Winner of Skipping Stones Magazine's 2018 Honor Award for Multicultural Teen Books

As the Civil War rages, Thomas longs to fight for his country. He's underage, but his brother, Robert, claims there's another reason he can't fight: there are no Chinese Yankees. When Thomas is assumed to be a slave because of his appearance, he's determined to find a way to fight for the Union cause. Thomas finds that wearing the same uniform-even battling against the Rebels with his regiment-isn't enough to shed the Chinese label from his Yankee status. His traditional Chinese queue ( long braid) is often the target of the boys' attacks. But when Thomas befriends a runaway slave and the war moves toward a pivotal moment in Gettysburg, he begins to understand the true meaning of freedom in America. Freedom for Me is a historical middle grade novel based on the life of a real Chinese Yankee, one of only a handful of Chinese soldiers who served in the American Civil War.