Good historical novels WW1 and 2

[Fekko]

Does anyone know of some really good (and factually correct) books for a yr9 boy on ww1 and 2?

The SIlver Sword by Ian Serraillier is excellent for a boy interested in WW2. Perhaps a little young, but boys' reading ages can vary enormously so worth a glance?

Great I'll take a look. He's read all quiet on the western front and tommy so far.

War Horse and Private Peaceful

The Machine Gunners too !

Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves is good on WW1

Also Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914

Stay where you are and then leave by John Boyne is excellent. It's set during WW1 and deals with so many issues - war, concienscious objectors, shell shock/mental health, children during war, racism, prejudice etc etc. I much prefer it to Striped Pyjamas.

What age is Yr9 btw? Sorry - I'm in Scotland and not sure of the correlation. (plus I know that yr9 is different in NI compared to England)

There's a series by Morris Gleitzman with (I think) 4 books called something like Once, Then, Now & After. My DS has enjoyed them.

Not a book, but Swing Kids is a great movie which really shows what life in Nazi Germany was like for young men. Wouldn't be suitable below about age 15 though.

Or would he be interested in some poetry? My DS has really enjoyed a lot of war poetry - gives a different literary experience but might be worth considering - there are some decent war poetry compilations around

First World War poets are studied exhaustively in KS4 (too soon IMO). DS did Wildred Owen in English for years... until he was a bit fed up. I studied it for A level, and it was powerful stuff at 17/18, which would have been the age of many soldiers.

There should have been five
Honikman

It's based on a true story and focusses on a South African soldier

Recommended by my dd's Yr 9 English teacher for WW1:
'All Quiet on the Western Front' (Erich Maria Remarque)
'Birdsong' (Sebastian Faulks)
'An Ice-Cream War' (William Boyd)
'Parade's End' (Ford Maddox Ford)
'Testament of Youth' (Vera Brittain)
And Pat Barker's regeneration series.

Great stuff! It's going to be a great Christmas reading list!

The Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh about teenagers helping with the Dunkirk evacuation - it will be an easy read at his age but it's a lovely book.

The machine gunners is great, there's a sequel, fathom five, about later in the war.

The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat, about the navy and atlantic convoys in WW2 - follows the home and sea lives of a group of sailors throughout the war - it's an adult book, touches on prostitution, STDs etc as well as obviously all the death - but it's amazingly vivid and a different focus from many war books.

The Wooden Horse by Eric Williams about the tunnel escape under the vaulting horse from a POW camp - fab story and more feelgood.

The Time of the Young Soldiers by Hans Peter Richter - young German WW2 officer.

That's brilliant! I've chosen an armful and got some really good second hand deals on Amazon and e-bay.

A bit grown up but less harrowing than the regeneration books by pat barker - ken follet’s century series. Just be warned - regeneration is an amazing novel but really quite graphic and disturbing. It’s more commonly studied at A Level.

Some of the My Story books might be interesting, there are some written as if from the trenchers and blitz.
www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ref=pd_sl_5kaaoyg85y_e&keywords=my+story+books&hvdev=m&hvadid=3171138221&index=aps&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

Birdsong is not appropriate for children in my opinion quite a bit of sex in but it is an excellent book about ww1

Would 'Boy in the Striped Pajamas' be too young? Hit me where it hurt and I won't read it to my UKS2s because I think it's to harrowing, but I know many do.

If he hasn't already read it- 'Goodnight Mr Tom'

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico is a short story about Dunkirk and one of the small boats.
I am David by Anne Holm, about a boy escaping a concentration camp in Europe in WW1 and finding his way home.

Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard, a boy in a Singapore POW camp in WW1 (film available)
The Railway Man by Eric Lomax, a biography from a WW2 soldier held in a Japanese POW camp. (film is pretty good too)

'Man's Search For Meaning' by Victor Frankl is really amazing- life changing- but he may not be ready for that.

He's read the boy in the striped pyjamas (had me blubbing) and empire of the sun. I'd love some set in London in WW2 (where his grandmother and great grandparents were stationed) as he wont hear the stories from them but I'm keen for him to know what life was like.

Empire of the Sun is WW2 obvs!! Mind=lost

Judith Kerr, who wrote 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' also wrote 'Bombs on the Old Aunt Dainty' which is a biography of herself in London during WW2.

Hope and Glory and Housewife 47 are both films but very acute about home life during the blitz, with Hope and Glory being London.

London ones: Fireweed by Jill Paton Walsh

Strange meeting by Susan Hill