Archies War

by Marcia Williams

A funny and moving story of life during the First World War, told through the eyes of schoolboy Archie Albright. When 10-year-old Archie Albright is given a scrapbook for his birthday in April 1914, he thinks he'll fill it with comics, souveniers and funny stories about his family. But then, on 3 August 1914, war breaks out, and his life changes for ever. Archie tells the story of the First World War from his point of view, filling his scrapbook with anecdotes about life in London's East End, newspaper clippings, letters from his dad and uncle who are fighting in France, and his own war-inspired comic strips. Archie's War is funny, touching and accessible, and gives a unique insight into what life was life for a child during the First World War.

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, War, History, Historical, World War I

48 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2007

About the author

Marcia Williams began to develop her distinctive comic-book style at an early age: "When I was about ten and wrote home to my family from boarding school," she says, "I never wrote normal letters. I tried to tell my family about what I was doing in a way that was more fun. Also, my parents didn't let me read comic books, so I decided to create my own."

This former nursery school teacher blends her storytelling skills and humorous illustrations with well-known figures and stories from literature. Her unique style has produced such vivid works and action-packed books as GOD AND HIS CREATIONS: TALES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. "Working on the Old Testament was a joy," Marcia Williams says. "The tales are so rich, it is always possible to find something new within them. Yet, at the same time, they have all the comfort of the familiar." The artist also found pleasure in creating CHARLES DICKENS AND FRIENDS, which presents five retellings of classic Dickens tales. Of her inspiration for this book, she tells of a teacher she once had "who was extremely fierce and angry . . . except when she read the stories of Charles Dickens aloud. Through her, all his characters lived, and I was transported to their Victorian world. I hope that readers will also enter the wonderful world of Charles Dickens through this book."


With BRAVO, MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE! and TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE Marcia Williams introduces young readers to the world of William Shakespeare's plays. Another classic she has made much more accessible to children--and more appreciated by them--is THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY. "My mother read me classics, but until I got older I never found them interesting," she says. "If I could make these stories more accessible, I realized, kids wouldn't have to wait until they were grown-up to appreciate them."


Marcia Williams traveled extensively as a child and was educated in Sussex, England, and Switzerland. During her varied career she has worked as an interior designer and has assisted cartoon artist and designer Gerald Scarfe in making papier-mâché and cloth sculptures.

Reviews

[Yeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Війна...
Це те, про що зараз усі говорять. Буває війна між країнами, суспільствами та з самим собою. Буває ще війна у книгах. Але одні книги про війну несуть глибокий сенс, а у інших війна використана як спосіб привабити покупців. А як щодо дитячих книг? Дитячі книги про війну - це, зазвичай, і є одні із тих, що несуть глибокий сенс. У них сильно не приплетеш любовну лінію з АТОшником (хіба що у підліткових). Та, на жаль, у нас з книг “дітям про війну” є небагато. Та й то, я прочитала дві - три. Але найбільше мені запам'яталася книга Зірки Мензатюк “Як я руйнувала імперію” та “Щоденник Анни Франк”. Якщо вам випаде нагода, то почитайте, бо то неймовірні книги! Але це були єдині книги, які мені настільки сподобалися, аж доки я не натрапила на Archie's War. Такої книги я ще не читала! Спогади 10-річного хлопчика Арчі про першу світову війну. Багато моментів з його сімейного життя викликали у мене ефект дежавю. А ілюстрації! Хлопчик малював комікси про себе та свою сім'ю, додаючи у свій скрапбук вирізки з газет, жмутик волосся, пір'їну, сигаретні карточки, листівки та листи. Бачили ви би мене, коли я з обличчям задоволеного слона витягала листа з вклеєного конверта. Те відчуття не описати! Саме тому я пропоную переглянути моє відео, де я розповідаю про цю книгу.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXHWi...

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War 1914-1918 by Marcia Williams is the story of ten-year-old Archie Albright, who receives a scrapbook from his uncle Colin. Archie is a boy living in East London, England, who’s in love with drawing and comics, and he’s a got a best friend named Tom and a dog named Georgie. In the book he explains a little bit about his family, particularly his 16-year-old sister’s interest in voting. Once talk about Austria declaring war on Serbia begins, Archie’s house becomes divided with his grandmother and father in favor of Britain entering the war, and his sister against the war and eager for peace to remain. Once Germany invades Britain’s ally Belgium, Britain has little choice but to enter the war. Archie’s scrapbook includes a nice break down of which countries were allied with Germany and which were allied with Britain, and it includes copies of news articles reminiscent of the time period. Plus, there is a running body count, which is something that young boys would likely keep track of.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/05/a...

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Archie’s scrapbook isn’t all fun and games, especially as his uncle Teddy and then his father join the fighting, his mother and sister join the workforce, and food grows increasingly scarce, and readers never forget that he’s a young boy coming of age during what was supposed to be the “war to end all wars.” Alongside the newspaper clippings and historical tidbits, author Marcia Williams includes vibrant comics depicting the soldiers on the front and the changes back home, among the most sad being the treatment of Archie’s German neighbors in East London.

Williams does a wonderful job merging the history of the war with the antics of a young boy, who at a tender age must learn about loss, fear, shell shock, and hunger but also finds hope and happiness in the countryside. Archie’s War makes learning the history of The Great War fun for children and adults alike, with letters to be unfolded and read, various postcards and other items from the period, and countless illustrations that are both informative and entertaining.

Full review on Diary of an Eccentric.

[Sarah Gerard]

This is the book in the format of a scrapbook which is created by a 10 year old boy who is living through World War 1. It is extremely interactive and engaging for children with flaps that they can pull up, letters they can get out of the envelope and read, as well as captions and lots of pictures, almost in the style of a comic strip. It's a really interesting non- fiction book, which I think would be really good for children of a primary school age because it teaches them about history whilst also being interesting. The fact the young boy is only 10 also makes the book and what is happening more relatable to children.

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Mix between factual and interesting, interaction
- Doesn’t feel like factual as it is through a fun story/ scrapbook
- Very interactive
- Keeps focus

[Daisy May Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been planning to review more non-fiction on the blog for a while. A lot of it stems from inspiration provided by conversations with my peers both on and off, and the slightly uncomfortable awareness that non-fiction is something I very, rarely cover.

A lot of that stems from my own personal experience with these books. I've always read, and I've always read fast. There simply wasn't enough space in the average non-fiction book to hook me. And then with the advent of the internet (ha, I sound ancient!), that quickness translated into online literacies and non-fiction was something that I rarely paid attention to. It just didn't fit into my reading pattern. And I think a lot of that still bears weight today - the quickness, the expectation of a text to provide an all round reading experience and to provide it now. Why would we read non-fiction when there's the entire internet at our fingertips?

Well, I think we would read and still need non-fiction for books like this. I'm a great believe in understanding the process of reading itself; understanding why you react to something in the way you do, understanding how you approach something, even understanding how you read a page - all of this helps to form your critical confidence. And it's a confidence that translates into so many other disciplines. Learning how to interact with, learning how to decode text, teaches us how to understand systems, sequential reasoning, cause and effect and so on and so forth.

Archie's War is a wondrous thing and it's a wonder that will last and last, I think, primarily because of the multi-faceted appeal of it. It's an appeal that starts on the back page where Williams thanks Archie for his scrapbook and wishes the reader 'best-browsing.' That's such a clever, special touch right there and it's one which is underlined by the front cover which proclaims: "By ME - Archie Albright". It's bringing the book into this lovely, clever space where it's almost read as a 'found object', an artefact, as opposed to being 'written about the past'. And that connection to the source, the touch and pull nature of the scrapbook, and the carefully coloured in figures, all of that starts to reinforce the precious nature of this book. It is Archie's scrapbook. It's so - crafted, so carefully, wonderfully put together by him. I love it.

So the tangibility of this book is beautiful, the weight of it, the truth of it is all someting we get given before we've even opened the page. And when we do, we're given a lovely hybrid of comic strip, stuck in objects and fold out letters - all of which make the reading a continual joy. You move left, right, up, down - you interact with the text and you get involved in it. You're an active reader, you're an engaged reader - you cannot read Archie's War passively. This is smart, clever stuff and it's stuff which is making me sad that it's taken this long for me to talk about non-fiction.

Another thing to note about Archie's War is that there is a lot of humanity in this book. Williams' style is warm and caring and truthful. She weaves fact and story together and creates a narrative which teaches (and it does teach a lot), but never sounds preachy. Some of the spreads are breathtaking and made me quite generally look again at topics which I thought I knew about.

The final thing is that a book like this is full of inspiration for follow up activities across pretty much every subject out there. I particularly enjoyed this book trailer I found on Youtube.

I hope that I'll be reviewing more non-fiction. It's definitely part of my plans. And in a way, I hope they're all as quietly inspirational and as brilliant as Archie's War.

[carrietracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really sure what audience this book is intended for. It would be far too difficult for an elementary school student to understand and I'm not sure if the picture book/comic elements would appeal to middle school or high school students unless reading for an assignment. The book is written from the perspective of a British boy during WWI, and as such contains many words that would be unknown to American children and the overall vocabulary level is quite high. A tiny glossary sheet in the back does little to help. The overall tone of the book struck me wrong as well. On a page where the child learns of the death of someone he knows the colors are bright and cheerful (despite a caption that says "My Worst Day" and the story of Edith Cavell, her brave deeds and subsequent execution is also cheerfully storyboarded as a comic with the "author" Archie awarding her with a homemade "dog-star" medal for bravery. While many major war events are covered they are largely written without detail, context or follow up. Without a teacher or parent guiding a child's reading of this book, and some discussions of Archie's perspective, I'd be concerned as to what children would come away with. I'd hoped this format would make information about WWI accessible to younger students, but I don't feel this book did that.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a marvelous experience to read (and pretend) is this scrapbook of a ten year old boy in London, right before World War I begins, and through the war. It is filled with comic drawings and loads of ephemera that the fictional character Archie has collected. So much of these teach us about the war, tidbit at a time! There are two funny characters that follow along in some of the pages, ripped out news clippings, photos, and most pleasurable of all, letters from the front that one can actually pull out of an envelope or unfold and read (Think The Jolly Postman)! As the months go by, Archie’s pages become more serious. At first it’s quite fun to play at war. But when his Uncle signs up, and goes to France, then his father and others, his mother goes to work at the father’s job, the family chores weigh heavily on Archie himself. In the timeline of things that occur, like the Zeppelin airships bombing London, the brother growing old enough at 16 to go himself, the mention of food, or lack of food, Archie begins to know that war is not fun; in fact, it’s terrible. This is a book to examine again and again, and I’m impressed with the research Marcia Williams had to do in order to include so much.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts just before WWI, and goes, diary style, right up to Armistace day, and details what is going on in Archie's life and also the world around him. Archie is a boy who lives in London and loves drawing comics. His input on the war is believable and makes the war understandable to young readers. The pages are busy with comics, letters, facts, and other doo-dads. Overall it's a nice book, except I felt that, since there is a lot of dated British vernacular used, the translations should have been more prominent than hidden in small print on the endpage. Also, I wished that there had been one more entry, since it seemed too abrupt, like "yay Armistace! The End."

Recommended primarily for boys, especially boys who are interested in history, and liked The Busy Little Postman type books, with foldouts and letters and the such.
Best for middle school or late elementary, because Archie speaks and thinks like your average boy, meaning a touch salty (or is that term only for the way sailors talk?)

[Daniel Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Scrapbook created by a young child during the events of the First World War in London and describes his experiences through words and pictures. Within the book itself, the actual layout is set out like a traditional scrapbook / comic strip with a large amount of pictures and captions to go along with it. Just from quick looking through the pages, I can tell this is a user friendly book and can be used by all ages because of uses of humour alongside emotional difficulties.

After finishing this book, I concluded that I enjoyed reading this book because I do not normally read non-fiction books but this one kept me interested all the way through.


I believe this would be a great book for young children (primary school age) to read because it not only gives detailed opinions about the First World War and the details of dates etc. but also provides these facts with colourful images to grab the attention of the reader and interactive sections for example letters that are within envelopes for the child to actually hold and read.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written like a scrap book about the First World War by a boy called Archie Albright aged 10 years. It is bright and colourful and has lots of different formats, ie: letters, flaps, postcards and letters. The pictures consist of black and white photos, newspaper articles, cartoons and sketches. There are lots of small pieces of information and pictures on each page which I believe would hold a childs interest. War is often used in class as a topic and therefore this book would be a great addition to resources. A younger child would enjoy the pictures and an older child could research further on the information in the book by using IT. I have found in class that a book with little snippets of information and backed up by a visual picture aids children’s learning greatly. I will definitely be using this book in class!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and engaging story surrounding the life of the schoolboy Archie Albright, based at the time of the First World War. After Archie is given a scrapbook by his Uncle Colin, he writes from 1914 until the war ends in 1918. The reader will experience life at the time through the eyes of Archie and learn about how his world worked.

This book is effective in engaging the reader through pull out letters or flip out pictures. This ensured the reader maintained their interest in Archie’s story and learnt about the historical event of World War One. This book would be suitable for a slightly older child reader rather than a very young child as there are more structured sentences and complex vocabulary used. Also it is a great book to link to the centenary of the end of World War One in the classroom.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully done facsimile of a scrapbook that might have been compiled and created by a British child during WWI. It manages to get across the sense of the 1914-1918 homefront world, the characters of the boy and his family, the sadness, loss, and terror of the war, without going too far for its intended middle school audience. The humor is appropriately middle school boy, and the author doesn't shy away from the racism he expresses towards his former friend who is German. I don't know how many kids would read this for fun, but it would be a good one for parents and kids to share, and probably also good for reports.

[Denise Choate · Rating 4 out of 5]

2009 Informational
Archie’s War was difficult for me to get through because this really isn’t the sort of information that I usually seek out to read for enjoyment, however it was more than just another war story or was book. Instead of being a book like that it is a person’s actual journal and illustrations in it. That’s what it is suppose to look like at least. It was very well illustrated and made me want to venture into more of this sort of information.

[Tom Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marcia Williams chose a clever and highly engaging approach to bringing students an understanding of the First World War. Ten years old at the war's start in 1914, East Ender Archie Albright begins a scrapbook that stretches to the armistice. Photos, clippings, artifacts, drawings, letters, and more are woven together with Archie's take on events as a child whose father is in arms and whose family endures rationing, bombing, and uncertainty. Well executed.

[Jessica Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is packed full of stuff. It is uniquely set up. It has several fold outs. I like that it is in the style of a young boys comic book. While this is also an interesting story it provides facts about the war as well. I thought that it was a bit confusing and I read the book several times before I had read and seen everything the book had to offer.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fun yet interesting book about World War 1. Not especially good if you are looking for details but it you are looking for something to peak interest and /or act as a springboard it is really engaging.

[Kerstin Macdonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book didn't have me personally captured and motivated to want to read it, but I know there'll be a few children in my future classes who'd love something like this. great for integrating history and literacy parts of the curriculum.

[Alice Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book, suitable and interesting for all. Informative however not remotely dull or lacking in excitement. Potential to be great for units of work, group and independent reading and reading for pleasure.

[Jasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because it showed world war 1 from a young boys perspective

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cute!

[Carlos Vallarino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional give one a view of how life was in the UK in those perilous times and it totally British their approach to the situation.

[erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

one child's view of the great war (ww1) in london told in diary journal form. very interesting!

[Camille Tesch]

Ages 10-12

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intricately compiled diary/scrapbook, in the style of a 10-year-old London boy's World War I family life and experiences. Young Archie Albright is full of fun and mischief, especially with best friend Tom and faithful family dog Georgie. He loves comics and drawing. His 'scrapbook' is packed with drawings, photos, headlines, and break-out boxes that tell about daily life during the war, including sobering insights into food shortages because of the German U-boat blockades. At one point, the Government advised Britishers to eat more slowly and to stay as warm as possible, to help slow down food consumption. There were many moving insights and tributes to the hardships and traumas of war, including that of women who were called out into the workforce, in dangerous jobs such as working in the munitions factory, where toxic chemicals and possible explosions were a matter of life and death. It was also moving to open the front covers, where the historic, colorful and collectable 'cigarette cards' were reproduced, and to see not only the British logos and regiments, but the ANZAC, the Australian, and the New Zealand logos and regiments. Marcia Williams has truly created a little work of art.

[The Library Mouse Tales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcia Williams is a brilliant author and illustrator. I have read a few of her books. She is so good at telling stories or explaining things in a way that kids can understand and enjoy.

This book has been designed as though it is the scrapbook of a boy living in The Eat End of London during the First World War. The narrator is 10 year old school boy Archie who has filled the book with stories about local life, his own cartoon strips, newspaper clippings, drawings and letters from his dad & uncle who are fighting in France.

The book looks like a colourful picture book but it also teaches you so much about what life was like for children in England during WWI. It is full of facts about things that happened at the time but it really helps you understand how people must have felt at the time. It is funny but also sad at times too.

I like how the book is presented. It is much more interesting than reading pages of boring text and facts. You still get lots of detailed information but in a child-friendly way. It is also good to find out about things from a child’s point of view and how the lives of the people were affected by the Great War.

[Eloise Battey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winner of the UKLA Book Award, Archie’s War is such an interesting take on a Non-Fiction book. The way in which it is laid out if so inventive and fun for the reader to experience. It is much set up like a fiction book however, it is full of so many amazing facts and informative text of that of World War 1. I sometimes find Non-Fiction texts to be quite daunting, especially for younger readers however this book is set out in such a way that is broken down into small, easy to handle, chunks.
It would be really fun to ask the children to create their own non-fiction book, inspired by this text, in a ‘scrapbook’ type style. For example, children may be learning about The Tudors in History/Topic and during Computing they could be asked to research the period in more depth on iPads or computers. They could bring their newfound knowledge together during Literacy to create a book of similar ilk. Taking into account the style of writing used in non-fiction books and layouts. They would also have to consider who their audience is and the writing style needed to suit such demographic.

[Caroline Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooks children's interest from the start. A creative way to explore some of the themes in the First World War. The experience of war on the home front is presented through the eyes of a child as he creates a scrap book to document his thoughts and feelings. The varied media of drawings, letters and fold out cards will engage children. Some documents are amusing, whilst others are poignant which provides pupils with a context to explore both life in the East End in the early part of the century and the impact of war on those at home. The book includes plenty of art work in a comic book style but is also packed with facts and reproductions of documents from the time. The engaging style provides children with the opportunity to empathise with the main character. A great resource for history, art and English for KS2.

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The First World War from the perspective of a 10-year-old boy named Archie Albright who loves to draw comics in his scrapbook. Kids will love the book for all of its goofy little drawings and interesting flaps and envelopes with real letters inside. The book contains plenty of accurate information about the war and the effect of the war on ordinary people, so kids will learn a lot if they read the whole book. However, Archie’s grammar is atrocious (an attempt at realism, of course, but it seems overdone and annoying to me). Also, there are three different pictures of people either peeing or sitting on the toilet (no body parts are pictured, but the pee is).

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for children to learn about the war as there are short sentences, interactive parts of the book, such as pulling out letters that have been written and it is filled wit colour and lots of pictures. All important dates of the First World War are mentioned and important events such as when 'poisonous gas' was invented, or when the soldiers played football on Christmas Day in 1914. Also some historical photos are shown of Archie's family when they are going to war etc. It is a great and interactive way of learning about the war.

Historical book