The Literacy Classroom
Improving, inspiring and supporting
English teaching and learning
World War 1
Stay Where You Are Then Leave
by John Boyne
The day the First World War broke out, Alfie Summerfield's father promised he wouldn't go away to fight - but he broke that promise the following day. Four years later, Alfie doesn't know where his father might be, other than that he's away on a special, secret mission.
Then, while shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie unexpectedly sees his father's name - on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor. Bewildered and confused, Alfie realises his father is in a hospital close by - a hospital treating soldiers with an unusual condition. Alfie is determined to rescue his father from this strange, unnerving place .
A Soldier's Friend
by Megan Rix
SAMMY is a football crazy rescue puppy.
MOUSER is a fearless grey tabby.
Together they make an unlikely pair that won't be parted, not even by the First World War.
As the war rages in Europe, Londoners are sending brave animals to help the soldiers - and Mouser and Sammy are soon on their way to the trenches.
Boldly criss-crossing no-man's land they make new friends of every nationality - and reunite with old ones. But on the muddy front line, under fire and constantly in danger, will their friendship be enough to save them so they can return home together?
'If you love Michael Morpurgo, you will enjoy this' Express
Ghost Soldier
by Theresa Breslin
A thrilling, poignant story of hope and loss set during World War 1, from Carnegie Medal-winning author Theresa Breslin.
Nobody believes in ghosts until they see one . . .
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?
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
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. The bedlam of battle had begun. All around me men cried and fell to the ground, and horses reared and screamed in an agony of fear and pain. The shells whined and roared overhead, and every explosion seemed like an earthquake to us. 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.
Farm Boy
by Michael Morpurgo
The magical sequel to ‘War Horse’.
Joey was the last working horse on the farm, and the apple of Grandpa’s eye. In War Horse, Joey was sent away from the farm to be a warhorse in WWI. Grandpa had joined the cavalry in order to find, and fight, with Joey. Farm Boy brings us forward fifty years with Grandpa not only telling his grandson, Joey’s story but also a ‘shameful secret’ which he has held for years…
The story is set in Iddesleigh in Devon and lovingly evokes the bonds between farm and farmer; grandson and grandfather. The spirit of rural life is superbly captured in both Michael Morpurgo’s writing and Michael Foreman’s illustrations. An irresistible title from acclaimed author-illustrator partnership.
War Game
by Michael Foreman
A special lavishly illustrated new edition of Michael Foreman’s classic story. It’s 1914 when everything changes for a group of bys growing up and playing football in the Suffolk countryside. Far away, in a place called Sarajevo, an Archduke has been killed and a web of global events results in a call for all British men to do their duty ‘for King and Country’ and join the army to fight the Germans overseas. The boys sign up for what sounds like an adventure and a chance to see the world. After basic training the boys sail to France where they find themselves fighting on the front line. Living in the trenches in constant fear for their lives is nothing like they expected and only a bombed-out wasteland, no-man’s-land, separates their trences from those of their German enemies. Then, on Christmas Day, something remarkable happens as the German and British armies stop fighting and meet in the middle of no-man’s-land. The enemies talk, play football and become friends. But the war isn’t over, the two sides resume fighting and the group of Suffolk lads are ordered to charge across no-man’s-land
Poppy Field
by Michael Morpurgo
A new illustrated story celebrating the poppy's history.
Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman have teamed up with the Royal British Legion to tell an original story that explains the meaning behind the poppy.
In Flanders' fields, young Martens knows his family's story, for it is as precious as the faded poem hanging in their home. From a poor girl comforting a grieving soldier, to an unexpected meeting of strangers, to a father's tragic death many decades after treaties were signed, war has shaped Martens's family in profound ways - it is their history as much as any nation's.
They remember.
They grieve.
They honour the past.
This book also includes a full-colour, illustrated afterword that explains the history that inspired the story.
Stubby: A True Story of Friendship
by Michael Foreman
Stubby was a brave soldier, a loyal friend... and a dog. From an army training camp to the trenches in France, this is the incredible true story of Sergeant Stubby, the dog who served bravely in the First World War, sniffing out gas attacks, catching spies and winning the hearts of his fellow soldiers.
The Little Hen and the Great War
by Jennifer Beck
A young soldier is fighting in the trenches of wartime France when he finds a hen, skinny, scruffy, and starving. He tucks her into his jacket and takes her with him. The other soldiers laugh when they see him looking after her and sharing his meagre rations of food, but when the hen thrives and begins to lay eggs for them, they realise that perhaps survival and hope are possible after all. A beautiful story of unexpected friendship in the midst of fighting and devastation.