Elizabeth Hawksley: Books for Boys

Archie's War by Marcia Williams

One of my favourites was Archie’s War, engagingly written and brilliantly illustrated by Marcia Williams, which is aimed at boys of eight plus. It opens in 1914. Ten-year-old Archie Albright lives with his family in London’s East End. He loves comics and is thrilled when he is given a scrapbook. He decides to create his own comic book. This proves to be a brilliant format for getting across what life was like for ordinary people during the First World War.

Archie collects whatever he can get his hands on: newspaper cuttings, cigarette cards of the period, picture post cards from the front, railway tickets, his Dad’s letters from the trenches, and his own diary and drawings. We see his family’s enthusiastic patriotism at the beginning (apart from his sixteen-year-old Pacifist sister); his Uncle Ted joins up amid great enthusiasm; the innocent Schoenfeld family who ‘might be spies’ are ostracized. Gradually, the tone changes as Archie realizes that the war won’t be over by Christmas.

The news gets darker. War-time shortages begin to bite; then Uncle Ted is killed. Archie’s father joins up, as does his fifteen-year-old brother, Ron. Sometimes, Archie’s scrapbook records local news: the explosion in the munitions factory where his mother works. Sometimes it has more general news, such as the story of Edith Cavell.

The arrival of the first Zeppelin brings a new threat. The Zeppelins are slow and not too dangerous but then come the first German bombers. Archie is excited by the exploits of the Red Baron, but horrified by what bombing actually does to people when the street behind them is bombed and his friend Tom is made homeless.       

I give Marcia Williams top marks for the intelligent, funny, sad and thoughtful way she charts the First World War through the eyes of one ten-year-old boy. I particularly like the way she charts the gradual shift of emotion as Archie realizes that war is about more than simple patriotism. I thought the bookt was terrific.

There are plenty of high-calibre authors out there writing for boys and they are doing a great job. What we need now is for public libraries to remain open and be funded properly so that they can buy books like Archie’s War to help boys get the reading bug.