War Boy: A Country Childhood [Hardcover]

Michael Foreman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1990

One of the most unusual and affecting war memories ever published: World War II as seen through the eyes of a little boy. Full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Foreman, a much-lauded watercolor illustrator, has put together a book of reminiscence. Set in Suffolk during World War II, when Foreman was very young, the stories meander among small, intriguing details. Bomb shelters, local characters and sweetshop treats are remembered and enlivened with beautiful, evocative illustrations. Foreman's sketches and full-color watercolors are sprinkled across the wide format, while reproductions of airplane specifications and other period details keep this from looking like just another picture book. Similar to Roald Dahl's autobiographical Boy and Going Solo, the book combines pictures and quirky, sometimes dark memories in a not-strictly chronological fashion. Like Dahl's stories, however, Foreman's memoirs charm and amuse while giving a close and personal view of the war. Altogether, this is an unusual and enjoyable book whose audience, while nonspecific, spans age groups and interests. All ages.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Michael Foreman is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 36 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Pub; First US Edition, 2nd Prtg edition (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559700491
• ISBN-13: 978-1559700498
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,974,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Child's View of Wartime England!, May 23, 2010

By 

Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War Boy: A Country Childhood (Hardcover)

Noted children's writer/illustrator Michael Foreman recaptures his childhood in wartime England in this charming, evocative book, a 1989 relase from Arcade Publishing. It offers a captivating look-back at a time and a place now far gone.

Foreman grew up in Pakefield, a fishing vilage on the coast of Suffolk. This area saw its share of air action during the war, bombing raids making up several drawings in WAR BOY. (An incendiary bomb actually went through his house). Foreman's illustrations of those raids - the AAA guns firing off, incendiaries burning in the street and German aircraft sweeping overheard - bring the war to vivid life. Yet other images show children playing in a shelter, a stretch of beach once a playground for residents now mined and blocked off with barbed wire, customers 'having a cuppa' at his mother's shop, barrage balloons floating in the sky, military parades, the arrival of the first Yanks and so on. The book ends with the ghostly image of an English youngster dressed as a native American and the evocative words that "the memory of those who passed through our village on the way to war will remain for ever with the ghosts of us children in the fields and woods of long ago."

In many ways, WAR BOY is a priceless treasure. Its vivid imagery and poignant commentary presents a fascinating and heartfelt portrait of wartime England. Highly recommended.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is an auto biography of a child during World War II, February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: War Boy: A Country Childhood (Hardcover)

Lowestoft a quiet seaside town in Suffolk was in the front during World War II. Bombing raids, fire and trips to the air raid shelter bacame almost daily events for young Micheal Foreman growing up in the 1940's. He lived in a small house with his mother himself and his brother's( his father had died when he was a baby).