This book was written for the 100th anniversary of the ending of World War I. You know that one, the one that was supposed to be the war that ended all wars.

John has forgotten what his father looks like. He has forgotten a time before the war. The factories make noise, the women march off to make munitions and the fathers are in the trenches.

It is all very bleak, and depressing. And then a pacifist drops leaflets with pictures of children that he met in Germany when he was there before the war.

And John sees that the enemy looks just like him.

Not sure if this would be good for a child to read without an adult to explain some of the things that happen in the story. Good that it was written, however.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Tackling a harsh topic - war - this beautifully illustrated book aimed towards children was a delight to read and look at. It tells the story of a young boy, John, whose mother works in an ammunitions factory in the time of the First World War. John is quite inquisitive about the war and also a bit scared. I think his character shines through and he puts light on topics i think many children today think about and are scared of when there's a constant flow of reports from war, recently the Covid-19 and other things that can be hard to understand when you're a child.

I deeply admire children's book authors for their constant aim to present difficult topics for a young audience and that, in this case, the topic of war is presented in a way that conveys an understanding of other people's feelings and brings the focus that it is okay to ask questions and also, that it is okay to be afraid of the unknown!

The language is very poetic and the change of style (from pages wit just texts to pages with a sentence) make this a book that would be easy to read even for beginners (maybe not the youngest children, let's say second or third grade, maybe). Illustrations are particularly beautiful.