By James Riordan (author)
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In an excellent time-slip story, James Riordan brings the action and tragedy of the First World War vividly to life. Jack’s grandfather is a war hero with medals to prove it. But he will never talk about what he did and he refuses to come into Jack’s school to speak about it. On a visit to the war graves, Jack learns directly what it was like as he suddenly finds himself in another life - right back in 1914 where he is a young soldier in the trenches.
In addition to the fighting, Jack’s dramatic experiences include that most famous and most extraordinary moment of the Christmas day football match held on No Man’s Land between the two sides.
Jack, standing among the war graves, sees a face he recognizes. Suddenly, it's 1914 again and he's a young lad back in the trenches. Visions of killing and misery come to him with horrible clarity.
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But then Jack remembers too the incredible moment when the guns fell silent for a short time, and fighting gave way to football on the frozen ground of No-Man's-Land. This amazing story, based on true facts from the First World War, will transport readers back to the war fields of France and show that even in times of conflict and extreme sadness, there is always hope.
This is a necessary, powerful, outspoken but ultimately healing book, something all young people born into more fortunate generations should read. The School Librarian
James Riordan ( 10 October 1936 - 10 February 2012) grew up during the war in his chimney-sweep grandfather’s house in Portsmouth. After school he was a barman, waiter, railway clerk, commercial salesman, and dance band musician. During his National Service in the RAF he learned Russian and went on to become Professor of Russian Studies at Surrey University. Besides novels, he has written folk-tale collections, picture books and over 20 academic publications. His first novel for children, Sweet Clarinet, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Award and, like his other novels The Prisoner and When the Guns Fall Silent, is based partly on his own wartime experiences. Julia Eccleshare writes: Jim Riordan was a prolific author of children's books. Drawing on the 640 stories gathered together in eight volumes by Alexander Afanasyev between 1855 and 1867, he retold Russian folk tales in two books. The first, Tales from Central Russia: Russian Tales, published in 1976 by Kestrel, the upmarket hardback imprint of Puffin Books, was illustrated with black-and-white illustrations by Krystyna Turska. These atmospheric – if a little static – retellings were combined with Riordan's lengthy and detailed commentary on the original tales, how Afanasyev had collected them and their relevance to children in contemporary Soviet Russia. The volume chimed perfectly with the then fashionable commitment in British schools to teaching Russian and opening up children's understanding of the country. A companion volume, Tales from Tartar, followed in 1979. Riordan then produced a steady flow of anthologies of various kinds from across Russia and its near neighbours, acting as both collector and translator. He also diversified into other folk-story traditions, including The 12 Labours of Hercules (1998), which won the UK Reading Association award. His collection The Woman in the Moon and Other Tales of Forgotten Heroines (1985), including stories from Japan, Ghana, Sicily, Lapland and the UK, was celebrated for its strong female characters. Breaking away from other people's stories, he wrote his first novel, Sweet Clarinet (1998), the touching story of a boy overcoming injuries sustained in the London Blitz through his love of playing music. Nine more novels followed; all have something of the folk tale about them in terms of a child overcoming adversity through courage and belief. Many, such as Rebel Cargo (2007), the story of children sold into slavery and his final novel, Blood Runner (2011), the story of a young black boy whose parents are killed by the South African police, carry strong socio-political messages. Russia never lost its appeal as a source of stories for him and he returned there with the setting of his penultimate novel, The Sniper (2008), which is based on the true story of a teenage marksman at the siege of Stalingrad.
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Jack, standing among the war graves, sees a face he recognizes. Suddenly, it's 1914 again and he's a young lad back in the trenches.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed When the Guns Fall Silent and determined it is suitable for children aged 11-14 years old
When the Guns Fall Silent features in the following genres: Featured Books for 11+ readers, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Historical Fiction, Recommended Children's eBooks, Featured Books for 13+ readers
Ebook, Paperback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. Temporarily Out Of Stock.
When the Guns Fall Silent was written by James Riordan and published by Oxford University Press
When the Guns Fall Silent has 156 pages
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. Temporarily Out Of Stock.
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