Iron Thunder
Iron Thunder (I Witness)
Iron Thunder
C. B. Mordan, Avi
When his father is killed fighting for the Union in the War Between the States, thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll must take a job to help support his family. He manages to find work at a bustling ironworks in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, where dozens of men are frantically pounding together the strangest ship Tom has ever seen.  A ship made of iron. Tom becomes assistant to the ship’s inventor, a gruff, boastful man named Captain John Ericsson. He soon learns that the Union army has very important plans for this iron ship called the Monitor. It is supposed to fight the Confederate “sea monster”--another ironclad--the Merrimac. But Ericsson is practically the only person who believes the Monitor will float. Everyone else calls it “Ericsson’s Folly” or “the iron coffin.” Meanwhile, Tom’s position as Ericsson’s assistant has made him a target of Confederate spies, who offer him money for information about the ship. Tom finds himself caught between two certain dangers: an encounter with murderous spies and a battle at sea in an iron coffin …    

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Historical Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
Profile Picture

Iron Thunder by Avi is an outstanding book about a thirteen year old boy, named Tom Carroll. In this story his father died fighting in the Civil War, so Tom has to work in order to take care of his mom and little sister. He finds a job building The Monitor, a unique ship made of metal. This ship is supposed to help the Union win the war, but in order to do that they need it to remain a secret.

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