Description

2000 Bologna Ragazzi Non-Fiction for Young Adults Award

Shortlisted, 2000 British Columbia Round Table Information Book Award

1999 Teacher Liberian Magazine, Best of the Best issue

Shortlisted, 2001 Rocky Mountain Award

Too Young To Fight is a book of recollections from some of this country’s best-loved writers of children’s literature. The contributors were children and teenagers during World War II. Though they were far from the fighting and, indeed, too young to participate, they were old enough to remember their impressions and feelings. As they grew up in a tumultuous era, some seemed miraculously untouched while others were profoundly affected. All experienced changes in their lives that shaped the adults they became.

For anyone who did not experience it, this book provides fascinating insight and a tangible link to a formative period in our history. For those who were young themselves at the time, the collection will stir memories and stories long-forgotten. It is our hope that those memories will be shared by people of all ages, and preserved for generations to come.

Contributors include:

  • Roch Carrier,
  • Christopher Chapman,
  • Brian Doyle,
  • Priscilla Galloway,
  • Dorothy Joan Harris,
  • Monica Hughes,
  • Joy Kogawa with Timothy Nakayama,
  • Jean Little,
  • Janet Lunn,
  • Claire Mackay, and
  • Budge Wilson.

Reviews

"While any recollection of wartime will be filled with tales of the men who returned without limbs, or without their minds, the autobiographical pieces of Too Young to Fight relate the daily life of children, who, after all are just kids living like kids."
Books in Canada

"Too Young to Fight is a beautifully designed work. It is the kind of book that is delightful to hold and turn the beautifully printed manila pages decorated with pictures of the authors as children, letters and other archival material. Thoughtful young people between the ages of 10 and 15 might like to discover this book themselves. Others might find the complex material easier to unlock with the help of a teacher - or better yet a grandparent, who can add tales of their own. This is a book to value year-round, not just in November."
The Standard