World War One Books

I have written quite a few posts about the different World War One books that my kids have read but I thought it might be useful to do a summary posts of all the books so you can get a quick overview and if you want you can then go and read in more detail about the books that interest you. (My son has been going through a bit of a First World War reading phase so we have recently revisited some of these books which is why I thought of doing this.)

So I think it is best if I split the books into two categories – fact books and our historical fiction books. For fact books we have three (I am saying three because I feel like I need to include their KS3 Student book which deals with both the World Wars as one of them – by the way this is a brilliant student book). The Story of the First World War for Children, is a great book for primary aged kids. It really is a great summary of the key features of the First World War, it includes lots of interesting facts, key events and it is not too gory. This book was the first factual book that my kids read on the First World War and I really felt like it was a perfect introduction and well written for kids. (I say it is great for primary aged kids but my son who is Year 8 has been reading sections out of it).

Then The Battle of Passchendaele, is actually part of a reading series by Collins. We have quite a few of the books from this series and have been impressed with all of them. I liked this book because it focused on a key battle and it went into quite a bit of detail about the general life of the soldiers during the war.

Now the historical fiction stories that we have read and I must warn you there are quite a few. We love finding good historical fiction because it really makes that time period came to life and it is a great way for the kids to learn about everyday life.

I am going to start with one of the saddest books that we have read – Private Peaceful. I read this to my kids and honestly at the end I was crying and struggling to read. It really did pull at the heart but it was a powerful story about war, the life of soldiers and killing people thought to be deserters. If you are looking for World war One stories this one is a must read. It really is brilliant and one that is going to get your kids thinking deeply about a lot of issues around war. It is also a brilliant example of writing craft at its finest – there is a twist towards the end which I honestly did not see coming and wow, just really well written.

And sticking with Michael Morpurgo we also read War Horse. Most of you probably know about the movie but the book is MUCH better. It is another incredible story about relationships in time of war, and how even in the midst of all that death, people can still be good and kind. My son recently read this story and he honestly did not put it down, he just sat and read and read. It has been ages since I have seen him this involved in a story right from the beginning, all the way through and even now he is still talking about it.

One that is probably not as well know but one which we thought was brilliant – Soldier Dog. I have to say I thought this author did an incredible job describing the scenes, the way he describes no-man land was really very powerful. I must admit when we first tried this book I was a bit nervous that it might be a bit much for my sensitive daughter, but the author managed to strike a good balance between the grim realities of was with some lighter more human aspects (and it helps that the main family survive – my kids hate it when one of the main characters who they get invested in dies). If you enjoyed the first two Michael Morpurgo stories that I mentioned than you will enjoy this one too.

The Silver Hand, this is a great story about life of ordinary people at the “front line”. It revolves around a young french girl (who lives in the village that is right at the front line) and a young german boy who form an unusual friendship. It involves some spies and plots, it talks a bit about the resistance and some war medicine and health issues but nothing too hectic and the kids do get an idea of what it must have been like living in those conditions. Both my kids enjoyed the story (they were routing for the friends, worried that they may be discovered) and I liked the fact that it highlighted that even in war there are good people fighting on the “bad side”. I think this is an important lesson for all kids to learn. I would say in terms of reading age, this one is better for younger kids compared to the first three.

Okay and one which my son read recently – When the Guns Fall Silent. My son said it was a good read but he did say it brought the horrors of war to life more than the other books did, he also felt that it could have been a bit longer. I also read it and I thought it was a very moving story but I do agree that it was a bit more graphic than some of the other stories. So for us it was definitely a book more for my son than my daughter.

A slightly different book because it is a compilation of short stories, all true stories about animals in war time. It does cover a number of different wars so it is not just the First World War. But if you are looking for war stories this book does contain some brilliant short stories about incredible animals – Heroes, Incredible True Stories of Courageous Animals.

We find history fascinating and love reading books linked to significant events so I am sure we will discover more World War One books but for now these are that we have enjoyed and would happily recommend as good quality stories.

If you are interested in world war one resources then you may also be interested in these –

our soldier silhouette painting idea

free timeline cards of world war one

war anthology book

Leonardo da Vinci – great lives in graphics book

I recently saw a press release about a book called “Leonardo Da Vinci – great lives in graphics” and although the book is a bit young for my kids I was interested in the idea of this series. My first thought was it might be a way of encouraging kids who are not eager readers to pick up a book and learn about a famous and fascinating person. So I decided to get a review copy to see for myself if it could be an option of primary ages kids (the book does have an 8+ age recommendation).

First thoughts when the book arrived – there are LOTS of graphics and the text is formatted into small blocks on information. It is NOT a graphic novel but there is something about the format that gave me that vibe of graphic novel – I think it is because the pages are colourful, fill of pictures and small blocks of text.

I feel like it would be appealing to those who are a bit intimidated or put-off by normal reading books. So yes my first instinct is if you kids are not avid readers then this format might be more appealing and less intimidating for them.

Content wise I was impressed. I thought they included lots of interesting facts, some of which I expected but quite a bit of it was new to me. And I loved the fact that although they do talk about his art (of course how could you write a book about Leonardo Da Vinci without mentioning the Mona Lisa or the Last Supper) they also talk a lot about his other interests and his personality. I found learning that he had a habit of not finishing his projects and that he was a vegetarian (because of his love of animals) fascinating.

I also loved how they included his Scientific side and the way he studied the body.

And yes the pages on the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper were expected but even so they were filled with interesting facts.

Although this book is now a bit young for my kids it is one that I would have happily included in our home education when they were younger.

And yes I do think this format may be appealing to lots of young readers.

Our local library does not have this range of books and I have not spotted them in our local book stores (but that may just be the town where I live). I did check and they are on Amazon – Great Lives in Graphics Leonardo Da Vinci (affiliate link)

Admin – As I mentioned we were given a few copy of this book but I was not paid for the post. I just spotted this series and thought it may be a interesting book for other home educators and parents.

I do include Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we recommend.

KS2 Books

I have written lots and I do mean LOTS of posts about the books that we used in our primary (KS2) home education. But no matter how many posts I may have written everyone is always interested in more recommendations and I totally get that because books were a huge part of how we educated. So after some questions about the type of books that my kids enjoyed here is a post on what book categories were big hits when the kids were younger (But first I want to clarify something – all kids are different. The age that the start reading, the level that they read at, which books they find fascinating and even how often the read. It is always going to be unique to your kiddo. This is what we liked and what we found useful.)

Okay so for primary ages I found 3 types of books that worked for my kids – animal books, historical fiction stories and humorous stories. Those three categories were real winners for us.

Books on animals are a great starting point. Both my kids were naturally interested in learning about animals so we always knew animal books would be a winner. But if your kiddo is not as interested I would like to suggest something that combines learning about animals with a cute story. We found a series of books called Animal Diaries did this, and I have to say these books were read cover to cover and they inspired my kids to create their own animal diaries (where they pretended to be animals writing in their own diaries).

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And my kids actually enjoyed non-fiction animal books too. In fact non-fiction animal books were very popular in our house, and in all honesty a LOT of our KS2 Science revolved around animals (animal adaptations, their homes, even things like animal skeletons. We loved animal science in our house and I must confess we ended up with a large number of animal books but two that stand out for me are – our Life Cycle book and this animal knowledge encyclopedia. .

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Historical Fiction always ticked a lot of boxes for us. We found the stories fascinating and they would often lead to interesting discussing about life “way back when”. We really did read a lot of historical fiction in their primary years. Ours tended to focus on the Anglo-Saxon / Viking period, although we also found some good Victorian England and World War stories that suited the primary ages, but I always like to link our historical fiction to the History that we are covering so we really did loose ourselves in Old England.

And speaking of History – the Horrible History series is brilliant. It had my son laughing out loud and reading me the most disgusting bits that he could find. He really enjoyed the series.

And the third category was humor. With my son I quickly discovered that if he thought a book was funny he would read it and not put it down. He loved the Bee Boy series and of course the brilliant How to Train your Dragon series – ahh we spent ages reading this series together and we would ended up laughing out loud at some of the antics.

Okay I really should include a fourth category – Dinosaur books. Although I realize dinosaurs are not everyones cup of tea my son was (still is) obsessed with them so I did use the dinosaur theme to get him to read quite a lot when he was in his primary years.

We have always had a book-based home education style. When the kids were younger we would often use a good book as a spring board for learning. I tried to expose the kids to a wide range of different books, some were massive hits and some were ignored but I did always find that if it was an animal based story, a interesting historical fiction or a laugh out loud funny book my kids would read it cover to cover and they would read it multiple times.

How to Become a Grade Riser booklet

How to Become a Grade Riser was included in our recent bundle from Oaka Books and I must admit as soon as I opened the bundle my daughter zoomed in on this and immediately took it away to read. It did surprise me that she immediately wanted to read this (and then sat and read it from cover to cover) but then that is why I think we have become such big fans of the Oaka products, they are just presented in such a visually pleasing manner that no matter what the subject is, it is always easy to read and interesting.

I will start by saying that when I first sat down to read this I did feel like it is more suited to schooled kids than to home educated kids. They do speak about lessons and how to organize yourself by reading the revising what you did in the last lesson before you attend the next one etc etc. But then I did also think about it and a lot of home educated kids opt to go to College for their A Levels, some do a form a online lessons and lots attend university. So these sections about lessons etc will apply to them at those stages even if they do not apply at the moment. What I am trying to say is at a first read it may seem a bit school orientated but I think it will apply to all kids at some stage in their life.

And for those wondering my daughter (who has never attended a day of school) did say she found it interesting to read and did say it gave her some ideas about the studying that she is busy doing. (And I will be giving it to my son at some stage to read too).

Okay so what exactly is included?

They stick with Oaka format and start with a glossary of words. This glossary of words is actually vital – they have taken the key words used in exam instructions and explained what exactly they mean (ie how does discuss, explore, identify differ). And I have to say I loved that they started the booklet with these words and I have actually asked my daughter to re-read this section a few times to make sure she understands the differences.

After the key word glossary they start by talking about your mindset and success behaviours. I loved that they included this because to me it is saying – “it is okay if you don’t get something the first or second time but you need to have the mindset that you are not going to give up and that you are going to keep trying.”

Then there are a few pages about what you should do before and after lessons. Again I know this may not apply to everyone at this stage but it is always a good thing to bear in mind for possible changes in the future. They also go on to talk about assignments and the forgetting curve (I thought the forgetting curve was interesting).

Then it focuses on preparing for the exam and revision techniques. I actually liked these pages because as a home educator there were a few things that I needed to be reminded about and I thought they included some good ideas under their revision methods.

Then it goes onto 8 pages of exam technique, which I think we all need to read at some stage. A lot of it was for me “of course this makes sense but I am not sure if I ever mentioned this to my daughter” – which made me really glad that she had the opportunity to read it for herself.

And the last few pages are a timetable and a copy of the Oaka Essay Planner template.

Okay so it is vital to read? No it is not vital.

Did it remind me of a few things that I had forgotten to tell me kid who is about to write some exams? Yes it did.

Was it a good thing for my home educated kid to read at least once? Yes.

The thing is I know that kids in school learn about revision techniques and exam techniques, and a lot of that may seem self explanatory so I possibly ignored it, but for a home educated kid who has never been to school she actually needed to read something like this so that she is aware of these things.

Both my daughter and I thought it was an interesting read and I feel like she did gain a few things by reading it and I am actually going to suggest she reads it again.

Admin – This booklet was given to use by Oaka Books. My kids and I have long been fans of the Oaka Books topic packs and games so from time to time they do kindly send us some of their goodies to review. It is always up to us to decide if we like their resources and if we choose to write reviews on them. We are not paid for these posts.

Doing some IGCSE Biology revision with our Oaka Packs

We are doing our Biology revision for our upcoming IGCSE exam. And to help us keep it a bit interesting we are using a few different resources (yes yes, before everyone jumps up and down we are doing LOTS of past papers and yes I have discovered the amazing stash of questions on the Physics and Maths Tutor website – but honestly all of that can get a bit monotonous). So I was thrilled when Oaka Books recently sent us a few of their IGCSE Science packs (we have already used 2 of their GCSE Biology packs – Osmosis and Cell Biology and we really enjoyed them so as soon as I saw their Cardiovascular and Respiratory System Pack I knew we would use it for some targeted revision).

Oaka’s GCSE Science packs follow their tried and tested format of their typical Topic Packs. There is a Topic booklet (your notes), a write your own Notes booklet (where the kids fill in key words) and some question cards (so instead of the board game which is included in the KS3 packs the GCSE packs come with question cards). And yes the format in the Topic Booklets and Write Your Own Booklets is exactly the same. If you liked the KS3 Science packs you will like their GCSE Science packs.

There are three reasons why we think these packs are perfect for IGCSE/GCSE revision. Firstly the notes are summarized. They are easy to read and the fact that they format them into small blocks with attractive diagrams makes it easy to remember the key information.

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Second, having a go at the Write Your Own Notes (without using the key word sheet) is a great way to see if you remember all the key facts and it highlights any sections that you may need to focus on.

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And lastly, the question cards which they include are perfect for testing yourself.

Really these topic packs are prefect for kids learning about the topic but also perfect as a revision tool. They are well written, and the format keeps it interesting but at the same time the pages are not in “your face overwhelming”. I really do think the people who write these are brilliant at summarizing the key points and they manage to write them in a short, sharp, concise manner. We have long been fans of the KS3 Science packs and now we are also fans of their GCSE Science packs.

Included in the Topic packs that Oaka sent us was this little gem – How to Become a Grade Rise. As soon as it arrived my daughter read it cover to cover and said it was interesting so I am going to write a proper post on it later this week, but I just wanted to mention it quickly and share a link in case any of you may want to have a look.

Oh and just quickly of you kiddo is doing IGCSE or GCSE Biology you may also want to look at their Kidney Pack.

Admin – As I mentioned above this pack was given to use by Oaka Books. My kids and I have long been fans of the Oaka Books topic packs and games so from time to time they do kindly send us some of their goodies to review. It is always up to us to decide if we like their resources and if we choose to write reviews on them. We are not paid for these posts.