Jeremy's War 1812

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

For most of his life, Jeremy Fields had rarely been further from home
than the edge of the muddy road called Yonge Street that ran in front of
his mother’s tiny farm. Then his mother died and Jeremy was cheated
out of his inheritance and forced off his land by his own uncle. Now, at
age 15, Jeremy is standing in a foreign country called the United States
of America. He is wearing the red coat of a private of the 41st Regiment
in the British Army and wondering when those men in blue coats in front
of him are going to fire the huge cannons they are pointing at him.
Jeremy can see hundreds of well-armed Native warriors in their colorful
war paint. The teen can also see General Brock, the British commander
who seems determined to die and take all his red-coated soldiers with
him. Jeremy knows he is about to see his first real battle and, by the
looks of things, it will likely be his last.

When this book was first published in 1991, it sold thousands of
copies, and it is not hard to see why. Author John Ibbitson has a
marvelous talent for transforming dry historical detail into a
first-rate adventure story. Young readers will easily identify with
Jeremy’s escapades. The humorous scene in which General Brock teaches
Jeremy how to make a beef sandwich is a classic. Highly recommended.