Migration and survival are significant joint themes of human experience. Rose Blanche (2004), a picturebook (illustrated by Roberto Innocenti and retold by Ian McEwan), is set in Germany during the Second World War and tells the story of a young girl who discovers a concentration camp on the outskirts of her town. The illustrated story follows her as she bravely smuggles food to the starving children. Through a focus on a brave young German girl this book attempts to address the negative view that some young readers in this country may develop through reading other books set in the Second World War. Although it has not been written about to the same extent, the Great War has been a popular setting for some writers. War Horse (1982), by Michael Morpurgo, is regularly read in primary schools. The story, unusually narrated by a horse, tells of the war from the horse’s perspective. Morpurgo was moved to write the story when he read about the vast number of horses that were killed in the First World War. The story has been adapted for stage and is an extremely successful National Theatre production with life size horse puppets and has also been made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg (2011). Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman have also written about the football game which was 24 The Historian – Spring 2013
played between the German and the British soldiers on the first Christmas Day of the Great War, The Best Christmas Present in the World (2004). This little illustrated book reflects the similarities between the two countries rather than the difference between two opposing armies. Teresa Breslin’s teenage novel, Remembrance, is initially set in a Scottish village in 1915 and focuses on two families from different social classes. This difference allows Breslin to give alternative viewpoints about the war: on the one hand patriotically fighting for one’s country, on the other the antiwar argument, as put forward by the landowners’ son: ‘The War should be stopped at once. The vast amounts of money maintaining the Army would be better spent at home feeding the poor.’4 This sentiment has echoes of Siegfried Sassoon’s disillusionment. Breslin puts the atrocities of war alongside the changing social fabric of society and the shifting role of women, with female characters working in munitions factories and nursing on the battlefields. Since the two great wars other wars have been fought and various novels have been written about these. Three novels are worth considering here in a little more detail. Life: An Explored Diagram (2011) by Mal Peet is a teenage
novel which covers a historical arc from the Second World war and ending on 11 September 2001, with a particular focus on the Cold War and the Cuban Missile crisis. Using first love as a focus, Peet portrays the significant points of the post-war period through the memories of the young male narrator, Clem Ackroyd. Although Clem is said to be ‘an unreliable historian’ by the author, this novel certainly provokes interest in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lynne Reid Banks uses her personal experiences of living in Israel to great effect in One More River (1973) in which she includes descriptions of the Six Day Israeli war in a story of Leslie Shelby, newly arrived in Israel from Canada. Within the story, the two opposing sides are linked by the delicate friendship that develops between Leslie and a young Palestinian boy. Gulf (Westall, 1992) gives the reader different perspectives on the first Gulf War. The story, narrated by Tom, tells of how his younger brother, Figgis, develops telepathic communications with a young Iraqi soldier, Latif. Through taking on the persona of this young soldier, Figgis tells his brother of the young soldier’s fears and distress in having to fight at such a young age. The brothers’ parents reflect British views about the war. The father is gripped by the war and watches the buildup on television nightly while the mother takes a more compassionate stance. Westall illustrates how easy it would be to think of war as a game, with no acknowledgment of the loss of life that would occur.
Survival: Touching all children
Surviving is clearly a central part of stories about war but it also features strongly in many historical novels for children, not only because of its basic over-riding importance but also because the effort to survive in difficult conditions provides many an adventure. Losing one’s parents and becoming an orphan is a regular feature of children’s books. For some authors, focusing on orphans reflects the reality of the period while the lack of parents allows other writers to give characters freedom. In such books mental, physical and emotional survival go hand in hand as the individual sets challenges for him/her or is driven by circumstance to overcome adversity which arrives in so many different forms in the historical novel. For instance twelve year old Smith in Garfield’s novel of the same name (1967) survives by sly pick-pocketing; Jim Jarvis in Street Child (Doherty, 1993) lives a hand-to-mouth existence on the nineteenth century streets of London until he encounters Dr.