Our enemy, my friend : the diary of Emma Shelldrake the Adelaide Hills, 1915

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

Emma lives in the South Australian town of Wirreebilla which has a large population of farmers of German descent. With the First World war raging, the anti-German sentiment in the town runs rampant, and people are forced to change their name, and the men are interned on Torres Island as well as shops are closed, farms set alight and the slogan “Dirty Huns go home!” scrawled across walls. This is despite the fact that many of the townspeople have sons fighting in the Somme & Gallipoli.Emma is friends with Hannelore and feels her pain at the treatment dished out to her by the local bullies.p.34 May 3 – May 8