Where poppies grow: a World War I companion by Linda Granfield (Stoddart, 2001)
48 pages
with numerous illustrations
Subjects:
World War One, Canada, Flanders, animals, non fiction (Years 5-8)
Synopsis
This is a non-fiction
book giving an overview of World War One. There are other similar books, but this one tells the story from a Canadian perspective. Many of the images, letters and photos were new to me because they
are sourced from Canadian records and archives. Some of them, such as
the postcards, seem to come from the author’s own collection (according to the
picture credits).
In many ways, the
Canadian experience was similar (with the exception of the Gallipoli campaign)
to that of the Anzacs: training camps at
home, sailing across to Europe, more training in England, then across the
Channel to Flanders and the trenches.
Some of the images
that particularly caught my attention show “Canadian recruits undergoing
training at Salisbury” (stabbing with bayonets at hanging bales of straw;
hardly the same as the real thing), fresh bread being baked at the field
bakery, cinema tickets for a West End Cinema Theatre offering free entry to
wounded soldiers and sailors, ships being painted in “dazzle” camouflage and
the Poppies poem “In Flanders fields”, written by Canadian medical officer John
McCrae.
Other topics include nurses, propaganda, a child’s war and letters and postcards. The
section on animals features the black bear cub Winnie, a mascot later donated
to the London Zoo where a young Christopher Milne saw him, went home and
christened his own teddy bear “Winnie the Pooh”.
Author’s website
Linda
Granfield’s website includes a section on books on war and remembrance. She has
written about John McCrae whose poem “In Flanders fields” is 100 years old in
May 2015, and about The unknown soldier
all around the world.
"When I write non-fiction books, and you read them, we become time-travellers," she says.
"History is all around us, inviting us to share our own family and community stories."
"History is all around us, inviting us to share our own family and community stories."
Find out more about her here.
Other books you might like:
Archie’s war by Marcia Williams is fiction, but told in a similar
scrapbook style.
Things I didn’t know
I didn't know about the church of Notre Dame de Brebières (Our Lady of the Ewes) in the town of Albert, France, although I came across another reference to it just after reading
this book. The statue of Mary and Jesus on top of the church was knocked
sideways in 1915 by a shell bombardment. A legend developed that
when it fell completely, the war would be over.
In spring 1918, the Germans
captured the town and the statue fell (but has since been restored); later that
year, the war ended.
The other reference I came across mentioned that passing Australian soldiers would joke that it
reminded them of the famous Australian swimmer, Fanny Durack.
