Iron thunder : the battle between the Monitor & the Merrimac : a Civil War novel

Review

Tom lives in a Brooklyn tenement during the Civil War. He helps his family by selling newspapers until he is offered a job working on the top secret ship, the Monitor, that the Union army hopes will help win the war. Captain Ericsson is a genius inventor who is building the ship. The Monitor is made out of iron and most ships are made out of wood, so everyone thinks he is crazy and that the ship will sink. Confederate spies want more information and start following Tom! Instead of sinking, the Monitor goes on to fight in a very important Civil War battle against the Confederates. This exciting historical novel follows the true events and inventions aboard the Monitor.