Truce : the day the soldiers stopped fighting by Jim Murphy (Scholastic Press, 2009)
ISBN 978 0
545 13049 3
6 chapters;
116 pages with maps, photographs, posters, paintings and a timeline
Subjects:
World War One, France, Christmas, truce, football, non fiction (Year 4-8)
Synopsis
The story of the
Christmas truce of December 1914 is well known, but here it is presented in a
large format, easy-to-read non-fiction book with plenty of illustrations.
Jim Murphy describes
the events leading up to the declaration of war in August 1914, the terrible
battles in the latter part of 1914 and the beginning of trench warfare all
along the Western Front before he introduces the Truce itself. Seen in context
like this, the Christmas Truce underlines the futility of men being sent to war
to kill other men with whom they had no personal quarrel, and whom, in fact,
they could easily get on with.
There are some amazing
photographs of German and British officers and soldiers mingling in No Man’s
Land. “No army photographers were present during the Christmas Truce, so most
of the photos of the event were taken by amateurs and are dark and a little out
of focus.” (pg 74).
Reviews:
There are
excerpts from several reviews on Jim Murphy's website here, and a fuller review on The Children’s War blog:
“Truce is a wonderful book that not only tells the story
of the unofficial Christmas Truce of 1914 during World War I, but also gives a
coherent, thorough history of the events leading up to the hostilities and just
what those terrible first months of war was like in the trenches. “
Author’s website
Jim Murphy
is the author of more than 30 books about American history. You can read more
About the Author on his website
There are
also some Questions and answers (What were you like as a kid? Did you know you
wanted to be a writer when you were growing up? Where do your book ideas come
from?)
Other books you might like:
War game by Michael Foreman and When the guns fall
silent by James Riordan both cover
the story of the Christmas truce and football games.
NZ links
There have been many re-enactments of the Christmas truce football games planned for the centenary in December 2014. In
Wellington, young players from schools across the city gathered for a tournament in the presence of the NZ Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, the British High
Commissioner and representatives from the German and French embassies.
The
British High Commissioner said that such events were taking place all over the
world, "like a giant Mexican wave". He also made the interesting comment
that it was rare for representatives from the British, German and French
governments to gather together to commemorate the war.
Of course another re-enactment occurs in the Sainbury's Christmas ad - which also raises interesting questions about whether it's appropriate to merge marketing and commemoration like this - or whether it's to be commended as a way of helping people to remember (with profits going to charity.)
Remember the peace makers
Or do we? Read a thought-provoking article here about Why no one remembers the peace makers.
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| Sainsburys Christmas ad |
