Remembrance By Theresa Breslin
Absolutely brilliant book. I loved every moment of it, tenderly written. Be ready with the Kleenex. Feels very authentic and true to the period of WWI. Remembrance I was grabbed by this book straightway. The characters are clear and the setting is one which is well used in fiction. The book seems to start with a WW1 lite feel to it with the naive view of a teenage girl in a village on the border of Scotland and England. This makes the story very accessible initially but did seem to make light of the situation.
After reading for a few pages, I decided to do some research into the author and realised that she writes for the young adult market which goes some way to explaining the lack of subtlety at the start as she wants to create a connection with her readers.
Having adjusted my expectations and read a few pages further, I found this book to be very skilfully written. The author uses the young characters to provide realism to the target market then puts them into adult situations, which means that adult readers are never going to be alienated. This gives a book which can be easily read by anyone. While they experience a whole range of horrors, the reader is never allowed to forget that the characters are living in the adult world for the first time. The effects of the war are also touched on in a very clever way across all ages and classes (the changes to Maggie's parents were interesting for example).
I particularly like the use of the letters to and from the front. Selected parts of letters are shown in varying fonts for the different writers and are used to supplement the plot beautifully without ever taking over the main narrative.
The book spans most of WW1 and covers a huge variety of related issues within society at the time emancipation, medical advances and media manipulation to name just a few. This broad range of subjects is handled in a way which is never rushed and the reader is never left feeling short changed, also you feel that nothing has been left out.
A great achievement. Remembrance There is a war going on and it has been going on for quit some time now. Charlotte and her family own a small little store. Charlotte has a brother, Francis, which wants to go to the war so he can help them fight. Her mother is sick, and her dad is always down in the store. Charlotte and her brother are always helping their dad down in the shop because they are always busy. Charlotte has a crush on a boy named John Malcolm. He has a sister named Maggie. She didn't like very many people. Charlotte wants to go work as a nurse in the hospital. The hospitals are going to be full of army people who were hurt in the war, which could be very sick and gruesome. Charlotte's mom is pretty sick. So she has to listen to what her mom says. Since the war is going on you can't walk alone a lot of places because something could happen to you. So every time charlotte wanted to see John, she had to have her brother take cover and not say where she was. Her mom didn't want charlotte going to be one of those nurses because she thought it would make her upset. She did it anyways. At first she didn't like it because some guy cut his own leg off and it was infected and it was all green and different colors. Everyone doubted her before that guy came in. once he came in and she stared at him for a while being grossed out, she called for the closest person and had him get her some things. Then everyone thought different of her.
When John Malcolm went off to war, he sent a longer letter to charlotte than he did his own family and Maggie was mad at charlotte for that. Charlotte only received like two or three letters from him. Maggie got the telegram that John Malcolm had died during the fighting. And charlotte knew where to meet her because she already knew. There had been people all over the block that had died. So she knew. Her brother ran off to the war
And that made her family really upset. Remembrance OK. heres the deal. I read TONS of books, but this is me ALL TIME favorite. I was so happy when Charlotte Armstron Barnes and John Malcolm admit the like each other, and I cried for charlotte when she found out he had been killed. I worried about Johns too young brother that sneegles his way into the army to fight. I was glad that Maggie (John Malcolm's twin sister) helped Francis (Charlottes older brother) stay sane while he was fighting. I recommend this book for anyone (12+) who likes to read. Younger people probably wont appreiciate the romantic aspect of this book, but hey knock yourselves out, because you will fall for this book Hook Line and Sinker! Remembrance Great product Remembrance
It was the largest conflict the world had ever known. It covered three continents and lasted five years. Millions of soldiers returned wounded, millions never returned at all. In the summer of 1915, in a small village in Scotland, the Great War has already begun to irrevocably alter the course of five young lives.
Eighteen year old John Malcolm enlists in the army, eager to fight for his country. His sweetheart, 15 year old Charlotte, stays behind to earn her nursing certificate, along with John Malcolms twin sister, Maggie, who recognizes the opportunity to create a new life for herself. Charlottes brother, Francis, sees only tragedy in the war, but feels the pressure to join up. And Alex, below the recruiting age, is determined to reach the front lines somehow. Remembrance
Good. Remembrance I am a High School English teacher in Brisbane. My father (who served at sea in WW 2) was named after his uncle, an Australian artillery officer who served in Gallipoli and in France. He was killed in action in the Somme region in 1917. I discovered this novel, Remembrance by Theresa Breslin after my family had visited his grave in France during 2001. Breslin's account of seeing British students (my own children were upper primary school age and truly affected), visiting a similar war cemetary struck a chord with me as many Australians and New Zealanders suffered and died in this area (along with British, French, Canadian and US troops and Germans in this region). It inspired me to use it as the focus of a unit on war, using the play, Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff, set in the trenches, plus WW1 war poetry by women & men, allied and German (e.g. Owen & Sassoon & Trakl). The students love the novel with its mix of both female and male perspectives on the war (and a little romance) and the social history of the period. The students have also studied the period in History, so it has proved a valuable inter disciplinary unit. I recommend the novel whole heartedly to anyone interested in the period including young people who wish to explore the mood and many social changes of the period in Britain. Also on the Hyperion CD label, and on Chandos are CD's either featuring composers of WW1 or music appropriate to listen to in conjunction with Remembrance. There are few authors and novels that I have taught that have enthused both teacher and student as deeply. A must read novel ! Remembrance Set during World War I, Remembrance is a fantastic historical fiction book. It portrays the excitement, horror, and heartbreak of war in an honest way through narration as well as letters between the characters. It is so incredibly well written. The writing evokes many emotions and transports the reader to the 19 teens. I very highly recommend this book to young teens and up who are learning about World War I. Remembrance My daughter actually recommended this as one of her favorite books. After reading it, I can see why. It is a well written historical fiction about WWI, primarily from a UK perspective. Through the characters, the realities and potential consequences of any war are brought to life. There are a lot of interesting sub topics and themes, such as the social changes of the period, particularly in terms of the changing roles of women in the UK. One of the subtle and profound themes is the role of art and literature in our lives. One of the novel's greatest strengths is the character development of Maggie. The correspondence between Maggie and Francis is particularly powerful. It is mainly through the character of Francis that the impacts of WWI, and arguably any war, are fleshed out. It is a book that can be enjoyed by teens and adult, and can provide opportunities for discussion between the two on many different topics. Remembrance Her writing draws you into the story so you have to go to the next chapter to find out what is going to happen. I am amazed that she has authored books for children as well as senior citizens. She is very talented. Remembrance