My eldest has been endlessly fascinated with the first and second world wars in the last few months. It’s not a topic we have covered yet (although since his interest we have been looking at life in Wartime Britain). There’s a lot of books out there on the subject, and we have read a fair few of these in recent months. The books that follow are ones that have really engaged D (aged 7).
Horrible Histories
I know that some people have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Horrible Histories books, but D absolutely loves them and he has picked up lots of facts through reading them. There are three war themed ones and his favourite ones is Blitzed Brits (which he has loaned to a friend recently) and our copy if well read! He has recently purchased Frightful First World War and Woeful Second World War. Both have been well-read and enjoyed.
I never really enjoyed the Horrible Histories books when I was younger, but they’ve really captured Daniel’s imagination and interest and he has learnt a lot of facts from them, or has been inspired to learn more elsewhere. Although I do appreciate that they’re not for everyone.
Factual Books
It was a couple of factual books that really captured D’s interets initially, and it was two that I wrote about here. The Story of the First World War and The Story of the Second World War are written in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum and there is so much packed into these books. There’s a lot about military uniform and vehicles as well as what life was like on the front line and back at home. They’re really well written and really engaging for children. The information is presented clearly and lots of images to look through too.
Along a similar line are the National Archive WW1 and National Archives WWII books. These are very similar to the books above and are probably better suited to a younger audience. They are both perfectly age appropriate for KS2 and the IWM ones perhaps older KS2 to KS3. D has really enjoyed both sets of books and both are well-read
Another book that has been a big hit is D-Day. This is a large book and beautifully produced with the untold stories of the Normandy Landings. It tells the story from 20 different people including a German Field Marshal, An American pilot, Military nurses and a member of the press to name a few. There are photographs of each person along with illustrations to depict their stories. It’s a great book and one that we have enjoyed sharing and learning about some of the people behind the D-Day landings.
Espionage During the War
We have learnt about spies in the past and this was a thread that we picked up again with this theme. The Secret Life of Spies is similar in style to D-Day mentioned above and is written and illustrated by the same team. It follows 20 real life spies and the readers uncovers the stories of their missions. It’s fascinating and D made up his own spy kit and he and Em have been using their MicroBits to send spy messages back and forth!
Em purchased a book called Find the Spy on a visit to the IWM North recently and it’s great fun. She’s really enjoyed this book and there are some secret spy activities in there which she has been busy doing. I like the blend of this book with a find and search plus some hands-on spy activities as well as the facts about the spies it features.
War Themed Chapter Books
Finally, I have really been enjoying reading some extended chapter books aloud to the older two children over the last few weeks. I’ve been trying better to find ones that match with topics and themes we are working on, and the books I shared in this post below on Instagram are all related to the War Theme
I found Mohinders War to be a really powerful and brilliant book and it does a wonderful job of demonstrating just who was fighting under the British flag and what that meant. I’ll be honest and say D found this one quite difficult. The language is age-appropriate but the content is definitely older KS2 – the reality of civilian involvement I think he found quite shocking. I’ve read it since and thought it was a great book for us to revisit in a year or two when his emotional maturity is a bit more developed.
Umbrella Mouse to the rescue is a book that draws on the lives of animals caught up in the war. These animals are operating as a secret spy network, with umbrella mouse trying to get back to Italy. It’s a tale of bravery and friendship and one I’ve enjoyed. There is another book in this series that we have yet to read – let me know if you’ve read it!
The two Terry Deary, An Unlikely Spy and The Silver Hand have been big hits here. As mentioned above, we enjoy the Horrible Histories books and these two book focus on specific parts of the wars and are woven throughout with historical details. D has read one of these and I’m going to read the other aloud to them as our next read aloud once we have finished our current book. I hope it complements our wartime study well.
Are there any other brilliant war-themed books I should be including?
