My Secret War Diary is one of those books that take me back to my childhood. It's like a treasure hunt, and every new page turn leads to adventure.
The book appears to be a copy (a color copy, at that) of a hand-written diary or scrapbook, written by “Flossie Albright” who is “nine and a quarter years old and ... skinny as a whippet.” She not only writes, but also “loves to draw, so expect to find your pages covered!” (As you do, with amusing and lively illustrations.) On every page, you find mementos like pasted-in drawings, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Occasionally whole pages or mini-books appear, such as Flossie's family tree on a fold-out page mounted in the diary, or a letter from a nurse serving in Egypt, or super-top-secrets hidden under flaps that say “no entry.” (But you know you've got to peek!)
Flossie's father is an under-gardener at a large estate in Great Britain, and when the diary begins in 1939, he has been called up with all the rest of the young and middle-aged men to serve Britain in case of war. Flossie keeps up her diary with a running commentary on life and times at the home front, for six long years, as a sort of talisman for her dad's safe return. She's often rubbing her lucky acorn and asking fairies for luck, poor little thing, but in the meantime there are tales of happenings great and small (the capture of a German pilot, for example, and how the people coped with food shortages; school and speeches, war news and longing for peace). Reading the account gives a new perspective on the rescue at Dunkirk, for example, or the Battle of Britain. A young Jewish evacuee who comes to live on the estate adds another layer to the story, as well, bringing home to Flossie the reality of Hitler's plans for the Jews.
I do wonder, a little bit, at some of the things I read. The language, for example, in places reads rather like an imitation of lower-class British speech than the actual speech, though I'm no expert in dialect and people may really have talked that way in Flossie's day! Flossie has an aunt who is a pacifist, and she's obviously been influenced by her aunt's thinking. Since the diary is written from a child's viewpoint, there's no one to balance her desire for peace with the fact that peace cannot work if it's only one-sided.
Though the book is aimed at children in Grades 3-6, our whole family has found it interesting to read through Flossie's diary and discuss her perspective on World War II.
More
Information
Available
From: Candlewick Press
Address: 2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140
Beginning Homeschooling - EHO Lite
Thank you for visiting Beginning Homeschooling. We hope you found the homeschool resources to assist you in starting your journey into homeschooling.
