The Last ANZAC by Gordon Winch ill Harriet Bailey

On a cold winter’s day James and his dad stepped off a plane in Tasmania.

James was going to meet Alec Campbell, the last living Anzac. The year was 2001.

On a cold winter’s day James and his dad stepped off a plane in Tasmania.

James was going to meet Alec Campbell, the last living Anzac. The year was 2001.

James and his dad travel to meet Alec Campbell, the last living Anzac. James is bubbling with questions about all sorts of aspects of war. He wants to know whether Campbell was injured, whether he was scared, what he and the other soldiers ate. Interspersed with the questions from James, the story of Alec Campbell’s war service is explored. Illustrations swap between the present and 1915, with the latter images shown either full page or surrounded by a border, a bit like an old photo. The last ‘present’ image, with Alec Campbell and James together is also presented as a photo, perhaps suggesting the lasting memory of their meeting.

The Last ANZAC is based on a true story of the meeting between James and Alec Campbell. It’s not easy to share the enormity of a war with young readers. Gordon Winch has put the reader in the story in the form of a character, James, who is about their age. This way James can ask the questions that a young reader might ask. Illustrations also present more information sure to generate more questions and opportunities for discussion either at home or in the classroom. ‘The Last ANZAC’ offers an introduction to WWI for early primary readers, showing them Gallipoli through the eyes of someone who was there. Endpapers include copies of wartime letters, postcards and envelopes.

 

The Last ANZAC, Gordon Winch ill Harriet Bailey New Frontier Publishing 2015 ISBN: 9781925059298

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Tank Boys by Stephen Dando-Collins

‘Where the heck are we?’ Frankie’s voice was muffled by the walls of earth on either side of them.

‘Flanders,’ answered Private Nash, the young soldier trudging along the narrow communication trench in front of Frankie, as the Australian troops moved in single fileup to the front line in darkness.

‘I know we’re in Flanders! Where in Flanders?’

‘Near Messines.’

‘Yeah, but where near Messines?’

‘How should I know? Do I look like an officer or something? Only officers know where they are in this war. Anyway, what’s it matter, Pickles?’

Frankie shrugged. ‘I was just curious, that’s all. I’d like to know where I’m about to die.’

‘Where the heck are we?’ Frankie’s voice was muffled by the walls of earth on either side of them.

‘Flanders,’ answered Private Nash, the young soldier trudging along the narrow communication trench in front of Frankie, as the Australian troops moved in single fileup to the front line in darkness.

‘I know we’re in Flanders! Where in Flanders?’

‘Near Messines.’

‘Yeah, but where near Messines?’

‘How should I know? Do I look like an officer or something? Only officers know where they are in this war. Anyway, what’s it matter, Pickles?’

Frankie shrugged. ‘I was just curious, that’s all. I’d like to know where I’m about to die.’

Frankie and Taz are both sixteen-years-old Australians who lie about their age to be accepted into the Australian Army. Their reasons for enlisting are different but the two are united by their youth. Richard is also sixteen-years-old and in the army, but he’s on the opposite side. War is nothing like the adventure the Australian boys imagined when they signed up and nothing has prepared Richard either. The three boys are destined to meet on the battlefields in France, around Villers-Bretoneux, amid the horror and destruction of war. Tank Boys is the story of one of the most well-known battles of WWII from the perspective of three youth and explores the personalities and the politics of both sides of the battle. Although fiction, Tank Boys is based on real tanks, and real battles.

Tank Boys explores the realities of war. It is not gratuitously graphic but neither does it shy away from the deaths and injuries suffered by soldiers of both sides. It offers a range of different personalities and explores the myriad reasons men fight wars. On one level ‘Tank Boys’ is a ‘Boys Own’-type adventure full of action and adventure, but it also provides many opportunities for discussion about war. There are enough details for readers to be able to ‘walk the trenches’ with the characters, and to learn about the different hardware each side used. As the centenary of the beginning of WWI draws closer, it’s not surprising that there are stories about war being published for young people. From our vantage point, stories that have long been locked up are finding their way into the public consciousness and providing perspectives that were not always evident in earlier times (for many reasons). These stories help us to understand our past and shape our future. Recommended for upper-primary readers.

Tank Boys, Stephen Dando-Collins Random House Australia 2014 ISBN:9780857981301

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

The Poppy by Andrew Plant

Across northern France,

poppies bloom in the fields

where once, many years ago …

millions of men fought and died.

NOTE: THIS BOOK HAS A RELEASE DATE OF 1 MARCH 2014

Across northern France,

poppies bloom in the fields

where once, many years ago …

millions of men fought and died.

In northern France, poppies bloom where once was war. Petals take to the air and track the story of war in northern France, travelling from today back through time to focus on a particular battle. Villers-Bretonneux, a small village, was the site of a pivotal battle between German forces and Australian soldiers. Many, many died, but the battle was successful in halting the progression of the Germans. Many of the dead are still unidentified, but none are forgotten. Memorials to named and unnamed soldiers remind just how hard-fought and hard-won was the freedom now enjoyed. In the years following WWI, Victorian children helped to raise money to rebuild the Villers-Bretonneux school. This link, forged in war, is reinforced by Australian animal carvings in the school hall, and promises to not forget. Illustrations show both the darkness and the light, with dark cover and images set in black pages. The painterly images sit like photos on the page, connecting the past with the present. A poppy petal floats through each opening. A final page provides more information about the battle and its aftermath.

For many years, most Australians had some direct link to WWI in Europe, whether it was a parent, a relative, a neighbour. But as time passes, these links become more distant and there is a risk that the connection with and relevance of that time fades. 2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of WWI. For Australia, WWI was the first opportunity to demonstrate internationally their new nationhood. Thousands of Australians died in many different theatres of war. The Villers-Bretonneux was one of these, and for many years, many of the fallen were unidentified, if not forgotten. The Villers-Bretonneux village and school continue to honour the Australians who died there, just as the poppies symbolise their spilt blood. Plant brings this historical non-fiction story to a new generation of young readers, allowing the war to sit just off-page, but not diminishing or underplaying any of the importance of the battle. He shows new readers how the past influences the present and can inform the future. In multicultural Australia, this story will be unfamiliar to some, but ‘The Poppy’ will help to remedy this. Recommended for early and middle primary readers.

 

The Poppy

The Poppy, Andrew Plant Ford Street Publishing, 2014 ISBN: hb 9781925000313, pb 9781925000320

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Flora’s War by Pamela Rushby

We can always smell them before we see them.

Today it’s bad, really bad, but not as bad as the first time, because then we had no conception of just what we’d see when the wooden doors of the train slid back. Then, that first time, we’d all surged eagerly forward as soon as the train stopped, ready to help, prepared to assist those who could walk and carry those who couldn’t.

Cairo, 1915

We can always smell them before we see them.

Today it’s bad, really bad, but not as bad as the first time, because then we had no conception of just what we’d see when the wooden doors of the train slid back. Then, that first time, we’d all surged eagerly forward as soon as the train stopped, ready to help, prepared to assist those who could walk and carry those who couldn’t.

And then it hit us.

It was overpowering. It stopped us dead in our rush forward; made us stagger back. It wasn’t heat, or dust, or blowing sand – in Egypt, we were used to those – but a smell. It was more than a smell. It was a stench. So strong it grabbed deep into our throats; made us cough and choke, made our eyes pour water. I’d never smelled anything like it before; couldn’t begin to think what it was.

I know now.

Flora and her archaeologist father regularly travel to Egypt, but this time things are different. From the moment they arrive and are collected in a motor car, Flora knows this trip is going to be full of new experiences. After all she’s almost sixteen and it’s 1914. She’s looking forward to a summer of helping her father and parties with her friend Gwen, if only her father, Gwen’s mother and her brother Frank would stop trying to cosset them. They are modern girls and are ready for all that life will bring. But nothing has prepared Flora or her friends for the upcoming war and how it will affect their lives. Cairo is awash with soldiers, many of them Australian, training in the desert and spending their leisure time in town. They are waiting to go to war. And then they do. Flora and her friends discover that the war is closer than they could have thought possible. Close enough to touch all of them.

Flora is excited that this year in Cairo, she will be treated as an adult, not a child. She will experience everything, sharing it with her close friend Gwen, whose family also spend time every year in Cairo. Being treated like an adult means that she can learn to drive, a wonderful rite of independence. But with independence comes responsibility and Flora learns that casting aside childhood means learning about the ways of the adult world. War accelerates this and Flora’s Warexplores themes of love and loss, fear and bravery. Excitement is tempered by danger, archaeological discovery by moral dilemmas. For Flora, war is a rite of passage that alters her, her friends and her world in ways she could never have imagined.

Flora's War

Flora’s War, Pamela Rushby Ford St Publishing 2013 ISBN: 9781921665981

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com