Introduction
In addition to nonfiction children's books like DK Eyewitness World War I, some of the best children's books about World War I can be found in fiction in picture book and scrapbook format. Here are three I particularly recommend:
Best Children's Books About World War I
Title: Once A Shepherd
Author: Glenda Millard, an Australian author, also wrote the award-winning picture book Isabella’s Garden
Illustrator: Phil Lesnic lives in Sydney, Australia and made his debut as a children’s book illustrator with Once A Shepherd.
Summary: Once A Shepherd is the poignant story of a young family torn apart by World War I. Gently told in verse, with soft and quiet watercolor illustrations, this is the story of a young shepherd and his wife, Cherry, whose life together is interrupted by World War I. While his pregnant wife waits for Tom among the hills of home, Tom goes off to war.
When Tom dies in battle helping an enemy, the stranger, although injured himself, visits Tom’s home to tell Cherry of her husband’s deeds. The book ends with Tom’s young son and his widow sitting on the peaceful hillside. While this may not be a book for every young child, it is beautifully told and a good way to introduce the concepts of war and peace, loss and grief, and the human toll of war.
Length: 32 pages
Format: Hardcover picture book
Recommended for: Ages 8 and up, including middle school students studying World War I
Publisher: Candlewick Press, First US Edition
Publication Date: 2014
ISBN: 9780763674588
Additional Resources:
- Classroom Ideas Guide for Once A Shepherd, from Walker Books Australia
- Background information: World War I 101: An Overview, from the About.com Military History Expert
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Title: Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War, 1914-1918
Author and Illustrator: Marcia Williams has written and illustrated a great many children’s books, a number of them award winners.
Summary: Rather than a graphic novel or a comic book, although it has elements of both, Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War, 1914-1918 really does appear to be an actual scrapbook. Marcia Williams uses this format effectively to enable the title character, Archie, to tell his story of life in London’s East End during World War I, beginning with the year he turned 10 and received the scrapbook as a birthday present.
To learn more about the book and how it reflects the impact of World War I on English children and families, read my full review of Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War, 1914-1918.
Length: 48pages
Format: Hardcover
Recommended for: Ages 8-12, grades 3-7, reluctant readers
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 9780763635329
Related Resources:
- All About DK Eyewitness World War I – Read my book review of this nonfiction children’s book.
Title: Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914
Author and Illustrator: John Hendrix, who wrote and illustrated John Brown: His Fight for Freedom and illustrated Marissa Moss’s Nurse, Soldier, Spy.
Summary: As the author explains in the Author’s Note, Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 is a fictionalized account of an event that actually happened during World War I. As Hendrix relates, “On December 24, 1914, along many miles of the trench lines near the Belgium-France border, pockets of British, French, and German soldiers spontaneously stopped fighting and celebrated Christmas together.”
After a two-page introduction that stresses that World War I wasn’t the “Great War,” but instead, “It was dreadful,” the story is told through the letters home from a young soldier named Charlie, stuck for three months, along with other soldiers, in a very cold trench in France not far from the German enemy line. He recounts the story of how the Christmas truce happened and how wonderful it felt. “For one glorious Christmas morning, war had taken a holiday.”
The Author’s Note includes a more detailed description of the Chrstmas truce, an historic photograph and a glossary. Although his story highlights a bright note in the war, John Hendrix does not sugarcoat the impact and futility of World War I. His illustrations, created with graphite, fluid washes and gouache, add emotion and humanity to the story.
Length: 40 pages
Format: Hardcover picture book (also available in e-book format)
Recommended for: Ages 8 and up, including middle school students studying World War I
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2014
ISBN: 9781419711756
Additional Resources:
- The Christmas Truce of 1914 from the About.com 20th Century History Expert
- World War I: The Christmas Truce of 1914 from the About.com Military History Expert.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.