Arc Review: War is Over by David Almond

Image: Candlewick Press

War is Over by David Almond. 120 p. Candlewick Press, May 12, 2020. 9781536209860. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher, ALAMW)

Young John cannot remember his father's face, he has been fighting in France for so long. His mother works long hours in a munitions factory. His war-hawk teacher has planned a trip to visit that very same factory. On the walk there, John and his class pass an older man speaking out against the war in the park. He showers them with photographs of German children and exhorts the crowd to protest the war. Adults respond by beating the man while vilifying him as a coward. John pockets the photo of Jan, a boy not unlike himself, who lives in Dusseldorf. 

Most books by David Almond look quite simple, but do not rush your way through any of them because there are depths to be plumbed. This novella digs deep. The imagery is stark and disturbing. It is beautifully illustrates the confusion and uncertainty of a child attempting to make sense of the world. 

One quibble: there was no author note in the arc, nor a page designated that one was to come. A young reader trying this alone probably won't understand it without background knowledge, making it better suited to a shared reading. Still, I cannot wait to reread the finished book and add it to my collection of WWI stories. Devastating and relevant. 

Fact Friday: Fever Year: the killer flu of 1918 by Don Brown

Image: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Fever Year: the killer flu of 1918 by Don Brown. 96 p. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 3, 2019. 9780544837409. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Friday TMS Readers! Just three full weeks left of summer vacay! What are your plans - reading and otherwise? 

Fact Friday features Fever Year: the killer flu of 1918 by Don Brown. Brown is the award winning author illustrator of outstanding non-fiction graphic novels and picture books. His subtle watercolor panels and excellent storytelling affect and inform readers. Last year, he won a Siebert Honor (Informational literature award) for The Unwanted: Stories from Syrian refugees. 

In Fever Year, Brown meticulously recounts how the U.S. simultaneously entered World War I and contended with a national outbreak of what was called "Spanish Flu." The aggressive virus killed an estimated 5% of the world's population between 1918 and 1920. The arc I read did not have final art, but sample pages reveal a muted palette that effectively conveys the horror as the numbers of sick quickly outpaced the numbers to care for them or even to bury them. 

As usual in a Brown offering, back matter is excellent. I can't wait to see this finished volume come September. Another first purchase! If you are a graphic novel fan, you must check out Don Brown's work. If you are a student of the first World War, you should check Fever Year out as well! Happy reading! 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Lovely War by Julie Berry

Image: Penguin Random House 

Lovely War by Julie Berry. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~11 hours. Read by Jane Entwhistle, Allan Corduner, Dion Graham, Nathanial Parker, Fiona Hardingham and Steve West. Listening Library, March, 2019. 9781984838278. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library. Arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features Lovely War by Julie Berry. This sweeping historical romance begins in December of 1942 in an elegant New York City hotel. A gorgeous couple are caught by the wronged husband. The paramours happen to be Aphrodite the goddess of love and Ares the god of war. The cuckold is Hephaestus. He ensnares them in an breakable golden mesh net and intends to put them on trial on Mount Olympus; but Aphrodite asks to plead her case directly to her husband. So she tells the story of her two favorite love matches - Hazel and James and Colette and Aubrey.  

In 1917, Hazel, a pianist, played at at dance where she met James, a builder turned soldiers, who was shipping out to fight in France. The two fell quickly in love and Hazel promised to write. She joined the war effort as an entertainment volunteer and also shipped out to France soon after. There she met Colette, a Belgian refugee with a tragic past who sings like an angel. Colette crosses paths with Aubrey, an African American jazz musician and those two fall in love. 

As Aphrodite weaves the two stories together, she's joined by Ares, Hades and Apollo, who all had a hand shaping the events of the war and its consequences.

Immersive and epic, this is definitely one for the reread pile. There is just so much to love here from the gorgeous writing to the characters. I am not a fan of most romance novels but I am a fan of this one. It's smart. It's compelling. It's an exquisite read that I couldn't rush through because I was reading with my ears, but I wanted to. I needed to find out what happened to these four young souls. And yet, I didn't want the book to end. 

Lovely War is a first-purchase. It's a must-read for your patrons who love mythology; for your romance fans; for your war-story fans. Really, it's a must-read for just about any reader. 

Teen Tuesday and Review: The Good Son by Pierre-Jacques Ober

Image: Candlewick Press

The Good Son: a story from the first World War told in miniature by Pierre-Jacques Ober. Illustrated by Jules Over and Felicity Coonan. 104 p. Candlewick Studio/ Candlewick Press, May 14, 2019. 9781536204827. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy book birthday to The Good Son by Pierre-Jacques Ober. This picture book for older readers is remarkable. Spare and evocative text combine with photographs that are as devastating as they are striking. 

A young soldier named Pierre leaves his post to visit his mother at Christmas. When he returns after two days, he is arrested and told to prepare to be executed for desertion. His friend, Gilbert brings food and wine. Otherwise, Pierre is left alone to contemplate his fate. The reader learns that he signed up to fight enthusiastically after being promised the war would be over in a few months. The young recruit dreamed of glory until the first bloody battles. Even when he won, he felt he lost so much. He relates a cruel irony in a final letter home to his mother.

The photos are incredibly realistic considering they are of miniature toys and scenery. They have the look of old photos. Most are slightly sepia toned and they are also slightly blurred. That combined with the sturdy paper and beautiful design, gives the reader the feeling of looking through an album. Creator notes at the back reveal the challenges of making these plastic figures appear real. They used a shallow depth-of-field (a technique I could never wrap my head around when I played around with SLR photography in the 80s.), natural light and digital adjustments. 

Really, I can't do justice to the wonder of these photos. They have to be seen and contemplated. I can't even imagine the process of gathering the materials! The details present in each photo invite pause. The use of chiaroscuro lighting causes the reader to lean in and linger, perhaps guiltily.

Photos of the process shown in the back matter that include fingers of the creators help give the reader scale. A note from the author explains that he came from a military family and that his grandfather was a decorated soldier in World War I. This book started as a series of images that were a gift to his father at the centenary of the war. 

My single quibble is wondering about the "based on a true event" claim of the front flap. As an adult reader, I came to the book knowing about the hundreds of men who were executed during that war for treason and cowardice when they were suffering from what we now know is PTSD. Young readers may not know this. I would've appreciated knowing more about this from back matter notes. Was there really a soldier named Pierre who went home for the holiday or was this based on a composite of stories?

The Good Son is a fine addition to all collections. Hand this to your budding military historians and give your social studies teacher a heads up. I usually donate my review copies to my school library collection, but this is such a powerful work of art, I am tempted to keep it for myself. 

Visit The Children's War blog for a much more cogent review of The Good Son that includes extra resources I didn't think to hunt down. 

#tbt: Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen

Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen. Translated by Terese Edelstein. 154 p. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 0618431241. (Own) 

#tbt features Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen. This novel was originally published in Belgium and was translated by Therese Edelstein for an American audience in 2005. The story opens on a battlefield during WWI. John Kipling lies mortally wounded and reflects on his life. John is Rudyard Kipling's only child and both of them suffered from poor eyesight, which prevented his father from serving in an earlier war and initially prevented his son from serving in WWI. But the elder Kipling was now a famous author and pulled some strings to get John accepted. The story switches between John, written in first-person, and his memories, written third-person omniscient. This thought-provoking novel is a fictionalized account of real events. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Lovely War by Julie Berry

Lovely War by Julie Berry. 480 p. Penguin Young Readers Group, March 5, 2019. 9780451469939.

Publisher synopsis: New York City, 1942. World War II is at its zenith. A stunningly attractive couple meets in a Manhattan hotel room for a forbidden tryst. But these are no ordinary lovers. When immortals Ares and Aphrodite are caught by the latter's jealous husband, the goddess of passion must justify her actions, or face judgment on Mount Olympus.

To plead her case, she spins a tale that took place in Europe some twenty-five years earlier: the story of four mortals whose lives entwined in the crucible of World War I.

They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect-turned-soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story--filled with hope and heartbreak, prejudice and passion--reveals that, though War is a formidable force, it's no match for the transcendent power of Love.

As I said in a Stacking post a few weeks back, I adored Berry's All the Truth That's in Me and The Passion of Dolssa! I also love myth retellings and stories set during WWI. I cannot wait for this and would crack it open right this second but I have a stack of 70+ books to read for Cybils Round One judging!

Teen Tuesday: Remembrance by Theresa Breslin

Remembrance by Theresa Breslin. 297 p. Delacorte Press/ Random House Children's Books, December, 2002. 9780385730150. (Own)

Prior to World War I class and sex roles were rigidly set. The nobility rarely mixed with the common folk and women rarely worked outside of the home. Remembrance  by Theresa Breslin tells the story of five teens during World War I. John Malcolm and his twin sister, Maggie and his younger brother Alex are children of shopkeepers and Charlotte and her brother Francis are educated and wealthy. Charlotte and John are sweethearts, which would never do according to her mother. John volunteers to enlist early and Charlotte's brother, Francis objects to the war, much to his mother's dismay. This engrossing novel tells about how their lives are forever changed by a great and terrible war. Recommended!

Middle Grade Monday: War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. 165 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., 2007. 97780439796637. (Own)

In honor of the hundredth anniversary of the end of the Great War, which would come to be known as World War I, the Daily Booktalk will feature books about it. Middle Grade Monday features a favorite of both Ms. Levy's and Ms. Kahn's - War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. War Horse was inspired by the stories of two veterans who told their own stories about working with horses during the war. He wondered if he could tell the story of this brutal war through the eyes of a horse. War Horse first published in England in 1982. The story of Joey, who was lovingly cared for by Albert but mistreated by Albert's drunken father, who sold the horse to the British military, eventually made its way to the United States. Scholastic published it in 2007. The story was adapted into a play to great acclaim. In 2010, Steven Speilberg released his movie adaptation. In 2012, a sequel called Farm Boy was released. Michael Morpurgo has written over a hundred books for children and has received many awards.

Fact Friday: Stubby the War Dog: The true story about World War I's bravest dog by Ann Bausum

Stubby the War Dog: the true story about World War I's bravest dog by Ann Bausum. 80 p. National Geographic Society, May, 2014. 9781426314865. (Own)

I am a sucker for a good dog story, especially about dogs that serve. I also have a high interest in the first World War. And, I think Ann Bausum is a terrific writer! Win! Win! Win!

Stubby the War Dog is engaging and accessible, accompanied by many, well-captioned photographs. In a parallel story to Winnie, American soldier, Robert Conroy adopted a stubby-tailed stray while training to deploy overseas in WWI. He smuggled Stubby overseas where Stubby's keen senses proved valuable. Bausum's narrative weaves the story of the irrepressible Stubby with facts about the Great War, satisfying both fans of dogs and military history. I just loved this story. Share it with your students, and they will too!

Middle Grade Monday: Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost. 183 p. Frances Foster Books/ Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2009. 9780374316532. (Own)

Middle Grade Monday features Crossing Stones by Helen Frost. This verse novel is set during World War I. Two families farm on either side of Crabapple Creek. The Jorgensen and the Norman families are great friends and they use the crossing stones in the creek to visit each other often. Muriel is discovering that her feelings for Frank Norman might be more than just friendship. Then he enlists to fight in the war and his brother, Ollie, lies about his age to join him. Muriel opposes the war and is also intrigued by her aunt's work for women's suffrage. 

The poems in this beautiful work of historical fiction are "cupped hand" sonnets and their shape also symbolize the crossing stones that connect the two families and their farms. This remarkable verse novel brings the events of America's entrance into the first World War as well as other issues of the day, to vivid life.

#tbt: Megiddo's Shadow by Arthur Slade

Megiddo's Shadow by Arthur Slade. 290 p. Wendy Lamb Books, October, 2006. 0385909454. (Own.)

After Canadian sixteen-year-old Edward Bathe's brother is killed in action at the German front during World War I, he lies about his age in order to enlist. Told in the first person as well as letters, Edward's plans to avenge his brother's death are derailed first by an injury while training horses, then by transfer to Palestine to fight the Turks. This is a war story but also a story of grief and loss as Edward struggles to maintain his sanity. Engrossing and fast-paced, this is great for fans of historical fiction and/ or war stories. 

#tbt: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. 208 p. Scholastic, October, 2004. 9780439636483. (Review from purchased copy.) 

#tbt features another all-time favorite title, Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Private Thomas Peaceful is on watch and needs to stay awake for the entire night. If he falls asleep, he could be executed. To keep himself alert, he reflects upon his childhood and how he ended up fighting in World War I. 

Though poor, he had a happy childhood. He grew up on a farm in the English countryside in a loving family. He adored his father and older brother, Charlie and feels protective of his brain-damaged oldest brother, Big Joe. He also has a crush on Charlie's friend, Molly. He feels guilt over his father's accidental death and lies about his age to follow Charlie into the army. 

The structure of this intricately plotted novel is sophisticated but rewarding. Charlie is an engaging storyteller who holds the reader rapt and feeling such a variety of emotions that when the reason for his duty is revealed at the end, feelings of shock, grief and devastation are unavoidable.