The 100th anniversary of World War I has had a powerful effect on all ages, and this deceptively simple rhyming story is a perfect way to introduce children to the history of the trenches.
The poem begins with two little boys, Ben and Ray, playing innocently in poppy-strewn fields and follows them as they join up together as soldiers and are sent to the Front.
Ben is injured and left for dead until Ray risks his life to save him. Using repetition to build the tension and growing horror, the words and pictures convey the youthful sacrifices without being too distressing. Both Robinson and Impey had great-uncles killed on the Somme, one aged 22, one just 19, and the book is dedicated to their memories.
This non-fiction account of The Great War has been produced in association with The Imperial War Museums and is packed with information presented in an accessible and striking format.
Beginning with the political and expansionist ambitions that led to the conflict, the book looks at the first use of tanks and chemical warfare, and how the famous battles were fought on land, sea and in the air.
But it also reaches beyond the familiar trench warfare in France and Belgium and reminds us of the Gallipoli campaign, the conflict in Africa, Italy and the Middle East and the role played by women at home and in the military. Using archive photographs and clearly illustrated maps, this is an excellent and balanced overview of the causes and consequences of the war to end all wars.
Each of the 11 stories in this collection is inspired by an object from World War I and is written by a talented contemporary author — the list includes John Boyne, Tracy Chevalier, David Almond, Marcus Sedgwick and Michael Morpurgo.
Adele Geras uses a wartime butter dish bearing a message from David Lloyd George as the springboard for her story about a wartime pregnancy and a sisterly conspiracy, and David Almond describes how a town fractured by violent rival families is eventually healed by the gift of a wartime pencil case that belonged to a soldier who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Thought-provoking and surprising, each imaginative account is enhanced by the dramatic and stunning black-and-white illustrations from award-winning artist Jim Kay.