World War I - selection of non-fiction books

Many non-fiction books have been published about the First World War. These titles can often be located on library shelves with Dewey numbers starting with 940.3 and 940.4. Books on military history can also be found with Dewey numbers starting with 355. Below is a sample of some of the books that may be available.

Adult non-fiction

• Anzac memories: living with the legend by Alistair Thomson
• The spirit of Gallipoli: living the Anzac legend by Patrick Lindsay

• Gallipoli: the final battles and evacuation of Anzac by David W Cameron
• Battle for Lone Pine: four days of hell at the heart of Gallipoli by David W Cameron
• Remembering Fromelles: a new cemetery for a new century by Julie Summers

• Maestro John Monash: Australia’s greatest citizen general by Tim Fischer
• Monash: the outsider who won the war. A biography of Australia’s greatest military commander by Perry Roland
• Bean’s Gallipoli: the diaries of Australia’s official war correspondent by Charles
  

• Anzacs on the Western Front: the Australian War Memorial battlefield guide by Peter Pedersen
• Walking with the Anzacs: the authoritative guide to the Australian battlefields on the Western Front by Mat McLachlan

• Mapping the First World War by Peter Chasseaud

• Letters from the front by Dorothy Gilding (correspondence of Jim McConnell)

• Testament of Youth: an autobiographical study of the years 1900-1925 by Vera Britain
• Anzac Girls: the extraordinary story of our World War I nurses by Peter Rees
• Kitty's war by Janet Butler

• Victoria at war 1914-1918 by Michael McKernan
•  Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War by Joan Beaumont

• Shattered Anzacs: living with the scars of war by Marina Larsson
• Ghost at the wedding by Shirley Walker

• A place to remember: a history of the Shrine of Remembrance by Bruce Scates  
• Australian War Memorial: treasures from a century of collecting by Nola Anderson
• Anzac Treasures: the Gallipoli collection of the Australian War Memorial by Peter Pedersen

• Furphies and Whizz-bangs: Anzac slang from the Great War by Amanda Laugensen
• And the band played on: how music lifted the Anzac spirit in the battlefields of the First World War by Robert Holden

• Fighting on the home front: the legacy of women in World War One by Kate Adie
• Virago book of women and the Great War and the Great War 1914-1918 by Joyce Marlow
• Singled out: how two million women survived without men after the First World War by Virginia Nicholson

Junior non-fiction
A selection of some of the titles available:

• Australia and the First World War, 1914-1918 by A K Macdougall
• Children in Wartime by Michael Dugan
• The First World War through Children’s Eyes by Anna Ciddor
• World War I: the Australian Experience by Michael Andrews
• Zero Hour: the Anzacs on the Western Front by Leon Davidson
• Fromelles: Australia’s bloodiest day at War by Carole Wilkinson

The Australian War Memorial and Department of Veterans’ Affairs have published a series of books for upper primary and secondary school students on aspects of war. Some of the titles cover both World Wars. Titles include:

• Ancestry: stories of multicultural Anzacs by Robyn Siers and Carlie Walker
• Devotion: stories of Australia’s wartime nurses by Robyn Siers
• Audacity: stories of heroic Australians in wartime by Carlie Walker

The First World War through children's fiction

Recently I was asked to compile a list of books held in the library relating to the First World War. This proved to be an interesting exercise especially as I was to look at books for a variety of ages.

Picture books
The library holds a number of picture books with World War I themes for older children. The use of illustration is a powerful and moving way to portray the effects of the war. Some titles are listed below:

• And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda –Eric Bogle’s song about Gallipoli illustrated by Bruce Whatley
• Anzac Biscuits by Phil Cummings; illustrated by Owen Swan [As a mother explains the history of Anzac biscuits, World War I battle scenes are also provided]
• Jack’s Bugle by Krista Bell; illustrated by Belinda Eliot [the journey of a bugle from Australia to Gallipoli and back to Australia] 
• Lest We Forget by Kerry Brown; illustrated by Isobel Knowles & Benjamin Portas [the story of a boy and his grandfather]
• Lone Pine by Susie Brown & Margaret Warner; illustrated by Sebastian Ciaffaglione [story of bringing the Lone Pine to Australia]
• The Poppy by Andrew Plant [story of Australian involvement at Villers Bretonneux]
• The Soldier’s Gift by Tony Palmer; illustrated by Jane Tanner [one family’s courage during the First World War] 

 Junior fiction
A variety of books with the theme of World War I can also be found in the junior fiction collection.

One of the best known titles is probably War Horse by Michael Morpurgo [This tale of the relationship between a man and his horse on Western Front has recently been performed as a play and also made into a film]

 Once again a selection of the titles is provided in this list of books designed for a variety of ages:

• Best Christmas Present in the World by Michael Morpurgo [Christmas in the trenches in 1914]
• The Bomber Balloon by Terry Deary [Zeppelins over England in 1916]
• In Flanders Fields by Norman Jorgensen & Brian Harrison-Lever [It is Christmas morning and the guns stop firing]
• Loyal Creatures by Morris Gleitzman [Story of Frank and his horse in the Light Horse]
• Evan’s Gallipoli by Kerry Greenwood [Evan travels with his father to the Dardenelles]
• Roly the Anzac Donkey by Glyn Harper & Jenny Cooper [Activities of the NZ Medical Corps & their donkeys]
• The Red Poppy by David Hill [Two wounded soldiers from different armies in No Man’s Land are rescued with the help of a messenger dog]
• My father’s war by Sophie Masson [A journey to discover what the war was like in 1918 in France]
• Do Not Forget Australia by Sally Murphy & Sonia Kretschmar [Australia’s relationship with Villers-Bretonneux forged by war]
• Stories of WW1 by Tony Bradman
• Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer [Jim & Charlie join the Light Horse in 1914]