World War 1
Books
Here’s a list of some WW1 books that I have found useful and enjoyable to use while studying the topic! For lots of other reading suggestions take a look at this list on lovereading4kids.com. I have also included links to external websites where you can purchase a copy of each book. Where possible I’ve tried to link to small Irish booksellers. Enjoy!
War Horse
In the deadly chaos of the First World War, one horse witnesses the reality of battle from both sides of the trenches. Bombarded by artillery, with bullets knocking riders from his back, Joey tells a powerful story of the truest friendships surviving in terrible times. One horse has the seen the best and the worst of humanity. The power of war and the beauty of peace. This is his story.
Ages 9+
Ghost Soldier
The war has changed everything for Rob and Millie. Their father is missing in action and they are terrified they'll never see him again. Then one night, deep in the woods, Rob and Millie see an eerie figure in the window of an abandoned house. But there's no such thing as ghosts, is there?
Ages 9+
Private Peaceful
Told in the voice of Private Tommo Peaceful, the story follows twenty-four hours at the front, and captures his memories of his family and his village life - by no means as tranquil as it appeared. Full of vivid detail and engrossing atmosphere, leading to a dramatic and moving conclusion, Private Peaceful is both a compelling love story and a deeply moving account of the First World War.
Ages 11+
Wave
Brothers Eddie and Charlie find a photo of the great-great-uncles they were named after and discover an amazing story of WWI, at the Front and back at home. Assured that the Germans have been destroyed by bombardment, the earlier Eddie and Charlie are sent into No Man's Land in the 'First Wave' of the Somme. But when Charlie is forced to leave Eddie behind, his life is haunted by grief and guilt.
Dyslexic
The Foreshadowing
It is 1915. Seventeen-year-old Sasha Fox is the privileged only daughter of a respected doctor living in the wealthy seaside town of Brighton. But her brothers, Edgar and Tom, have gone to war and Sasha has a terrible gift. She can see the future. Her premonitions show her untold horrors on the battlefields of the Somme, and worse still, what will happen to Edgar and Tom...
Ages 11+
The Great War
This is a collection of stories inspired by objects from the First World War. The Great War is a powerful collection of stories by bestselling authors, each inspired by a different object from the First World War. From a soldier's writing case to the nose of a Zeppelin bomb, each object illuminates an aspect of life during the war, and each story reminds us of the millions of individual lives that were changed forever by the four years of fighting.
Ages 9+
Wave
Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies - injured, thirsty, lost...and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Where has she come from? Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even - as some islanders suggest - a German spy...? Only one thing is for sure: she loves music and moonlight, and it is when she listens to the gramophone that the glimmers of the girl she once was begin to appear...
Ages 9+
Road to War
It's 1917 and the Great War rages in Europe. When Daffy Rowntree's brother goes missing in action, she refuses to sit safely in England, and determines to do something to help win the war. Soon she finds herself in the mud and horror of the battlefields of France, driving an ambulance transporting the wounded of the trenches.
Ages 11+
War Song
The Great War is raging in France and for girls like Florence and Dorothy it's a liberating time ...but also a dangerous one. As Dorothy risks her life working in the local munitions factory, Florence dreams of becoming a nurse - but when her wish comes true and she heads off to France to nurse the soldiers, she realizes that her dream is actually a living nightmare. Dorothy is determined to help as many soldiers as she can, and if she can't, she'll die trying...
Ages 13+