Five children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders

Five children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders (Faber & Faber, 2014)

24 chapters; 318 pages

Subjects: World War One, France, England, children, fantasy, Edith Nesbit, Five children and it, Psammead, junior fiction (Year 5-8)

Synopsis

This book came out to much acclaim as “an epic, heart-wrenching follow-on from E. Nesbit’s Five children and It stories” (from the back cover) and won the Costa Children’s Book of the Year award.

Five Children and It was published in 1902, with two sequels: The phoenix and the carpet (1904) and The story of the amulet (1906). I read them all as a child and loved them, although I haven’t looked at them again for a long time and I’m not sure if they are as widely read today.

In the Prologue (set in 1905, and adapted from a chapter of The story of the amulet), Cyril is 12, Anthea 11, Robert 9, Jane 7 and the (youngest child) Lamb – actually Hilary – is still a baby. By the start of WW1 in 1914, they are old enough, in some cases, to go off and fight, or volunteer as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) .

Because Cyril and Anthea are almost grown up and often away, Kate Saunders adds another child (Edie, aged 9) and she and the Lamb/Hilary, now 11, become the main characters. The two of them rediscover the Psammead (a grumpy, wish-granting sand fairy - “you pronounce it Sammy-ad”) and he stays with them for almost the duration of the war. The story gets sadder and the mood more sombre as it gets closer to the end.

The idea behind the book – bringing these children from their Edwardian childhood into the horrors of WW1 – is very clever. I did wonder if the theme of the  Psammead’s “repentance” could be confusing for children.

Reviews:

The Guardian calls it a “respectful homage” and says that “transplanting E Nesbit’s much-loved characters into the trenches tugs at the heartstrings in a way statistics can’t”.

“For all Saunders's delight in channelling Nesbit's Edwardian sensibilities, this is not a nostalgic book. It asks questions about lost innocence and the kind of stories we used to tell ourselves. Saunders dedicates her book "To all the boys and girls, 1914-18". Nesbit described her characters as "not bad sorts on the whole; in fact, they were rather like you". The same can be said, Saunders implies, about the doomed generation that met its fate in Flanders fields.”

About the author

In this interview in the Telegraph, Kate Saunders talks about events in her own life that background the story; some of it is very moving, and it made me think about the book in a different way.

There’s another interview with her here on BBC news.

About E Nesbit

The Edith Nesbit Society has its own website where you can read a sedate biography of Edith Nesbit (1858-1924). 

But this article in the Guardian paints a rather racier (and sadder) picture of her life.

Other books you might like:

Edith Nesbit also wrote the much-loved classic The railway children, published in 1906 and never out of print since.  

Erika's story by Ruth Vander Zee, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti

Erika’s story by Ruth Vander Zee, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti (Jonathan Cape, 2003)

ISBN 0 224 07015 0

24 pages with full and half page illustrations

Subjects: World War Two, ghettos, Holocaust, children, babies, junior fiction (Year 5-8)

Synopsis

Two things struck me about this book. The first was the unusual cover with a cut out star showing the yellow of the page behind. The second was how short it was. In fact it's possible to find the whole story online, and it’s probably less than 1000 words – but then you would miss the full impact of the illustrations. 

Having said that – the illustrations are also online, on the Children’s book illustration blog. (I’m not sure who runs this blog and it seems slightly odd to have all these lovely pictures online. Hopefully it’s all legal and he/she has got copyright permission to do so.)

The book begins with an Author’s note in which Ruth Vander Zee tells how "in 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, I met the woman in this story." After that, it morphs into Erika’s story, which in many ways is a story about the unknown – because Erika doesn’t know the date of her birth, her birth name or anything about her birth family. All she knows is an act of love and sacrifice that saved her as a baby, from the fate that awaited everyone else on the train.

Reviews:

This review on the blog called A picture's worth a thousand words makes some interesting points about the use of colour and the style of the illustrations.  

Teachers notes are available here. 

Author’s website

Ruth Vander Zee grew up in Chicago and now lives in Florida. Her website showcases the books she has written, including Eli remembers about a family's links back to Eastern Europe before the war. 

Info about the illustrator

Roberto Innocenti, born near Florence in 1940, is not an illustrator I’ve heard of before but that must be my mistake as he is he is apparently very well regarded and his picture books have been published throughout the world. 

© Patmos Verlagshaus

New Zealand connections:

The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand is on Webb St, near the top of Willis St in Wellington,

It is open 10.00 am to 1.00 pm Monday to Friday and Sunday, closed Saturday and Jewish Holidays, or you can email to arrange a visit.

When the siren wailed by Noel Streatfeild

When the siren wailed by Noel Streatfeild (Collins, 1974)

18 chapters; 174 pages

Subjects: World War Two, England, London, children, evacuees, junior fiction (Year 5-8)

Synopsis

Laura, Andy and Tim Clark are evacuated to the country, like thousands of other London children, at the beginning of WW2. They are billeted in a large house with a “kind but gruff” old Colonel. When he suddenly dies, they are sent to live with the dreaded Miss Justworthy, at which point they decide to escape and try to get back to London to find their parents.

Reviews:

This review mirrors my feelings about the book. There is a lot of heavy-handed explaining, many of the characters are fairly one-dimensional (especially Miss Justworthy, the Evacuee Officer), and the children’s flight back to London isn't very dramatic or suspenseful. Some hugely important plot twists are explained away in a brief sentence or two. The children just aren't very interesting and their dialogue is hard to read (“D’you mean I’ll ‘ave a garden all me own what I don’t share with Andy nor Laura?”)

This is a pity because the subject of evacuees is such a fascinating one, and also because I love many of Noel Streatfeild’s other books, especially The painted garden and Ballet shoes, but this one doesn't have the same magic. 

If you are also a Noel Streatfeild fan, you might like to check out the amusing checklist of How to tell if you are in a Noel Streatfeild novel. Warning signs include: “You are ridiculously talented at one very specific thing”, “So are your siblings. Each of you has a separate, distinct talent, which is fortunate because it means you never have to compete with each other” and “You've never taken a single lesson related to your talents until the story starts. You’re just naturally, amazingly talented.”

(And if you enjoy that, you can go on to find out How to tell if you're in a Dorothy Parker, Jane Austen,Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens or any number of other novels. Complete diversion, sorry. Warning, some entries might be more risque than others.)  

About the author:

This timeline of Noel Streatfeild’s life tells you several interesting things you might not know, such as that she was born on 24 December (perhaps why she was given Noel as a second name) and her first name was actually Mary, that she was employed in WW1 at the Woolwich Arsenal as a munitions worker  (like Johnny’s mother in Lord of the nutcracker men), that she toured England with a Shakespeare company in her 20s and that her London flat was destroyed by a bomb in WW2 .

Other books you might like:

While clearing out some of our book shelves, I  came across another book about evacuee children: Evacuee by Gabriel Alington (Walker Books, 1988.) This treats the subject of evacuees from another angle: that of a timid English girl, Frances (or Fanny) sent away to the USA to live with “Aunt” Bird and her adopted daughter, Pepper. Fanny eventually comes out of her shell, which we know because she gets a new haircut, learns to swim and falls in love with Pepper’s 20-year-old adopted brother (which is slightly creepy as Fanny is only 13.) She also manages to walk into the White House and meet the President.

I think we bought this book at a book fair or second hand bookshops, and it annoyed me because of the plot holes and creepiness factor, but I did learn about the Firsters movement.  The America First movement was against any American involvement in WW2 and one of its leaders was Charles Lindbergh, the famous pilot.

Before Pearl Harbor, aviator Charles Lindbergh was so vocal about his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War II that he became an unofficial leader of America's isolationist movement.

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn; translated by Jeffrey Shandler (first published as Emil und Karl in 1940; this edition Roaring Brook Press, 2006)

ISBN 1-59643-119-9

25 chapters; 186 pages with an Afterword

Subjects: World War Two, Austria, Vienna, USA, children, friends, Jews,  junior fiction (Year 5-8)

Synopsis

This is another book I had never heard of before and one that is unique in many ways. For a start, it is one of the first books to be written for children about what we now call the Holocaust, before people even knew what that really meant.

The story is set in Vienna, Austria, sometime before the start of World War Two. Germany annexed Austria in March 1938 and many Austrian Jews tried to escape but often it was impossible for them to get out, or there was nowhere for them to go. “Incidents described in Emil and Karl, such as Jewish shops being looted, Jews being forced to scrub Vienna’s streets with their bare hands and to act like animals in a public park, actually happened and were reported in American newspapers" (from the Afterword).

Karl has been told to keep away from Emil because he is Jewish, but the two boys are left on their own, with only each other to rely on, when their parents are taken away by the authorities. (Karl is not Jewish, but his parents are Socialists, another category that the Nazis targeted.)  The story of what happens to them over the next few days is told in a quiet, matter of fact way but is absolutely riveting. Together, they meet good people who will help them, and some who suffer for helping them; they encounter cruelty and courage, desperation and generosity, horror and love.

“What makes them do it?” Karl asks after they have been forced to endure the brutality of the pavement-scrubbling scene.  But the book also reminds us that there were many ordinary people who did find the courage to stand up against the regime and fight for freedom, even when they knew that it would probably cost them their lives.

The story is told in very simple language but I think it could actually be quite frightening for younger children, because it is about what happens to two ordinary boys, just like them.

Reviews:

Text Publishing calls this book "A taut, gripping page-turner" and says that it "holds a unique place in publishing history as one of the first works published in any language about what was happening under the Nazi regime."

A Teacher’s resource kit is available here. 

This review in the New York times makes some interesting points about writing for children about war, specifically about the Holocaust: "Indeed, the story of the Holocaust has overwhelmed countless novels intended for adults. The challenge in a book for children is far greater — the risk of frightening them competes with the possibility that an overload of horror will leave them numb. It is perhaps surprising, then, that a writer working with no hindsight at all hit the mark so precisely."

About the author:

Yankev Glatshteyn (1896-1971) was born in Lublin, Poland. He grew up speaking Yiddish, which was the first language for millions of Jews in both America and Europe. When he was 18, he emigrated to the USA and studied law but became a writer instead of a lawyer. He was part of a group of writers who wanted to write poetry and fiction in Yiddish (which was what Emil and Karl was originally written in).

In 1934, Glatshteyn went back to Poland to visit his mother who was unwell. This was when he saw for himself what conditions were like for Jewish people living in Poland and other parts of Europe at that time. In the years leading up to World War Two, Jewish people were being discriminated against and attacked, both economically and even physically. 

Back in America, Glatshteyn wrote two adult novels about this situation as well as Emil and Karl, which was published in New York in February 1940. This was after Nazi Germany had invaded Poland in September 1939 but before America joined the war. In other words, the book was written at the start of the war when nobody yet knew what its ending would be. It was first read by American Jewish children who attended Yiddish schools (as well as their public schools) in the afternoons and weekends. 

Other books you might like:

The silver sword is another famous example of a book about children  being left to cope on their own in war-torn situations. 

The hare with amber eyes: a hidden inheritance by Edmund de Waal is not a children's book, but a fascinating memoir that paints a picture of Vienna at this time. You can read reviews of it in the Guardian and the Telegraph. 

Things I didn't know: Vienna

You can read more about the history of Vienna here and here. 

Applause for forced labour with a toothbrush 

We find it hard to comprehend this at a distance but who knows how we would have reacted at the time, if we had been the cowed, frightened or equally uncomprehending onlookers? 

A travel blogger posted this sad depiction which features a bronze sculpture of an elderly Jewish man, on his hands and knees, scrubbing anti-Nazi slogans from the street surface with a toothbrush

Twenty and ten by Claire Huchet Bishop

Twenty and ten by Claire Huchet Bishop, as told by Janet Joly (Viking Press, 1952)

Also published as The secret cave (Scholastic, 1969)

5 chapters; 76 pages with black and white illustrations by William Pene du Bois

Subjects: World War Two, France, Jews, children, schools, junior fiction (Year 3-6)

This book was a delightful discovery. I'd never heard of it before finding it on a Storylines list of books about the World Wars.

The story is told by a 13 year old girl called Janet, looking back two years to 1944 when she was one of “twenty” fifth grade French school children. Along with their teacher, Sister Gabriel, they agree to hide the “ten” Jewish children in their boarding school up in the hills. At first the two groups of children don’t get on, partly because they have to share rations so everyone is hungrier.

One day Sister Gabriel walks into town for supplies and doesn’t come back; instead, two Nazi soldiers arrive on bicycles. All the children have to use their wits, courage and ingenuity to protect the ten Jewish children, and a hidden underground cave they find during their games becomes a vital hiding place.

The cave is shown on one version of the cover: 

The first chapter might be slightly confusing for any readers who don’t know the Biblical story of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus fleeing King Herod in the Flight into Egypt. The reason it is there seems to be to draw a parallel with the plight of the Jewish children in the war; also it plays a part towards the end, when it looks like the 4-year-old brother is going to spill the beans.

The story is based on real life events in France during the Nazi occupation. It was adapted for a 1986 movie, "Miracle at Moreau." The book also seems to be available online at various sites.

Teachers’ notes:

There are a number of teaching units online, for example here and here.

Questions:

What was at risk for the Jewish children when the Nazis arrived? 

What was at risk for the French children? (In other words, what might happen to them?)

What are the differences between the 20 and 10 children? How are they the same?

Info about the author:

Claire Huchet Bishop (1899 – 1933) grew up in France. In 1924, she opened France's first library for children, L'Heure Joyeuse (The Joyous Hour). She moved to the United States after her marriage. After her first book, a retelling of a Chinese fable  - The five Chinese brothers - she wrote about 30 others, several of which won awards. 

Pancakes-Paris (Viking, 1947) was about food scarcity in France after the war. Two American GIs reward a boy called Charles with a box of pancake mix for giving them directions. Charles wants to make crepes for his family, but he's not sure how to follow the instructions because they are written in English. 



This short biography includes the tantalising information that she was "active during the Second World War in the cause of European Jews," but doesn't give any further details.   

Her obituary in the New York Times also mentions how "the persecution of Jewish friends in France in World War II" prompted her to start writing on different issues. 

Who was Janet Joly?

There is an interesting blog posting here about the words “as told by Janet Joly” on the title page.

“Janet Joly” is presumably meant to be the original narrator - the young girl, Janet, who passes on the story to the author - but in fact she doesn't exist. She seems to be part of the story, a fictional character used to make it seem more real. The funny thing is that you can Google her and she comes up on sites like Goodreads as a real author. 

Info about the illustrator:

William Pene du Bois (1916-1993) was an American writer and illustrator. He lived with his family in France from the age of 8 to 14, and he also died in France (in Nice.)