Once a Shepherd By Glenda Millard

Glenda Millard É 3 free read

For a children's book this was very serious and moving and had unexpected turns. A beautiful moving story told through verse. I loved every page of it. 0763674583 Haunting, spare, evocative.

But is it a kid's book? Hmmm... like a couple of others in Glenda Millard's oeuvre and almost all of Michael Morpurgo's children's novels, I really wonder how kids react to the story. Certainly they will be unable to appreciate the nostalgic overtones with the insight of an adult. They'd miss the poignancy but might grasp the sadness.

This is a lovely picture book about a shepherd who marries his sweetheart and then goes off to war - a hundred years or so ago.

In the centenary year of the start of World War I, this would make a great education discussion starter.

The watercolours are simply lovely. 0763674583 A poignant and gentle story of Tom, growing up from shepherd, to husband, and soon to be father, to a soldier and then ultimately death in the trenches whilst trying to save an injured enemy soldier. Millard does not finish the story there but goes on to show the survivor returning Tom’s coat to his grieving wife, to then end on a hopeful note with Tom’s son playing contentedly.

Told in spare but evocative language, Millard has told this story in verse, but with inconsistent rhyme that ensures a more considered and sober reading
, but warrants a pre reading before reading aloud. The POV presents more as fable than with a sense of immediacy. Phil Lesne’s watercolour illustrations incorporate a great deal of green shades which could be seen as a celebration of life and renewal which seems an underlying theme. They are soft, with simplified but expressive faces.

A book to encourage young readers to explore www1 themes from a stance of compassion staying true to oneself in the midst of destruction. 0763674583 Beautiful story. Beautiful illustrations. 0763674583 Told in rhyme this picture book tells the story of a shepherd whose world is at peace. He married his sweetheart and then had a child on the way. All felt right with the world until the day war invaded his peace. Tom left to go to war and marched ‘right into hell.’ In trying to help an enemy solder Tom pays the ultimate price. This is a book that is both beautiful and sad and there will be many like me who shed tears while reading it. But ultimately it is a book about hope, when peace reigns again despite the evils of war. Another beautiful and thoughtful text from Glenda Millard, it is complemented the delicate illustrations that echo the poetic text. Given its theme of loss and war, this is not a picture book for the very young but is a book that will provoke a lot of discussion. Beautifully told and illustrated, I can see this book featuring in children’s books awards. 0763674583

Once a Shepherd tells the story of Tom Shepherd, a young shepherd without a care in the world. It is a time of peace. He gets married and his wife becomes pregnant. However, his world is quickly turned upside down with the arrival of World War I. He must go off and fight in the war and unfortunately does not come back. In fact, the enemy soldier who kills Tom is so grief-stricken, he feels he must personally go and tell Tom's wife about his death.

My wife warned me not to get this book, and she was right. It is a very sobering tale, which I'm unsure how you read this to a child without depressing them for a week, if not longer. The writing style and illustrations also left a bit to be desired. Every page starts with the words Once a... and while I get that repetition is good for children, it grew tedious. The illustrations themselves aren't bad, but are what I would describe as watercolor. The dust jacket/cover of the book has a look of stitching, and if the whole book would have been illustrated this way, I would rate this book higher as that would at least be clever and on theme. Unfortunately. I can only give this book three stars, as the story is depressing and the illustrations weren't what I'd look for in a children's book. 0763674583 Remembrance Day 0763674583 With 2014 marking one hundred years since the outbreak of hostilities in World War One, Glenda Millard and Phil Lesnie have created “Once a Shepherd”, a profound reminder of the devastating impact of war on the lives ordinary people. In “Once a Shepherd”, Glenda Millard and Phil Lesnie tell of one good man, who dies on the battlefield, and those whose lives he changes.

While immediately touched by the haunting simplicity of “Once a Shepherd”, this reviewer considers that its real power lies in the juxtaposition of contrasts. Millard and Lesnie weave words and pictures, life and death, joy and grief, fear and bravery, continuity and change, humanity and inhumanity seamlessly into the fabric of the story. In one way another, wool also threads its way through the book from end cover to end cover, transforming from fleece to yarn to cloth to garment and finally to a soft toy.

Recommended for independent readers, “Once a Shepherd” will also appeal to the parents, grandparents and educators of youngsters learning about the human experience of wartime. Finally, “Once a Shepherd” leaves the reader with a sad and enduring irony. The shepherd, who loses his life in World War One – supposedly the war to end all wars - leaves behind a baby son who will be exactly the right age to follow his father’s footsteps in World War Two.

Reviewed for Creative Kids Tales by Irene Buckler
0763674583 Although he loves his idyllic life tending sheep, Tom Shepherd does his duty and heads off to war. When he doesn't return, his wife and the child he never got to see must somehow find a way to carry on. I liked how the poetic lines kept repeating that once in an almost fairy tale fashion, and how the lines and the lovely watercolor illustrations contrast scenes of war and peace. While nothing can help Cherry, Tom's wife, feel better, at least her pain is eased by knowing how he died and in imagining a world without conflict. This picture book provides a way to introduce war's painful losses while also providing some hope for a peaceful future because of those losses. 0763674583 So short and poignant. It leaves a lot of space for the adult to explain the themes of war and grief. 0763674583

In poignant verse, the story of one young shepherd makes the experience of soldiers in World War I accessible to children.
 
Once there sang a carefree shepherd
in a field of emerald green. . . .
Once Tom’s world was all at peace.
 
Here is the tale of Tom Shepherd, tending his lambs and shearing their fleece and wooing his sweetheart, who weaves the sheep’s wool to make him a coat. But then the Great War comes, and Tom must leave his beloved wife and his unborn child and go off to fight. In a moving, sobering story that resolves in a heartbreaking but beautiful ending, Once a Shepherd evokes the reality of war in a way young children can understand, while fostering a deep-felt hope for peace.
  Once a Shepherd