James Lincoln Collier was born in 1928. Certainly, many authors write into their 80s, but I'm impressed by someone writing in their 90s. Oddly, I couldn't find an obituary online, but the information below appeared on Edelweiss. James' brother and coauthor, Christoper, passed away in 2020.
James Lincoln Collier was the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of numerous books, including the Newbery Honor and National Book Award nominee My Brother Sam Is Dead, written with his brother, Christopher Collier. Together the brothers coauthored many historical fiction novels for young readers, including The Bloody Country, The Winter Hero, Jump Ship to Freedom, War Comes to Willy Freeman, and With Every Drop of Blood, and they also cowrote dozens of nonfiction books. Before his death in 2024, James wrote more than thirty books for young people over the course of nearly sixty years, ranging from humorous novels to historical fiction and nonfiction to book about music and musicians. James was the father of two grown children and the grandfather of four. He and his wife lived in New York City and had a country home in Pawling, New York.
April 21, 2026 by Scholastic Press
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
After the death of his brother Sam at the hands of the Redcoats during the Revolutionary War, Timmy Meeker and his mother are struggling to run their tavern in Connecticut. Since his father, who fought for the British, was also killed, times are tough. Occasionally, Timmy has to travel to other towns to get supplies, but since the war is going on, this is often a treacherous undertaking. When he goes to White Plains, the British take his horse and wagon, but he manages to get them back in the night. In New York City, he meets Becky, who tells him that the two of them should just try to steal the supplies he needs instead of buying them. She steals a clock, and the two of them pawn it for fifteen shillings, and Becky decides to leave her life of crime and go back to Connecticut with Timmy. She helps out at the tavern until soldiers abduct her so she can cook for them. Timmy manages to save her, but on the way back home, the two meet a drifter named Chauncy. He comes home with them and tries to make the mother sign a paper giving him half of the tavern in exchange for his help in refurbishing the place. The mother has none of this. Chauncy then pockets much of the silverware and takes off. Timmy and Becky follow him and watch as he tries to sell it to the British. Of course, the officer just takes the silverware. Timmy and Becky try to get it back from the Redcoats while they are sleeping. Even though Chauncy continues to claim the silverware is his by rights, he moves in to the tavern, where he doesn't do much work. At some point, the Redcoats take him, but Becky maintains it is important to save him. While Timmy has thought a lot about getting revenge for Sam's death, he can't manage to figure out whether he would get revenge on the British or the Americans, and in the end decides that none of it matters because his brother Sam is dead.
Strengths: It's been a long time since I read My Brother Sam is Dead, which was published in 1974. This picks up in a way that is easy enough to follow, and there are good details about daily life and interactions with both sides of the military. Timmy is conflicted; he hates the war, and feels he should get revenge on someone for his brother's death, but never can figure out which sides he hates more. There are some notes at the end of the book with key dates of the war, as well as discussion questions.
Weaknesses: There is very little plot to the story; it's more anecdotal, and the anecdotes are all very similar, where bad things happen to Timmy. The idea of Timmy wanting revenge is intriguing, but doesn't really go anywhere, and there is no character development. The writing is choppy and oddly stilted.
What I really think: While I love the idea of Collier writing a book in his 90s, it's not very good. I would love to know more about the process of this. Did Collier have fifty years old notes? Had his brother been involved in this? How did it come to the attention of the publisher. While I need more Revolutionary War books for my collection, and a 144 page book would be great, this just wasn't a solid enough title for me to purchase, even though I feel a little bad about not giving this a glowing review, since Collier has died.
Weaknesses: There is very little plot to the story; it's more anecdotal, and the anecdotes are all very similar, where bad things happen to Timmy. The idea of Timmy wanting revenge is intriguing, but doesn't really go anywhere, and there is no character development. The writing is choppy and oddly stilted.
What I really think: While I love the idea of Collier writing a book in his 90s, it's not very good. I would love to know more about the process of this. Did Collier have fifty years old notes? Had his brother been involved in this? How did it come to the attention of the publisher. While I need more Revolutionary War books for my collection, and a 144 page book would be great, this just wasn't a solid enough title for me to purchase, even though I feel a little bad about not giving this a glowing review, since Collier has died.