First World War Fiction
The First World War is a source of so many stories, both factual and fiction, and sometimes the best way to bring the period to life is through a storybook. Below are some suggestions for children and young people's further reading based on the prizes we have given out as part of our competition. Many thanks to the authors and publishers of the books below for kindly donating signed copies of their books as prizes. You can find stories that are generally appropriate for the younger end of our age range at the top of this list, and those for older students towards the bottom.
Flo of the Somme
Winner: 2016 Young Quills Award, Historical Association Mercy dog, Flo, has more to contend with than racing across the dangerous battlefield of the Somme. Can she get her medical kit to the injured? Can she lead Ray, the stretcher-bearer, and his donkey to them in time? Depicting th...
The Amazing Tale of Ali Pasha
Henry, ferrying the wounded from the battlefield, had not eaten or slept for three days. Then, somehow, in the midst of the bombardments, he met an unlikely companion - a tortoise. Retold through journal entries and through Henry's accounts to a young reporter, Ali's story has stunning colour...
The Runaways
SHANTI and her calf TARA are beautiful circus elephants. HARVEY is the faithful old collie who leads the show. In war they will perform their most death-defying trick ye ...
Tumult and Tears
A unique anthology of women's poetry which rather than just reprinting poetry places it firmly within the context of the war. By giving the historical, social and personal background for the poems the reader is able to appreciate the poem, why it was written and the story it tells. The women poets t...
Walter Tull's Scrapbook
Born in Kent, in 1888, Walter Tull became not just the first black British professional outfield football player – for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town - but also the first black officer in the British Army. His leadership and courage in the trenches of the First World War won him a recom...
Dear Jelly: Family Letters from the First World War
The moving story of two brothers who fought in the First World War through the real letters, complete with hand-drawn cartoons, they sent to their sisters. Like so many families across the world, the Semple family were split apart by the First World War. While William and Robert were fighting the Ge...
Over the Line
It’s 1914 and Jack is making his debut as a professional footballer. But the match is marred by a demonstration demanding that the players sign up to do their duty in France. It is not long before Jack is bound for the trenches with the Footballers’ Battalion...
Line of Fire
In this striking black and white graphic novel adaptation of a 100-year-old diary, the events of the first two months of the First World War are vividly brought to life. This is one man's personal account of war, silhouetted against the historical events of 1914 that formed and transformed the world...
