War Boy by Michael Foreman

War Boy Reviews

• 
  Leonard Gaya

  War Boy is a collection of memories of an Englishman about the time when he, a little boy, was living in a small village of East Anglia, during the Second World War. This village, on the coast facing the North Sea, was, at the time, constantly suffering air raids and bombings from the Luftwaffe, as troops of British, Czech or American soldiers were posted around to strike back.
  
  One would think that an account on a child’s experience of the war would be a rather dark and sorrowful thing. But Michael Foreman in this beautifully illustrated book (there are quite a few stunning drawings and watercolours in there) manages to give us a very different view, throughout everyday life stories of his childhood. If fact, it is a picture of wartime as most children probably would perceived it: a time of danger, but also a time of play and fun and a time of tenderness.
  
  The air raids, the shelters, the gas masks they never used, the barrage balloons, the sailors and foreign soldiers drinking tea in his mother’s shop, the Scottish military parades, the going outs on the town with other children, the schooldays that had to be interrupted during raids, the football games in the ruins, le first movies, the first bananas in town, the grass and the harvest and the chasing of rabbits and the bonfires at the end of the war, all these things convey a lively and endearing picture of what growing up was like at the time. Personally, it brought back some memories of John Boorman's
  Hope and Glory. In the end, it is both a valuable document on the period and a very stirring book on childhood with its moments of sadness and joy.
• 
  Isobel

  A good class read to teach children about world war two. The book could be read to children in Year 2-6. The book introduces soldiers, the battlefields and fighting.
• 
  Nancy

  Beautiful book! Extraordinary illustrations and a wonderful reminiscence of a childhood during wartime in Britain. Quick read but one you'll want to linger through.
• 
  Sarah Bowling

  I really enjoyed this picture book memoir of a little boy who grew up on the coast of England during WWII. It’s interesting to read the perspective of a child and to see how even though so much has changed, so much has stayed the same.
  
  CC: bombs, cigarettes
• 
  Anna

  read for school
• 
  Makay

  Very poorly written
• 
  Margaret

  This is one of the very best World War II Homefront books that I have ever read! The author, who was a child in Suffolk during the war, also illustrated the book. He also used illustrations from cigarette cards and other memorabilia from the war.
• 
  Emily

  A wartime memoir of a British boy. Reads like stories your grandfather would tell you about his childhood.
• 
  Lindsey

  Read aloud for my children. Gave the perspective of ww2 from a child’s eyes.
• 
  Ang

  This was a sweet, middle-grade picture book. The artist is the author, and his memories of the war were intersting.
• 
  Ian

  I loved the illustrations, and the writing was solid. Not many other thoughts XD
  
  3.5 Stars
• 
  Rosamund

  Foreman's illustrations are glorious and the text captures the episodic character of childhood memories.
• 
  Rebecca

  First of all, let me just be smug and tell you I have a signed copy. Michael Foreman visited my old school a few times while my mother was still working there. She liked him very much, so I'll always have very fond feelings towards this author. Not that I didn't have them before. I've always enjoyed his books but none moreso than his autobiographies.
  
  War Boy always stuck with me as a child and reading it back now, I get the same feeling of awe and warmth. It tells of events in an innocent but insightful way. Although it has it's sad moments, it's so gentle and shows a lot of what people considered Blitz Spirit. Even now, years and years after the war, it makes you feel proud.
  
  And the characters he mentioned (far too briefly) are wonderful! As was his childhood. It makes me sad the world is such a worried and worrying place now.
• 
  Barbara Mader

  really like this and the sequel, After the War Was Over. Wonderful illustrations, watercolors.
• 
  Philippa

  A little disjointed in places but a fascinating account of a child growing up near Lowestoft, Norfolk during WWII.
• 
  Sophie Crane

  This is a Beautifully illustrated and carefully written account of World War 2, which makes fascinating reading for children.