And in the Morning
by John Wilson
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Description
In this novel by John Wilson, Jim Hay is fifteen, thinks war is a glorious adventure and cannot wait for his turn to fight. But as his father boldly marches off to battle in August, 1914, Jim must be content to record his thoughts and dreams in his journal. Gradually, Jim's simple life begins to unravel. His father is killed in action, his mother suffers a breakdown, and when he does at last join up, it is as much to find a refuge as it is to seek glory. What Jim discovers in the trenches of show more France is enough to dispel any romantic view of war. And while his longing for adventure is replaced by a basic need to survive, the final tragic outcome is one he never dreamed of. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A boy called Jim inherits his Great-Grandfather's diary on his 16th birthday. This diary tells of another Jim at 16 - one who lied about his age and joined the army to fight in the Great War after his father ( also a soldier) was killed and his mother died of a broken heart. With only the love of his girlfriend Anne to sustain him, Jim travels to the Somme in France where he endures the hardship of battle life (lice, mud, hunger and the treat of death) and makes life-long friends with the soldiers around him. Told in the form of letters/diary entries to Anne, each entry is interspersed with an actual news clipping of something that happened during that time. There is also poetry and official war letters such as the one informing Jim's show more mother of his father's death. An easy to read , sometimes harrowing book about the spiritual wasteland that was the French battlefields in WW1. show less
Quite heartbreaking and the author needs commending for writing this as a YA novel! Recommended for everyone.
A really good young adult book about the WWI front in Europe.
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Children's Books about World War I (1914-1918)
91 works; 11 members
Author Information
52 Works 950 Members
John Wilson was born in 1943 in London. He is a British angler who has been involved with angling television production for the last 20 years. He is featured on Discovery Real Time and was voted 'The Greatest Angler of all Time' in a 2004 poll by readers of the Angling Times Newspaper. Wilson was awarded a MBE in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours show more List. His book titles include Another Fishing Year, John Wilson's 1001 Top Angling Tips, Sixty years a Fisherman, and Catch Carp and Tench with John Wilson. His book New Zealand Mountaineering: A History in Photographs made the New Zealand Best Seller List in 2015. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Jim Hay
- Important places
- Somme, Hauts-de-France, France; Western Front in World War I; Scotland, UK
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Tween, Teen, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ7 .W6964 — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 60
- Popularity
- 512,966
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.78)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 1
