Product Description

When Britain declared war on Hitler's Germany in 1939, the lives of a generation of British children were altered forever. Between 1939 and 1945 British children experienced the horrors of a new kind of warfare that caused death and destruction in town and countryside on a scale that had hitherto been experienced only on the battlefield. Hundreds of thousands of them came to know what it meant to be sent away from home and family to live with strangers. Most of them grew up in a world in which food was limited, both in quality and quantity; some knew real hunger and deprivation. Many children saw little of their parents during the war years and many experienced death at close quarters. For many children the war years also offered inspiration, a sense of freedom, adventure and the feeling that they were part of something bigger than themselves. Children of The War Years explores the events of World War Two through the experiences of British children, taking the reader on a vivid pictorial journey into our nation's past.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66876 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

About the Author
Janice Anderson was born and educated in New Zealand but has made Britain her home for many years. After working for many years as a journalist and editor for many of Britain's leading Non-Fiction publishers she became a freelance writer and editor specialising in illustrated non-fiction

Customer Reviews

Great buy.
I bought this as a present for my mum who was born during WW2. Although she was not evacuated and a baby at the time she said she remembers a lot of the things mentioned in the book and it has brought back many memories. Despite the fact that she grew up during wartime she looks back on these memories with fondness (as most people do on their childhood). I wasn't sure if she would like this book or not but she said it is 'Brilliant'. I too found it quite fascinating as I have been fortunate to not experience war first hand. It makes me realise how lucky I am.

children of the war years
I found this book really good and very informative as to how these children coped with being evacuated during the war. Pictures inside the book was very good and can recommend this book to other readers who are interested in this era.

my experiences in the war
I was born in 1931 and was therefore very young at the commencement of the 1939 - 1945 years. However my mother was a founder member of the WVS (as it was called at that time) and I saw quite frequently Lady Courtall and Lady Kemp who lived quite near me. When mother was incident officer with the doodle bugs and rockets I used to go to her after school and if necessary used to give messages to other people when she could not leave her incident office which was completely run by the WVS. I remember vividly taking the kitchen waste to a refuse bin at the end of the road which was used to help eke out the fodder for the pigs as this was short like everything else. I was never evacuated as my father was in very secret work in Kent and my mother was busy in the WVS. She felt we should stay together. Later in the war I was injured by a rocket and spent some years having plastic surgery in the Canadian hospital (now made over to the UK) in East Grinstead and met the very various Dr McIndoe. I believe I was the first civilian treated there.

I felt that the book was very well set out. I was rather sorry to see that it had to be written by a New Zealander but I liked the layout and the separate chapters. I am lending it to my grandchildren so that they can get an insight into some of the times when you couldn't get all the things that you wanted and had to eat what was available.

Shirley Evans