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Jump to navigationJump to searchArchie's War by Marcia Williams (view source)
Revision as of 09:53, 18 August 2020
, 09:53, 18 August 2020no edit summary
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Throughout the First World War Archie kept a scrapbook and all the family momentos mementoes went in there. It's a wonderful retelling of the war in all its horror and glory and comes highly recommended byy by The Bookbag.
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
The first talk of war came around about the time of Billy's first birthday. The family is split about whether or not the country should join the war in Europe. Ethel believes that it's wrong, but Grandma thinks that Great Britain should be there and fighting. By August the country has declared war and there are people who are openly regretting that their sons are too young to fight, but Archie and his friends are enjoying the school holidays - playing war games and making up their own comic about the war. There's a copy in the scrapbook for you to open up and read.
Archie's life slowly changes as Uncle Teddy joins up and is sent to France. It's quite a while before the family receives a letter from him, but it's there in the scrap book scrapbook - stained with some bully beef from the trenches. Teddy drew a diagram of what the trenches were like for Archie, but it's small points like the fact that the soldiers all share their letters as it cheers them up that bring home the loneliness and isolation.
Teddy's letter about Christmas Eve 1914 reduced me to tears as he tells of the truce between the two sides and how they sang carols and played football together. I've heard the story many times, but the letter seemed so poignant.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending this book to The Bookbag. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to read and review it.
Children interested in war will also enjoy [[Private Peaceful]] by [[:Category:Michael Morpurgo|Michael Morpurgo]]. If adults would like the story of some more famous Christmas carols we can recommend [[Carols from King's: The Stories of our Favourite Carols from King's College by Alexandra Coghlan]].
{{amazontext|amazon=1406304271}}
