The red poppy by David
Hill, illustrated by Fifi Colston (Scholastic, 2012)
Also
published in te reo as Te Popi Whero.
Subjects:
World War One, France, poppy, dogs, animals, picture books (Year 3-6)
Synopsis
Jim McLeod is a young soldier
like any other, waiting in the trenches as the time of attack draws nearer.
Nipper is a stray dog, found in an abandoned French village, whom the soldiers have trained to
act as a messenger dog, carrying messages in a leather bag around his neck (and
he was a good rat-killer as well).
The only patch of colour is a
cluster of poppies amidst the grey mud. Jim, an "enemy" German soldier
and Nipper are about to see their paths meet - and the poppies have a role to
play as well.
There's a CD at the back of the
book (and
lyrics on the back page) featuring
an original song (Little red poppy) written
by Canadian musician Rob Kennedy and performed by Giselle Sanderson. (David Hill says in
the acknowledgements that the song "started everything off".) Little red poppy has now been sung at
commemoration services around the world and you can listen to it here on You tube.
You can also listen to The red poppy on Radio NZ's Treasure chest.
Reviews:
My bestfriends are books interviews David
and Fifi about family history, writing this book and what it meant to them.
Kids' book review calls it "a breathtaking and
deeply moving book. It’s about a man, a war, and the basic concepts of
humankind. It’s about a dog, an unlikely friendship and the iconic red poppy
used to commemorate our fallen".
You can
find teacher notes from Scholastic here.
About the author:
David Hill
is one of New Zealand's best (and best loved) writers for children and young
adults. You can read more about him on
the NZ Book Council site or the Christchurch City libraries site.
His
other books with a war theme include Enemy
camp and Flight path. (Interestingly, he says in this newspaper interview that he started writing war
stories because "it became embarrassing
for an "old guy" to try and write contemporary teenage
slang ".)
About the illustrator:
Fifi
Colston has a great website with this page about her children's book
illustration (including The red poppy).
Other books you might like:
Caesar the Anzac dog and The Anzac puppy are both stories about dogs in World War One.
Links
Dogs were
used for many different purposes in World War One (there was even a War Dog School Of Instruction). This article has some interesting facts
about "four-legged fighters".
This one
has a picture of a dog wearing a gas mask.
Have you read it?
Have you read this book? Let me know what you
think!
