LOCAL author and teacher-librarian Allison Paterson has recently launched an Anzac book for children and young adults to help start discussion about Australians on the frontline.
Anzac Sons: Five Brothers on the Western Front is a story based on the adult version of the book she released last year.
Anzac Sons has been compiled from a collection of over 500 letters, postcards and photos sent from Paterson’s grandfather and his four brothers from the Western Front.
The book offers a first-hand perspective on the trials faced by young soldiers, and follows their journey from enlistment through training, their first battle, and the despair of war as the brothers face grief and death.
Paterson said she hoped the book would help foster an understanding of the life of young soldiers in WWI.
“I intend that it (the book) will also develop an understanding of what it means to be Australian,” she said.
“I strongly believe we need to understand our past to move forward to the future with conviction and empathy.”
Paterson said it was important to have fictional accounts of the tragedy of war to help tell the real story.
“I believe, in schools, we rely heavily on fiction accounts to convey the tragedy of war and that Anzac Sons is an opportunity to tell a real story, not one based on events where the reader is constantly challenged and sometimes misled by the blurring of fact and fiction,” she said.
“My intention is that this book can be read individually or aloud to a class. It is a factual account of war which can be used to generate discussion on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day and as a catalyst for more in-depth study of Australians on the Western Front.”
Anzac Sons is available now from Big Sky Publishing for $14.99.
