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2003
finalists.

2003 Hackmatack

Children's Choice Book Award/Prix littéraire - le choix de jeunes

"God help our first contingent if this continues."
    - Gunner, Frederick Rawson, from postcard home, days before he was gassed at Ypress, 1915

When World War I began in August 1914, no one knew that millions of young people would die in the agonizing years ahead. No one imagined the effect it would have on family life, or that whole villages would disappear, or that entire nations would be changed forever. They believed their sons and daughters, mothers and fathers would be home by Christmas. They were tragically mistaken.

With photos, memorabilia, and anecdotes, Linda Granfield brings u face-to-face with people from all walks of life who risked everything for their country. These painstakingly-gathered bits and pieces are the remnants of conflict on a scale never before witnessed. Hastily-penned letters, notes written in code, and prayers for deliverance form an eloquent portrait of humanity, and a startling comment on the devastation of war.

Topics covered:

• Over the Top
• On Flanders Fields
• The Trenches
• Warfare on the Seas
• Warfare in the Air
• Propaganda and Patriotism
• Keep the Homefires Burning
• A Child's World
• Spies and Traitors
• Man's Best Friend
• The Budding of Remembrance
• and more!

Linda Granfield is passionate about history. She has written nineteen non-fiction titles including the multi-award-winning In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae (Stoddart) and High Flight: A Story of World War II (Tundra). Born and raised in Boston, Linda holds Canadian/American citizenship and makes her home with her husband and two children in Toronto, Ontario. Linda Granfield is the recipient of many awards and honors including the 2001 Canadian Authors Association (CAA) Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work.

Suggested Activities

• Draw a picture of how you feel after reading Where the Poppies Grow.
• Interview a verteran in your family. Share his or her story with your group.
• Pretend you are a child during the First World War. How would you dress? What music would you hear and how? What would you eat for a snack? What is different about transportation then and today?