With Every Drop of Blood: A Novel of the Civil Way, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, ISBN # 0-440-21983-3

This book gives a realistic portrayal of the Civil War, with authentic battle scenes. There are two protagonists, a Confederate fourteen-year-old, who serves as the narrator and an African American Union teenage soldier who becomes his captor. Race issues are dealt with in an optimistic but still realistic manner. This would be a great book to supplement eighth grade social studies curriculum.