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Angel
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| Posted: Jan 31 2008 at 9:42am | IP Logged
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Does anyone have any recommendations for good elementary-aged books set in WWI? We've read The Silver Donkey and Hero Over Here, and I have a few books on order from Amazon: Where Poppies Grow is one of them.
I have several kids interested in the era, including my 4.5 yo. My 11 yo needs independent reads, but it would be nice to have a couple of others I could read aloud. (ages of kids: 4.5, 8.5, and 11)
Thanks!
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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MaryM
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| Posted: Jan 31 2008 at 11:07am | IP Logged
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This thread included living literature for WWI.
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SallyT
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Angela, they're hard to find (you can order used copies from Amazon), but my 10yo son has been addicted to the Biggles books by Captain W.E. Johns, who was a WWI British pilot and cranked out this seemingly neverending series about the adventures of one James Bigglesworth, who joins the RFC at 17, having fudged about his age, and goes on, after the war, to be a kind of hero-pilot-for-hire . . .
Not all the books are all that good, but the ones set in WWI are very worth reading: Biggles Learns to Fly, Biggles Flies East, Biggles in France, Biggles of 266 Squadron, etc. They are stories about air combat, with lots of details about planes and fighting maneuvers, and also lots of cameraderie between Biggles and his squadron mates. Biggles also embodies a kind of "playing-fields-of-Eton" honor that makes him worth reading about.
These really aren't high literature -- Johns pumped them out at a terrific rate, and sometimes that shows -- but they are fun, accurate, exciting, and full of a kind of heroism that I think it's good for boys to be exposed to.
My son actually got into these books at age 4, when we got Biggles Learns to Fly as an audiobook at the library. I had no idea what it was about -- I assumed it was some kind of talking animal story. He listened, and listened, and listened to the book, and was hooked for life. We did have to explain to him that we don't really call German people, like his sister's godfather, "Huns," but other than that, I can't think of anything objectionable.
Maybe you can borrow a couple while you're in Memphis and see if you like them.
Sally
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SallyT
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Re reading level -- these would be good independent reads for an 11yo, but they're also fun family read-alouds. All my kids like listening to them and being on the edge of their seats.
Sally
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CrunchyMom
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Usborne has this collection of stories. We bought the WWII one, I think, but I haven't read it since I bought ahead a bit when I had a lot of free books from hosting a party.
They also have a WWI history book, which, while not exactly living literature, is certainly a more appealing format than a regular textbook, imo.
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: WWI books?
