Brave Company by David Hill - a book to add to your Anzac Day collection.

Anzac Day is one of the most important days in the history of New Zealand.  It was the ignition of a series of events that began the formation of the New Zealand identity and loosened the apron ties of Mother England.  It was also the beginning of unimagined sacrifice by a country with a small population.

As a teacher, I believe that this important part of our history should never be forgotten and is a valuable part of the learning journey for our children.  Consequently I teach an Anzac Day unit each year and supply and read a selection of war stories to the children.

Last year I reviewed the David Hill novel My Brother's War set in WWI about two brothers, one who volunteered to serve and one who was a conscientious objector but was forced onto the battlefield against his beliefs.  I had read this book to my class and it encouraged other children to read it for themselves and even one child to ask her mother to purchase a copy for her.  Since that review I purchased another David Hill book focused on a different war.

Brave Company is set during the Korean Conflict and the main character is 16 year old Russell who is a member of the New Zealand Navy serving on a ship called HMNZS Taupo which has been sent to participate in the Korean Conflict.  Korea is war rarely discussed in terms of every day conversations on war, but New Zealand sent 4700 soldiers to serve during the 1950-1953 war and then as a peace keeping force during the armistice until 1957, and 1300 sailors served on frigates during the war and armistice, and all up 45 military personnel were lost.  (www.nzhistory.net.nz - Korean War)

I had a great uncle serve in Korea.  The first time I did an Anzac Day unit my Gran lent me a postcard Uncle T sent home about Christmas time with the Christmas Day menu on it.  I also treasure the photo I acquired of him in uniform with my great grandfather (who served in WWI) and great grandmother.  Uncle T saw enough of war in Korea to oppose his own son joining the army to serve in Vietnam.

This is the front cover and the blurb on the back cover:

Russell's family has a secret about an uncle who served and died in WWII who Russell once looked up to.  During his time in Korea Russell finds out about his uncle and discovers not all in what it appears to be.

 

Russell is a boy seaman on a frigate and the battle scene the frigate is involved in is tense and described in detail.  The tension is built throughout the book with innuendo about his uncle weaved through.  Hill doesn't reveal the questions asked about Russell's uncle early in the book.  They emerge as Russell's character is revealed and he meets a man who served with his uncle as he makes several trips into the battlefields of Korea. 

 

The book also reveals the plight of the Korean people as they fled their homes in the battle zone and the impact upon the children in particular.  Russell makes connections with a brother and sister in this predicament and demonstrates another side to his character as his understanding of their situation develops.

 

Again this is a great book to engage children in the realities and impacts of war.  It is a particularly good book to target boys aged 10 up to read, but I believe girls will also read this book.  I would definitely read it to a class and supply it as independent reading material.

Anzac Day books I'm going to use this coming term.

Anyone who has delved into this blog before may have noticed that I have one or two posts about what I have taught or done with my class for Anzac Day.  (See the label list on the side to find other Anzac Day posts). 

 

This year Anzac Day falls right in the middle of the term break (again) in New Zealand.  Yesterday I went shopping.  I had seen the book shop brochures and the Scholastic Book Club, so I had a fair idea what this year's crop of new books on Anzac Day were... and I couldn't resist.

 

First up is a picture book, Jim's Letters, by Glyn Harper (the Massey University professor who also wrote The Donkey Man) and illustrated by Jenny Cooper.

 

 

 

What a beautifully illustrated and presented book.  The premise is simple: two brothers, one off to Gallipoli, the younger at home on the farm with the family, writing letters to each other.  The narrative simply states who sent the letter from where and when.  The rest of the story is told through the letters themselves: postcards, letters (some which have to be lifted open or taken out of an envelope), one on a scrap of cardboard.

 

It is a gorgeous hard back book, but not one I'll be letting my class have willy-nilly with the pull outs and lift ups that could easily be ripped or lost.  I will be setting some clear parameters around how this book will be shared.

 

At the end of the book it talks about "boy soldiers" - the soldiers who were under age, some as young as 14, who fought, died and survived Gallipoli.  This will be an interesting avenue of learning to take with the class.

 

The next book is The Anzac Puppy by Peter Millett and Trish Bowles.  This is a paperback picture book.

 

 

Again, a beautifully illustrated book.  It continues on with a theme well worn now in children's war picture books of animals at war.  The premise is that a little girl gets a puppy called Freda, a New Zealand soldier comes along and likes the dog so takes her to the Western Front as the mascot for the company.  The young soldier takes solace in the dog as his friends are killed or felled by sickness.  And I'm not going to tell you the rest because it will spoil it for you.

 

Apparently there was a dog called Freda with New Zealand troops on the Western Front, and that dog has inspired this story, although this is a fictitious story.  At the end of the story there is an explanation about what is now known about the real Freda and the soldiers she was with.

 

The third book is another paperback picture book, Best Mates, by Philippa Werry and Bob Kerr.  Many teachers and students will know Philippa's work with the School Journal and Connected series, while Bob Kerr is most famous for his illustration in Terry and the Gunrunners and After the War.



 

 

This story introduces the reader to three best mates, the narrator and his mates Harry and Joe, who grew up together on the same street and went to school together.  Then they signed up to go to war together.  It goes on to explain how they went to Gallipoli, what happened there, what happened after the war and a return to Gallipoli years later.  I won't spoil the rest.

 

Again, at the end of the story, there is some additional information about where Gallipoli is, how our troops got there, what it was like, how we remember those who fell, and some websites to visit.

 

This book I have not read yet (I've only had it 27 hours at the time of writing).  This is David Hill's latest book Brave Company.  David Hill's book My Brother's War  was the focus of my last blog.

This book is about sixteen-year-old Boy Seaman Russell Purchas who is stationed on HMNZS Taupo  in 1951 going into the Korean conflict.

I'm very excited about this book because most New Zealand war literature for children focuses on World Wars one and two, and there is very little on any later wars and conflicts we have sent children to.  Also, there is very little for children on our own New Zealand wars in the mid 19th century (hint, hint writers).

Now, I probably won't read it to my class, but I intend on reading it myself and then "selling" the book to the class by reading a teaser page, and then hopefully one of my more confident readers will take it on to read.  I'm picking this will be another great book to get boys reading, but I only have girls that will pick it up at the moment.

My Brother's War by David Hill - a book I read to my class for Anzac Day

Each year I do a focus on Anzac Day in my classroom.  I'm always on the look out for great books that can communicate the New Zealand experience in the wars New Zealanders have gone to.  I also am a bit of a war novel junkie and have a slight obsession with war documentaries on the History Channel.

Last year the book I purchased as my main focus was My Brother's War by David Hill.

I bought this book last year to add to my Anzac Day resource collection.  I bought it at one of my favourite bookshops, Wright's Bookshop in Cambridge, which always has a great range of children's and young people's literature, a great range of New Zealand authors, and a great range in non-fiction as well.  I rarely leave this book shop without a purchase. 

I read this book to my class and then some children choose to read it themselves afterwards, and one child even bought the book herself.  When children want to re-read or buy the book for themselves, I think that is a great endorsement to the book itself.

David Hill is a well known and established New Zealand author who has written a number of novels and is a well known contributor to the School Journal.  He is a trained teacher and has been published internationally.  These are the links to his Penguin Books profile and his New Zealand Book Council profile and an interview with the Christchurch City Libraries.

The blurb on the back cover reads as follows:

My Dear Mother,
Well, I've gone and done it. I've joined the Army!
Don't be angry at me, Mother dear. I know you were glad when I wasn't chosen in the ballot. But some of my friends were, and since they will be fighting for King and Country, I want to do the same.
 
It's New Zealand, 1914, and the biggest war the world has known has just broken out in Europe.

William eagerly enlists for the army but his younger brother, Edmund, is a conscientious objector and refuses to fight. While William trains to be a soldier, Edmund is arrested.

Both brothers will end up on the bloody battlefields of France, but their journeys there are very different. And what they experience at the front line will challenge the beliefs that led them there.

A compelling novel about the First World War for 9-12 year olds.

The following text and the picture above comes from the Penguin Books New Zealand website:

Penguin Group (NZ) is proud that David Hill’s novel My Brother’s War has won the 2013 Junior Fiction category at New Zealand’s prestigious New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. The award was announced at a ceremony held in Christchurch last night. My Brother’s War was also the winner in the Children’s Choice Junior Fiction category.

My Brother’s War was released in August 2012 with great success. The compelling novel about the First World War – for 9-12 year olds – follows the lives of two brothers; William who eagerly enlists for the army, and his younger brother Edmund, a conscientious objector refusing to fight. While William trains to be a soldier, Edmund is arrested. Both brothers end up on the bloody battlefields of France, but their journeys there couldn’t be more different.

David is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded authors for children and young people. His books have been published internationally and he has won awards for his writing in this country and overseas. David was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004.

Margaret Thompson, Managing Director of Penguin Group (NZ) stated “We heartily congratulate David Hill and are delighted to share in his remarkable success.”  25 June 2013

My class was very excited when the news came through that My Brother's War has won the Junior Fiction category in the New Zealand Post's Children's Book Awards, as well as the Children's Choice Junior Fiction Award.

The thing I found intriguing about this book was exploring what happened to conscientious objectors.  This link will take you to NZ History for a more detailed description of what a conscientious objector is.  I knew that those who were not enlisted often received white feathers and that conscientious objectors were arrested and put in jail and did hard labour.

What I did not know was that these conscientious objectors were then forced into the army and with no training sent to the Western Front in World War I.

Those who continued to resist were then subjected to what was known as 'field punishment no.1' - a brutal punishment devised by the military hierarchy, which Edmund is subjected to in this book.  TVNZ showed a movie on Tuesday 22 April 2014 called Field Punishment No.1, based on a book of the same name, based on the experiences of Archibald Baxter, New Zealand's most famous conscientious objector.  In fact, Archie is also a significant character in My Brother's War.

My Brother's War is aimed at children aged 9-12, but I think even teenagers and adults will thoroughly be engaged in this book.  I think it is a good book to engage boys with, however it was the girls in my class who re-read it for themselves.  It certainly opened my eyes to an area of war very rarely discussed, an area that has been touched upon lightly over the years.  This is definitely a good book to read aloud to a class or to give to a individual student or group of students to read independently.