Children's war books

This is a terrific non-fiction book for children, containing information about New Zealand and Australian world war heroes and presented in an attractive reader-friendly format.

As well as biographies and illustrations of the selected soldiers (and a handful of significant females) there are "flash facts'', maps and timelines, and historical photos.

A vital classroom resource.

 

 

The Companion to Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story, this non-fiction title starts with the signing of the Armistice between the Allied forces and Germany in 1918, before looking at the immediate and longer-term aftermath of WW1.

It includes the soldiers' return home at the height of the flu epidemic, the creation of war cemeteries, and the formation of the United Nations.

It finishes nicely with information about peace celebrations and memorials and information about New Zealand's peacekeeping role.

 

 

A young boy called Carlos finds a dusty old box hidden in the attic.

Inside are letters and photos and a harmonica that belonged to his Uncle Jack, a fallen soldier, from an undisclosed war.

Carlos breathes new life into the harmonica, and finds, through the music, he can connect with the uncle he never knew.

This is a beautiful, simple and poignant story about loss, and the power of music, remembrance and family.

 

 

This is a lovely retelling of the true story of trailblazing New Zealand woman Gladys Sandford, who was a mechanic, WW1 ambulance driver and pilot.

When WW1 comes, Gladys wants to do more than stay at home and knit socks, or be a field hospital cleaner.

But she has to fight plenty of her own battles to follow her dreams, and to cope with the aftermath of the war.

This is a great book, with lovely illustrations, which brings a war heroine into the limelight.

 

 

Left! Left! Left! Right! Right! On one page a family make their way with a crowd of people to a dawn memorial service.

On the facing page, soldiers march to war.

While the wind blows the shivering crowd's umbrellas inside out, soldiers huddle in a muddy trench.

While the crowd watches the flags rippling, a solitary flag flies on a military frigate.

And when the cannon fires, making the crowd jump, soldiers wage battle . . . I love this book: the juxtapositioning, the simplicity of the telling and the exquisite pen, ink and watercolour illustrations on sepia-coloured matt paper.

Although obviously Australian, this book is every bit as relevant to New Zealanders.

This is a beautiful way "to remember them'' and to explain the relevance of the dawn service to children.

- Helen Speirs is ODT books editor.