Young Adult ANZAC Reads
Legacy by Whiti Hereaka
Teen Fiction
Seventeen-year-old Riki is worried about school and the future, but mostly about his girlfriend, who has suddenly stopped texting him. But on his way to see her, he’s hit by a bus and his life radically changes. Riki wakes up one hundred years earlier in Egypt, in 1915, and finds he’s living through his great-great-grandfather’s experiences in the Māori Contingent. At the same time that Riki tries to make sense of what’s happening and find a way home, we read transcripts of interviews Riki’s great-great-grandfather gave in 1975 about his experiences in this war and its impact on their family. Gradually we realise the fates of Riki and his great-great-grandfather are intertwined.
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Gallipoli by Alan Tucker
Teen Fiction
Lying about his age and looking for adventure, 14-year-old Victor March enlists in the 10th Battalion of the AIF to fight in the Great War. Victor and his new mates, Fish, Needle and Robbo, are headed for the Gallipoli peninsula, and into battle. He is among the first soldiers to land at what will become known as Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, and the world as he knows it is about to change. In his diary, Victor records the horrors of war, his friendships, his fears, and the story of Australia's most legendary military campaign.
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The Telegram by Philippa Werry
Teen Fiction
Fourteen-year-old Beatrice Thomas lives with her widowed mother and younger sister Tilly in a small country town overshadowed by the events of World War One. Many of the local boys, including Beaty's friend Caleb, are away fighting. When Beaty has to leave school, she gets a job as a telegram girl at the Post and Telegraph Office. The work is tough - she often brings news of sons killed or wounded. She must convince the telegram boys, and herself, that she's up to the task, at a time when women's roles were limited. Meanwhile, Caleb's letters turn darker as his initial enthusiasm fades and reality takes over. The war finally ends, but Beaty continues delivering telegrams through the Armistice, the peace celebrations and the dreadful influenza epidemic. Soon she's running the Post Office almost single-handed. Then Caleb's letters stop arriving.
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Kiwis at War series
Teen Fiction
The Kiwis at War series is a teen historical fiction series, with five New Zealand writers, about the Great War.
Billy, a 17-year-old shepherd working on a farm in the Manawatu, lies about his age and enlists in the army, and after training is sent to Gallipoli.
When cousins Harriet and Mel joined the NZ Army Nursing Service to follow their brothers Frank and Drew into war, they had dreams of seeing the world, meeting new people and caring for the New Zealand boys. Harriet spends most of her time in the Egyptian hospitals and Mel on the hospital ships, but both have to cope with wards that are being inundated with wounded soldiers.
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Once by Morris Gleitzman
Children's Fiction
It is 1942 in Poland and Felix, the son of Jewish booksellers, tells his story from the orphanage where he has lived for three years. Believing at first that life will one day return to normal, what he sees and experiences after he escapes brings his innocence to an end when he witnesses the impact of the Nazi regime.