old Tom describes meetings with the Monitor's inventor, John Ericsson, and other historical figures; run-ins with Copperhead spies; the dangerous sea voyage from New York to the Union blockade; the exciting climactic fight; and the brief, ill-fated later careers of both ironclads. More compelling (and better illustrated) than Maureen Stack Sappey's similar Dreams of Ships, Dreams of Julia (1998), this opener for the I Witness series won't draw readers who prefer their nonfiction straight up, but it will please fans of  My America titles and the like.--Peters, John Copyright 2007 Booklist