Military & Wars Books - Page 5

A New Coat for Anna (Dragonfly Books)

Harriet Ziefert

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dragonfly Books Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $2.84

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A heart-warming story about the harsh realities of war 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

As the post-war child of a family that suffered through World War II in the Netherlands, I can say that "A New Coat for Anna" has the ring of authenticity. In many ways, it reminds me of first-hand stories I heard from my parents and older siblings about the hardships--and the creativity--of ordinary people during those very difficult years.

This well-written story takes the reader through a year in Anna's life, as her mother arranges to have a new coat made by bartering with her neighbors. She trades jewelry for wool, and then a lamp to have it spun. Anna and her mother pick lingonberries together, which they use to dye the yarn red. The bartering continues as the yarn is woven and then tailored into a coat.

The story concludes with a Christmas celebration, "the best they had in a long time," where Anna invites the farmer, the spinner, the weaver, and the tailor to enjoy a Christmas cake together. Anna also takes time to thank the sheep on Christmas Day.

Even the candles on the tree in Anita Lobel's cozy illustration remind me of the Christmas trees of my childhood. Whenever I share this inspiring tale with children, I wax nostalgic and tell about the candles on our trees.

"A New Coat for Anna" drives home the harsh realities of war and its impact on the daily lives of children... and their neighbors. But it's done in a heartwarming way. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

Illus. in full color. "A fresh and moving story of a mother's dedication to acquire a coat for her daughter in post-World War II hard times. Anna's mother decides to trade the few valuables she has left for wool and for the services of a spinner, a weaver, and a tailor. Lobel's pictures do a tremendous job of evoking the period. Insightful and informative, this may make children consider how precious the ordinary can become in times of turmoil."--(starred) Booklist.  

Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War

Yukio Tsuchiya

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sandpiper Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $2.97

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Elephants -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Beautiful 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I just attended a Peace Prize Forum in Sioux Falls, SD, and this book was part of a curriculum for teaching children about peace and war. I think it is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.
This is a tender book about how war affects life, in a way accessible for children, and equally vivid and profound for adults.
The illustrations are also beautiful.

What a brutal book! 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I read this after reading Roland Smith's Elephant Run, an excellent childrens/young adult book involving elephants in World War II. While that book was even-handed, I found this book to be just plain gut wrenching for adults and even worse for children who often have such a special bond with animals. This bond may be, as my children's lit professor suggested, due to the vulnerability animals and children feel at the hands of bigger and stronger (in most cases) adults. If that idea is true, then the premise of this book is even worse.

Although the author attempts a tenderness in the writing style and the illustrations are well done, the deaths of the elephants seem so cruel and pointless even in war, a war I might add, where the Japanese were aggresors as often as victims. I'm probably more of a pacifist than most (two years in the Peace Corpse should count for something!), but I think there are a lot more effective books to be used to promote peace. There are also a lot more effective books to promote courage and hope against all odds.

Editorial Review:

A zookeeper recounts the story of John, Tonky, and Wanly, three performing elephants at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, whose turn it is to die, and of their keepers, who weep and pray that World War II will end so their beloved elephants might be saved.

Showcase Presents: Sgt. Rock, Vol. 1

Robert Kanigher, Joe Kubert

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: DC Comics Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $8.76

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Comics & Graphic Novels
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Comic Strips -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

When no one else stands...The Rock stands! 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Although I'm a huge Kubert fan, I was always dubious about Sgt.Rock, assuming him to be just a Nick Fury - take on a Nazi machine gun nest armed with just a bobby pin type, but I was pleasantly surprised here.
Sure, there's a few cliches, and the background characters are mostly nondescript, but considering when these stories were written, they hold up really well.
( Just see the Jimmy Olsen Showcase for how dumb most of DC's output was at this time! )
Sgt. Rock really is just about the grunts in war, the shmoes who win through by tenacity and luck rather than superhuman courage. And considering the times, Rock is a pretty well developed and likeable character. Concerned for his men, brave but not ridiculously so, he's just a working stiff trying to make it through the war alive.
( I particularly like the way he has of saying " Must be some other guy doin' this... Not me " everytime he takes on a tank singlehanded! )
Yes, after 500 pages, Rock telling yet another green recruit a story to keep him calm does tend to wear a bit thin, and the phrase ' combat happy joes of easy' is used way too much, but bear in mind, these tales were originally printed on a monthly basis.
The best way to read these books probably is in spots and spurts.
Still, Rock is a great character, and the art is, of course, superb.
C'mon...And Fight!

Editorial Review:

Over 500 pages of classic adventures are included in this value-priced volume! War is helland no one knows that better than Sgt. Rock and the fighting men of Easy Company. These classic tales of World War II take readers deep behind enemy lines, where Easy Company never has it easybecause battle can break out at any moment. These are the stories that introduced the man they call Rock and the colorful members of his platoon, including Wildman, Ice Cream Soldier, Bulldozer and more as they face the enemy in one hopeless situation after another.

Weedflower

Cynthia Kadohata

Amazon Price: $23.70 List Price: $30.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Listening Library (Audio) Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $16.65

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> United States -> Fiction -> 1900s
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Twelve-year-old Sumiko feels her life has been made up of two parts: before Pearl Harbor and after it. The good part and the bad part. Raised on a flower farm in California, Sumiko is used to being the only Japanese girl in her class. Even when the other kids tease her, she always has had her flowers and family to go home to.
Now, other Americans start to suspect that all Japanese people are spies for the emperor and Sumiko and her family find themselves being shipped to an internment camp in one of the hottest deserts in the United States. The vivid color of her previous life is gone forever, and now dust storms regularly choke the sky and seep into every crack of the military barrack that is her new “home.”
Sumiko soon discovers that the camp is on an Indian reservation and that the Japanese are as unwanted there as they’d been at home. But then she meets a young Mohave boy who might just become her first real friend….
With searing insight and clarity, Newbery Medal—winning author Cynthia Kadohata explores an important and painful topic through the eyes of a young girl who yearns to belong. Weedflower is the story of the rewards and challenges of a friendship across the racial divide, as well as the based-on-real-life story of how the meeting of Japanese Americans and Native Americans changed the future of both.

Party Shoes (Oxford Children's Classics)

Noel Streatfeild

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $3.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Horses -> Fiction

Editorial Review:

If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again.
Set during and after the second World War, this classic novel tells the story of Selina, who has been sent to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in the country. When SSlina receives a parcel from her godmother in America it causes much excitement among her and her cousins, and, to Selina's delight, the parcel contains a beautiful party dress and a pair of party shoes. But delight turns to dismay when she realizes that she may never have an occasion to wear such a wonderful outfit - until, that is, she and her cousins come up with an idea of organizing a pageant...

The Fighting Ground 25th Anniversary Edition

Avi

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperTrophy Amazon Marketplace: 184 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 89 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

fighting ground review 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Reviewer: Astor Madrid, Age 13; White Plains, NY
Fighting Ground by Avi; Reprint edition: Harper Trophy, May 15, 1987; $5.99

ISBN# 0064401855



Have you ever met someone who dreams of going to war? If you have, you will connect a lot to the main character, Jonathan and his adventures in this Historical Fiction story called The Fighting Ground by Avi. Jonathan and his feelings about war change a lot during the book when he finds himself in a world of danger.
In the book The Fighting Ground Jonathan has his dream come true when his father asks him to see what is going on at the tavern. When Jonathan arrives, the Colonel asks him to join him in fighting the Hessians that were coming. Jonathan had to answer quickly, he answered "Yes" they gave him a gun and fought. I think this book is great Avi did a good job of portraying what people went through in the American Revolution.
Jonathan was being told what to do. They had to make two lines the first like shot while the other one reloaded and kept on switching. Jonathan had a lot of trouble reloading his gun. Later on, Jonathan got lost and is found by some Hessian soldier. This book reminds me a lot of My Brother Sam is Dead because it is based on the same time, and about the same things. This book tries to teach you to listen to your parents because in the beginning of the book, Jonathan's father is wounded in the leg when he was in the war and when Jonathan gets near the gun, Jonathan's father would flip out.
I would recommend this book to 8-12 year old kids because they would be more interested in this type of book, and people with interest in the American Revolution. This book won the Scott O'Dell Award and I agree it is a great book.

Editorial Review:

April 3, 1778

He may be just thirteen, but Jonathan knows he's ready to go to the war against the British. He can handle a gun. He yearns to battle for glory, just like his brother and cousin.

So when Jonathan hears the tavern bell toll, calling men to fight, he runs to join them. He doesn't realize that in just twenty-four hours, his life will be forever altered -- by the war, by his fellow soldiers, and by the terrible choices he must make.

The Matchlock Gun

Walter D. Edmonds

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Putnam Juvenile Amazon Marketplace: 59 new & used starting at $1.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Confused reviews. 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Can someone explain to me how a book can be full of stereotypes and at the same time have interesting characters (review by E R Bird)? I am of native American descent (Cherokee), and my paternal ancestors survived the Trail of Tears, and yet I am in no way offended by authors describing the real horrors of warfare during the French and Indian Wars - or of other such wars, like King Philip's War (1675-76). Innocents were killed by both sides in the numerous wars between Europeans and American Indians. In the case of the French and Indian Wars, the French sent their Indian allies south from Canada to raid the British frontier. Ironically, during the War of Independence, many attacks by Indians were instigated by the British in Canada against the American insurgents (see Edmonds' "Drums Along the Mohawk").

Andrew Jackson is regarded as a great president, yet he ignored the decision of the Supreme Court and sent American troops to eject the peaceful Cherokees and Creeks from South Carolina and Georgia and drive them to Oklahoma during the winter. This was a truly disgraceful incident in American history. I think this episode shouldn't be glossed over any more than the killing of noncombatants by American Indians in various wars.

The truth should be told, however uncomfortable it might be.

David Lee-Smith

Editorial Review:

In 1756, New York State was still a British colony, and the French and the Indians were constant threats to Edward and his family. When his father was called away to watch for a raid from the north, only Edward was left to protect Mama and little Trudy. His father had shown him how to use the huge matchlock gun, an old Spanish gun that was twice as long as he was, but would Edward be able to handle it if trouble actually came? This classic, first published in 1941, has an updated, kid-friendly format that includes the original black-and-white illustrations.

Tomorrow, When the War Began (The Tomorrow Series #1)

John Marsden

Amazon Price: $32.00 List Price: $32.00 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Bolinda Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $26.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Action & Adventure
Subjects -> Children's Books -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 157 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

I look forward to teaching this 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoyed this book and plan to buy the rest of the series. It has a good mix of adventure and romance so it will appeal to most of my high school students. The characters have distinct personalities and all of them show strengths in the story which could be a great jumping off point for a discussion on how we are all different and how our differences make society function better. Aside from thoughts about teaching, I simply couldn't put the book down because I wanted to know what happened next.

Editorial Review:

When Ellie and six of her friends return home from a camping trip deep in the bush, they find things hideously wrong -- their families gone, houses empty and abandoned, pets and stock dead. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in the town has been taken prisoner. As the horrible reality of the situation becomes evident they have to make a life-and-death decision: to run back into the bush and hide, to give themselves up to be with their families, or to stay and try to fight. This reveting, tautly-drawn novel seems at times to be only a step away from today's headlines.

Arms & Armor (Eyewitness Books)

Dorling Kindersley Ltd

List Price: $20.99 By: Knopf Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $1.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Series -> Nonfiction -> Eyewitness Books
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Series -> Nonfiction -> Eyewitness Readers

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This book was more about weapons than about arms and armor. 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 15 people found this review helpful.

This book isn't really about arms and armor-- it's about weapons. If you are looking for a book that is compleatley about arms and armor, then find another book, but if you want a book that is about the history of weapons, then this is the book for you. I was looking for arms and armor, and this book didn't really have that much information on it.

Arms & Armor is a great book!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I love this book so much that I decided to skip writing & English one day and do a report about it instead. There are so many different weapons. Don't look at that one star rating because he doesn't know what "arms" means. He thought it meant arms like a limb.

It has so much cool stuff like an early grenade launcher, early grenades and a lot of different helmets. It goes from the stone age to the Old West.

The pictures are so great I decided to copy some of them and put them on a poster board and write about them.

Right now I'm eight years old and I'm mostly interested in WWII but this really caught my attention. I think it's better than most of the WWII books.

I can't say anything bad about this book because there is nothing and if there was something bad, I would have told it.

I think people that are interested in weapons and if they want to make a project about time periods like medieval or old west, they will really like this book. I wish I could buy it but I haven't seen it at the library sales or thrift stores. I think you should buy it or borrow it at the library.

Editorial Review:

Full-color photos. "An eye grabber: large, clear photographic layouts of weapons share pages with explanatory text and definitive illustrations. Each double spread covers a subject, from primitive weapons to the 'Guns That Won the West'; it's easy to forget their function in the beauty of the pieces and their clever designs. The weapons from the Middle Ages are breathtaking simply as art. A plum pudding of a book."--Kirkus.

War Horse

Michael Morpurgo

Amazon Price: $14.41 List Price: $14.41 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Egmont Books Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $14.06

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Military & Wars
Subjects -> Children's Books -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Made me think of Black Beauty 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I decided to pick up War Horse after the nice, new cover caught my eye in a local bookstore and immediately brought it home, cracked open the cover, and allowed myself to be swept off into Joey's story.
I love the fact that this book comes directly from the "horses point of view," which is similar strikingly familiar to Black Beauty by Anna Sewell as to compared to Michael Morpurgo's War Horse.
The story starts out with the description of a painting of a horse, and than jumps into the horse painted in the picture, Joey, who is bought by a farmer and brought home to Albert, who loves and cares for him similar to Joe Green did in Black Beauty. The stories end similar, with different twist. But we aren't focusing on Black Beauty here...
Joey ends up being sold into war, where he learns the task of bearing men through the machine fire of war, dragging the dead away in carts and even being used to pull the cannons to the front lines. His life is hard, but he does the best he can under many different owners, the majority of them kind and caring, from going to the English to the Germans themselves, we see the innocence of the Deutschlanders struggle to fight the war against the British and the French. Joey also makes close friends with a fellow war horse called Topthorn, a tall, black stallion that seems a lot like Ginger. The two remain together for a long time, always partnered up and never too far away from the other.
All the while Joey wonders about Albert.
This is a nice story to read to anyone whom loves horses and there point of view on things. The war that Joey took part in was a frightening one and isn't for young children. I found this a nice read and a nice companion to Black Beauty. So if you love World War I, and horses, try picking up and reading War Horse.

Editorial Review:

The story of a friendship lasting through the toughest of tests. Through the eyes of the war horse, Joey, Michael Morpurgo tells the moving and powerful story of survival on the Western Front.