The Red Poppy by David Hill

The Red Poppy Reviews

• 
  Sharlene

  Other reviews have said it, but the illustrations really sets the tone for this story.
  
  The story of two enemy soldiers, injured & at war, find themselves stuck in the same trench. With the help of a war dog and a red poppy, these two enemies become allies in their hope for survival.
  
  Te Popi Whero doesn't read like a childrens book. I found myself getting distracted by all the words, especially for a picture book. But I don't think have any less words would've told the story as vividly and engaging as this does.
  
  I powered through this book while I visited the Rotorua Public Library.
• 
  Gemma Wiseman

  A story set in World War I, where the public enemy is not always the private enemy; where red poppies are not always a symbol of death. And a little dog knows.
  Could the ravages of war possibly hold some beautiful moments?
  The illustrations by Fifi Colston are a delight!
  My poetic review appears on my blog
  Songlines on the Winds.
• 
  Isabelle

  Great picture books showing how behind the 'enemy' is actually just a bunch of men, just as us.
  Also shows the use of dogs during the war.
  Beautiful illustrations.
  
  
• 
  Linda

  A moving story set on the battlefields of WWI. Shows the fear and tough times and the humanness of an enemy soldier. Barely a child's book.
• 
  Catherine Mayo

  This is a simple but very moving tale of two soldiers who start the day trying to kill each other and end up helping each other to survive.
  
  It’s WWI and all along the Western front, hundreds of thousands of young men are waiting in muddy trenches, surrounded by the dead bodies of their friends and the rats that feast on them, for the chance to shoot the enemy. Jim is on the Allied side, struggling to remember that the men he is aiming his rifle at deserve to die. The Allied troops attack, supported by artillery fire, but are shelled and machine-gunned in return. At the bottom of a shell hole Jim finds himself face to face with Karl, a wounded German soldier who will force Jim to take perhaps the most defining step of his life.
  
  Nipper, a small black messenger dog, is not only a major character in the story but one of the star subjects of Fifi Coulson’s almost monochrome but beautiful illustrations. The red poppies of the title add almost the only splash of colour bar the blood.
  
  David Hill portrays both the military and emotional conflict from a modern, anti-war perspective that will engage children aged six to eight in the human story behind one of the ugliest periods in twentieth century history. Jim’s compassion for Karl and his family, echoing so much his own feelings for his mother and little sister Edith, are central to the story, but bypass the powerful social and political antagonism to such attitudes at that time, which Hill explores to great effect in his parallel book for older children, My Brother’s War.
  
• 
  The Styling Librarian

  WWII – This picture book really puts you into the grim situations soldiers came into on the battlefield during the war. I never read any books about messenger dogs before, how they would be trained to quickly run messengers from troops on the battlefield back to the trenches when help was needed, etc.—little Nipper was the main dog in this story… It was touching to see how two soldiers from opposite sides could figure out how to communicate and help one another. This is another beautiful story that I think would be good for portraying empathy. Additionally shares the pointlessness (in my personal opinion) of the war in some places… There is a music cd accompanying the book with a song The Red Poppy by Rob Kennedy. Warning though, it is at least a 1 tissue book! Quite touching.
• 
  Karen Dransfield

  A great picture book describing WW1 and what is was like as a soldier. It tells a story of a young man in the trenches having to fight. It includes a war dog that was used for passing messages. And a story about the red poppies that grew in the field of battle. Would be a great pick for a shared story during a war themed study for children.
• 
  Serge Smagarinsky

  A well crafted story. A poignant message without being too didactic. Illustrations were superb but only supported the story, without adding another dimension of moving the story forward. It also fell slightly short in terms of fully conveying the intensity of war and the disorientation caused by the noise and chaos in the middle of the action.
• 
  Angela

  it was good, but yet also sad
• 
  Mavis

  Pretty cool book.