Wave Paperback – 15 Jun. 2016

delighted 10yr old

I always enjoy trying the latest Barrington Stoke titles. Some of our best authors contributing shorter works to a series of well laid out and varied books for reluctant and dyslexic readers.This one, I wanted to read as a much longer novel, I wanted to know more about the characters and about what happened to them after the events of the story. Set in the present and in World War I, two brothers, Charlie and Eddie (as brothers discovering an old photo and their predecessors off at the Front) learn of their history and show us history at the same time.We get a good feel for life in the trenches, and in moments reminiscent of Blackadder episodes, the lunacy and downright imbecilic slaughter of so many men. It's honest in its approach to the past, to what happened at the Front without being graphic in the violence.Lots of discussion points - Conscientious Objectors are brought up, the incompetency of the Generals, the underage boys fighting, the injuries and effects of war.I hadn't known the facts (brought up after the story) about Pals battalions, something interesting and very sad to learn from this story.Well told story, past and present brought together well, and at 70 pages a perfect quick read.

Paul Dowswells books are always well researched, gritty and thought provoking and this one is no exception, even though it's a short story. Told in chapters that fluctuate between July 2016 and July 1916 when two brothers Charlie and Eddie Taylor are together. In July 2016 they are helping to clear out a house with their grandmother when they find an old photo of soldiers at the Front in WW1. Grandmother tells them they're their namesakes and so the story of the Battle of the Somme begins.My only criticism would be that I think it jumps into 1916 too soon and that 1 Chapter is out of place. If Chapter 7 was reworked slightly it could then become Chapter 2 and then the story of the Somme would flow from there.