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WW I Books--

Aubrey

By Aubrey,
in K-8 Curriculum Board

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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Which ones have been your favorites? Anything worth owning?

 

I have a friend who loved the Usborne Intro to WWI & II books, but my library only has the 2nd one. I'm really intrigued by Where Poppies Grow, but it's $10 on Amazon, & the library doesn't have it, either.

 

TIA!

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Lori D.

Lori D.

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Both WW1 and WW2 book suggestions for an early elementary-aged student in this past thread: Non fiction 20th century war books appropriate for 8yo DS?

 

And here are several book lists from different websites:

- Paula's Archives: WW1, both historical fiction and non-fiction for gr. 1-6

- Book Girl 3: WW1 (Europe) Historical Fiction list by grade level

- Book Girl 3: WW1 (America) Historical Fiction list by grade level

 

 

 

WWI - historical

- Kid's Discover Magazine: World War 1 -- gr. 4-8

- (Eyewitness) World War One (Adams) -- gr. 5-8

- Everyday Life: World War 1 (Hazen) -- gr. 4-8

- True Stories of the First World War (Dowswell) -- gr. 4-8

- The World Wars (Dowswell) -- covers both WW1 and WW2 -- gr. 5-8

 

WW1 - biography

- Spies! (Pratt) -- gentle "stepped reader"; WW1, WW2, and others -- gr. 1-4

- Flying Aces of World War I (Gurney)

- (Landmark Biography) Medal of Honor Heroes

- (Landmark Biography) Bold Leaders of World War I (Reider)

- Sergeant York and the Great War (Skeyhill) -- a Greenleaf book

- Sergeant York: His Life Legend and Legacy (Perry) -- a Greenleaf book

- (Landmark Biography) America's First World War: General Pershing (Castor)

- Cornerstones of Freedom series: The Story of Lafayette Escadrille (Stein) -- gr. 3-6

 

WW1 - cross between factual/historical fiction

- One Boy's War (Huggins-Cooper) -- journal entry style picture book based on real-life person

- War Game: Village Green to No-Man's-Land (Foreman)

- Where Poppies Grow (Granfield) -- scrapbook style book which also captures the mood of the era

 

WW1 - historical fiction

- Hero Over Here -- historical fiction; WW1 homefront and the flu epidemic -- gr. 3-5

- Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree -- historical fiction; WW1 homefront -- gr. 3-8

- Gay Neck, Story of a Pigeon -- WW1 carrier pigeon

- Tales of the RAF series: Scramble!; Fighter Escort; Spitfire! The New Kid; Dawson's Down! Might Mission (Patterson) -- gr. 1-4

Edited by Lori D.
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Lori D.

Lori D.

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All Quiet on the Western Front

 

 

Just a quick "caveat": All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful classic, BUT it is an adult work; incredibly intense, and not at all appropriate for ages below 16 -- even then, it will be way too intense for some teens. I would not show the 1930s film version to anyone under 12yo, and DO preview first -- while brief, there are some very powerful shots (a soldier falls forward reaching for the barbed wire as a shell explodes behind him, and as the smoke clears you get a quick shot of just the soldier's hands hanging onto the wire with no body attached). The film is very faithful to the book, and while the intent of neither is to be gratuitous, the point is to show the breaking of the spirit/soul of these young men under a very inhuman, mechanized war machine.

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MissKNG

MissKNG

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Just a quick "caveat": All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful classic, BUT it is an adult work; incredibly intense, and not at all appropriate for ages below 16 -- even then, it will be way too intense for some teens. I would not show the 1930s film version to anyone under 12yo, and DO preview first -- while brief, there are some very powerful shots (a soldier falls forward reaching for the barbed wire as a shell explodes behind him, and as the smoke clears you get a quick shot of just the soldier's hands hanging onto the wire with no body attached). The film is very faithful to the book, and while the intent of neither is to be gratuitous, the point is to show the breaking of the spirit/soul of these young men under a very inhuman, mechanized war machine.

 

I have never seen the film but read the book in high school probably as a junior (age 15/16) or senior (16/17). It was a fantastic book that I finished well ahead of our "scheduled" readings.

 

The OP asked for WWI books worth owning and that book is definitely worth owning. I didn't suggest the film.

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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Not exactly WWI, but I really like Gloria Whelan's Angel on the Square about the Russian Revolution. Totally appropriate for upper elementary and middle school.

 

Oh, I love Whelan--I'm glad you mentioned that. I know I've seen it...but was it at Half Price or here on *my* shelves? :confused:

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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Just a quick "caveat": All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful classic, BUT it is an adult work; incredibly intense, and not at all appropriate for ages below 16 -- even then, it will be way too intense for some teens. I would not show the 1930s film version to anyone under 12yo, and DO preview first -- while brief, there are some very powerful shots (a soldier falls forward reaching for the barbed wire as a shell explodes behind him, and as the smoke clears you get a quick shot of just the soldier's hands hanging onto the wire with no body attached). The film is very faithful to the book, and while the intent of neither is to be gratuitous, the point is to show the breaking of the spirit/soul of these young men under a very inhuman, mechanized war machine.

 

Thanks for the heads up. This will be for a 4th g'er & *poss* a 2nd g'er.

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whitestavern

whitestavern

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Well, not sure if this will help as we haven't read the books yet, but we are starting WWI next week and I did do a lot of research in advance. I have settled on War Horse as a read aloud. DD will be reading Gay-Heck independently and DS will be reading In Flanders Fields, The Donkey of Gallipoli, A Bear in War and the Language of Doves.

 

I ILLd Where Poppies Grow and while I haven't had a chance to read it, from my brief skim it looks really thorough and interesting. So we will be going through that book, as well as the DK book on WWI.

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heart'sjoy

heart'sjoy

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This poem and story of McRae were a grand slam here. We memorized the poem together and used the story as a read aloud.

 

Our next favorite is Sargent York

http://www.amazon.com/Sergeant-York-Great-War-Courage/dp/1889128465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288231711&sr=1-1

 

I read this aloud to my varied ages skipping a few words. York was a carouser and drunk early on. The book is worth a thousand of the movies.

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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Both WW1 and WW2 book suggestions for an early elementary-aged student in this past thread: Non fiction 20th century war books appropriate for 8yo DS?

 

And here are several book lists from different websites:

- Paula's Archives: WW1, both historical fiction and non-fiction for gr. 1-6

- Book Girl 3: WW1 (Europe) Historical Fiction list by grade level

- Book Girl 3: WW1 (America) Historical Fiction list by grade level

 

 

 

WWI - historical

- Kid's Discover Magazine: World War 1 -- gr. 4-8

- (Eyewitness) World War One (Adams) -- gr. 5-8

- Everyday Life: World War 1 (Hazen) -- gr. 4-8

- True Stories of the First World War (Dowswell) -- gr. 4-8 Is this any good? I haven't liked the other books in the True Stories series. The writing seems really awful, & I've found some pretty blatant errors.

- The World Wars (Dowswell) -- covers both WW1 and WW2 -- gr. 5-8

 

WW1 - biography

- Spies! (Pratt) -- gentle "stepped reader"; WW1, WW2, and others -- gr. 1-4

- Flying Aces of World War I (Gurney)

- (Landmark Biography) Medal of Honor Heroes

- (Landmark Biography) Bold Leaders of World War I (Reider)

- Sergeant York and the Great War (Skeyhill) -- a Greenleaf book

- Sergeant York: His Life Legend and Legacy (Perry) -- a Greenleaf book

- (Landmark Biography) America's First World War: General Pershing (Castor)

- Cornerstones of Freedom series: The Story of Lafayette Escadrille (Stein) -- gr. 3-6

 

WW1 - cross between factual/historical fiction

- One Boy's War (Huggins-Cooper) -- journal entry style picture book based on real-life person

- War Game: Village Green to No-Man's-Land (Foreman) Is this a game or the title of the book? We LOVE games.

- Where Poppies Grow (Granfield) -- scrapbook style book which also captures the mood of the era I want this one SO much, but the library doesn't have it, & the used copies on Amazon are more than new. It's $10. I mostly need to know if it's worth it or if I should just use something from the library instead.

 

WW1 - historical fiction

- Hero Over Here -- historical fiction; WW1 homefront and the flu epidemic -- gr. 3-5 I have this one.

- Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree -- historical fiction; WW1 homefront -- gr. 3-8

- Gay Neck, Story of a Pigeon -- WW1 carrier pigeon

- Tales of the RAF series: Scramble!; Fighter Escort; Spitfire! The New Kid; Dawson's Down! Might Mission (Patterson) -- gr. 1-4

This is an amazing list--thank you! What I most of all want to know, though, is if there are any books that I really, absolutely must read to the kids, whether the library has them or not. (Well...I mean, they can read them to themselves, lol.) If not, I'll just get whatever's at the library. If so, I'm going to hug you--I love a good excuse to buy a book! ;) :lol:

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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Well, not sure if this will help as we haven't read the books yet, but we are starting WWI next week and I did do a lot of research in advance. I have settled on War Horse as a read aloud. DD will be reading Gay-Heck independently and DS will be reading In Flanders Fields, The Donkey of Gallipoli, A Bear in War and the Language of Doves.

 

I ILLd Where Poppies Grow and while I haven't had a chance to read it, from my brief skim it looks really thorough and interesting. So we will be going through that book, as well as the DK book on WWI.

 

Will you report back when you're done? We're not scheduled for WWI until 6 wks from now, but I've been thinking about doing it early. Ds is chomping at the bit, lol. He thinks studying WWI will put us that much closer to II, & we've promised to play a really long game of Axis & Allies when the time comes.

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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This poem and story of McRae were a grand slam here. We memorized the poem together and used the story as a read aloud.

 

Our next favorite is Sargent York

http://www.amazon.com/Sergeant-York-Great-War-Courage/dp/1889128465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288231711&sr=1-1

 

I read this aloud to my varied ages skipping a few words. York was a carouser and drunk early on. The book is worth a thousand of the movies.

 

Ok' date=' I'm going to look at the York book, but tell me about [i']In Flanders Fields[/i]--did you use that title by itself, in conjunction w/ Where Poppies Grow, or something else? And if you can explain what you guys liked about it, that would be great!

 

TIA!

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whitestavern

whitestavern

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Will you report back when you're done? We're not scheduled for WWI until 6 wks from now, but I've been thinking about doing it early. Ds is chomping at the bit, lol. He thinks studying WWI will put us that much closer to II, & we've promised to play a really long game of Axis & Allies when the time comes.

 

 

I'll be sure to let you know how everything goes! Can you tell me what Axis & Allies is? We did the Pioneer Simulation based on your recc and it was a huge success!!

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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I'll be sure to let you know how everything goes! Can you tell me what Axis & Allies is? We did the Pioneer Simulation based on your recc and it was a huge success!!

 

Axis & Allies This is the one we have--obviously it's out of print, but there were several other editions on Amazon. I assume they're the same, but I don't actually know.

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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Will you report back when you're done? We're not scheduled for WWI until 6 wks from now, but I've been thinking about doing it early. Ds is chomping at the bit, lol. He thinks studying WWI will put us that much closer to II, & we've promised to play a really long game of Axis & Allies when the time comes.

 

It looks like this is WWII, not WWI-can you clarify?

 

It is WWII! :001_smile: --Sorry to confuse!

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whitestavern

whitestavern

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Will you report back when you're done? We're not scheduled for WWI until 6 wks from now, but I've been thinking about doing it early. Ds is chomping at the bit, lol. He thinks studying WWI will put us that much closer to II, & we've promised to play a really long game of Axis & Allies when the time comes.

 

Aubrey...as promised, I'm reporting in as we have now completed WWI. DD enjoyed Gay Neck; War Horse was really really good (we all enjoyed this one--have tisses on hand for the end) and the books I listed for ds were also very well received. Where Poppies Grow was a great nonfiction choice that I thought covered the details of the war very well. It's written from the Canadian perspective, but I didn't think that detracted from it in any way. Another book we ILLd and received too late would also be a nice choice for nonfiction, and that is Going to War in World War I. I also highly recommend watching Sergeant York; it is a wonderful movie. We watched A Bear Called Winnie as well which was pretty good. Hope this helps!

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kalanamak

kalanamak

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While not a book for children, it is a shortish book about the nature of fighting in WWI, rather than statistics on how many killed at such and such a push, and it sheds a lot of interesting light on what it felt like to be a Brit in the trenches. I encourage parents to read it:

 

The Great War and Modern Memory. There is a cheaper paperback, but here is the fancier version:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Great-War-Modern-Memory-Illustrated/dp/1402764391

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