This was a lovely book. Written with children between the ages of around 4- 8 years of age in mind, the intention is to educate them and help them understand the issues surrounding a parent who is serving in the armed services.
Inspired by the letters and postcards the author received during her childhood from her father who was serving during the Second World War.
The story focus is on young Matthew who spends his afternoons, after school with his Grandfather. His father is working and his mother is serving in the military. During the course of the afternoon's Matthew explores his confusion regarding where his mother has gone, whilst looking at the postcards his grandfather has from his father, also sent from a tour of duty.
Together they build a scrapbook of those early postcards and the subsequent letters, postcards and emails from his mother.
This was a beautiful book with lovely illustrations and was a real joy to read.
I also read this and thought it was an excellent picture book about war for today's children, especially those who have parents deployed overseas. I like the connection between WWII and today, showing how somethings never change when it comes to kids.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more Alex. The illustrations were lovely and hit the right tone for the age group of the kids it was meant for.
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