In September, three hundred gangly innocents shipped out by Channel steamer from Southampton to Boulogne. Then, wedged in by heat, sweat, and stink, we rode for hours by cattle car at cattle speed, wheels click-clacking across France. The train hissed to a stop, and its slatted doors flew open. We marched ten miles through Belgium to the Western Front--a planet away from Cardiff, Wales, and the meadows of my youth.
Is it a picture book? Is it a graphic novel? I'm not sure I have the answer to that. If it is a picture book, it is one of those 'for older readers.' This short book is powerfully descriptive. In just thirty or so pages, readers get the chance to imagine what war was like. It was not pretty. (The war in question is World War I.)
This is a fictional account of the war. The war is seen through the eyes of one young man who participated in the 'Christmas truce' of 1914. If you're expecting a happy, happy book, this isn't for you. It's more realistic than that, more honest than that. It's an interesting contrast really, seeing those moments of war and moments of peace so close together. I think this is a book that invites you to think.
This is my first book for the War Through the Generations Challenge.
Read And the Soldiers Sang:
- If you love stories that are told just as much through art--illustration--as words/text.
- If you are interested in war stories.
- If you are interested in World War I.
- If you are looking for bittersweet Christmas stories.
© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
