Review by Booklist Review
From the History with 21 Activities series, this wide-format book presents WWI. Rasmussen offers a good overview of the war, a vivid picture of daily life in the trenches, and many examples of how technology changed warfare between 1914 and 1918. Even students who are unenthusiastic about warfare will find themselves intrigued by chapters such as Animals Go to War, which spotlights the roles of horses, dogs, and carrier pigeons. In addition to columns of text, the pages also carry sidebars, captioned black-and-white photos, and activities such as Train a Dog to Carry a Message and Make a Model Gas Mask. While the reading level will be challenging for many middle-school students, those in high school may be put off by the word kids in the title. Still, this makes a useful addition to many collections, and a particularly interesting feature in the back matter is a list of WWI films, from Charlie Chaplin's silent Shoulder Arms to the recent War Horse.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-In the introduction, the author explains that when studying wars, looking at winners and losers is less crucial than examining the overall effects. This book does so in an organized, thorough, and accessible fashion. It also covers causes, public reaction, war tactics, animals on the battlefield, the role of women and African Americans, the daily life of soldiers, and more. Occasional sidebars highlight tangential information, such as an excerpt from a soldier's letter, a mini-bio of nurse Edith Cavell, and so on. Though there are a variety of related activities described (training a dog to carry messages, making a model gas mask out of cardboard and bubble wrap, reading a World War I-era adventure novel), they are questionable in their educational usefulness, feasibility, or desirability. Throughout, readers will find a plethora of black-and-white archival photographs reflecting the diverse aspects of World War I: battles at sea, in the air, and on the ground; soldiers in trenches; key military men and politicians; and so on. The gruesome nature of a few of the images might be tough viewing for some young readers, such as a photo depicting a dead soldier tangled up in a barbed wire trap. An engaging start for students learning about World War I.-Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
