EMMA GRAHAM, a 12-year-old girl, who vowed to be her father's brave Confederate when he marched off to war. She turns to smuggling, spying, and stealing in her attempts to make sure the South will not face defeat.

MICAH GRAHAM, Emma's 5-year-old brother, who defends his family with a slingshot and hickory nuts.

JINNY, the free black woman, who works for the Grahams and loves Emma and Micah as though they are her own children.

SIMON BATTLE, the slave caretaker of the State Capitol building, whose tragic past is soon to resurface.

LIEUTENANT GEORGE CARR ROUND, Sherman's signal messenger, who befriends the Graham family and challenges Emma's belief that all Yankees are marauding demons.

On April 26, 1865, join these characters, the citizens of Raleigh, NC, and the occupying Union soldiers as they watch the heavens above the city to receive the last signal message of the Civil War. What will the colorful exploding rockets announce? 

     CANDY DAHL, the author of EMMA AND THE CIVIL WARRIOR, grew up in Burlington, North Carolina. She graduated from UNC-Greensboro with a degree in English. After teaching high school English and living for a year in Bristol, England, she returned to UNC-Chapel Hill and received her Masters in Library Science degree. For the next six years she worked as a reference and circulation librarian in various university and community college settings in Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina.

     In 1985 Ms. Dahl completed the Writing for Children and Teenagers Course of the Institute of Children's Literature in Connecticut. Since that time, she has immersed herself in the field of children's literature by reading, writing, attending numerous conferences and workshops, and serving as a Steering Committee member for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators--Carolinas. She has volunteered in elementary schools since 1989 as a librarian, storyteller, and writer-in-residence. 

     Candy currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, David, and their children, Matthew and Emily. EMMA AND THE CIVIL WARRIOR is her first book.