Trenches

Billy Stevens, the Western Front, 1914-1918 (My Story S.)

By Jim Eldridge

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Average Rating: (See all reviews) Format: Paperback, 144 pages Other Information: illustrations map, port. Published In: United Kingdom, 19 April 2002 Quantity Available: 416 Ships within 6-11 days JUNE 1917 Mustard gas! A feeling of panic hit me and I scrambled to get my respirator over my face before the killer gas got into my mouth and nose and burnt my lungs. It burned everything it touched. Eyes. Skin. And it always found a way in. Like now, I could feel where it had crept up inside the sleeves of my uniform and the skin on my arms felt like it was on fire. I threw myself into a muddy hole, pushing my arms under water, but I knew it was already too late. I stumbled to my feet, saturated, with the weight of wet mud clinging to me. I couldn't move. I couldn't see... Publisher: Scholastic ISBN: 0439994225 EAN: 9780439994224 Dimensions: 17.0 x 129.0 x 1.0 centimeters

An excellent, simple book that children will find easy to read and follow. It is in the format of a diary, written by the character (Billy Stevens) as he fights on the Western Front in the later years of the war (about 1917). It is tricky enough to pull off a diary format book and still suceed in making the character likeable, but this author had achieved this tremendously. The descriptions in the book of the trenches, the mud and terrible mustard gas were well detailed, but carefully described so as not to disturb wee kids. Yet, he manages not to sugarcoat the war, somehow achieving the perfect balance. An ideal side read for children learning about WW1 in class.

All young adult books about war are just so fantastic and this one expecialy. it had me on the edge of my set/bed through out the whole book. It is such a good book because it shows todays young people what it was like for these young soldiers and what they had to go through. A ten out of ten for me!