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narisawahlang's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
piedwarbler's review against another edition
5.0
Ah, well, there’s nothing to be said, apart from Emma Carroll really * is * the Queen of historical fiction. These three short stories are tied together with beautiful plotting and the lovely sense of verisimilitude about the war. The stories all involve young people who are courageous and kind. The book doesn’t shy away from difficult topics like death and cowardice too. Gorgeous, gorgeous writing.
windmills's review against another edition
4.0
This book really nicely joined everything together! The puppies were so cuteee. War from children's perspective is always really interesting. Love Emma Carroll as always!!!
avam22's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
chrissireads's review against another edition
Just didn’t grip me as much as her others
backonthealex's review
5.0
After reading Emma Carroll's WWII book Letters from the Lighthouse a while back, I knew I was going to have to go back for more. So I was pretty happy when I read about When We Were Warriors and ordered it from Book Depository immediately.
This time, instead of a complete novel, Carroll has written three short stories, all set in the summer of 1942, all along the Devon coast, and connected to each other by an interesting thread.
Story number 1 is called "The Night Visitors" and the main protagonist is a boy named Stan. Living in Bristol, Stan and his sisters are on their way to get some fish and chips for dinner when a bomb hits and changes their lives. With their house destroyed, and their mum hurt rather badly, Stan, older sister June, and younger sister Maggie are evacuated to the Somerset hills, to a large old supposedly haunted house called Frost Hollow Hall, joining other kids who have already been there for a while.
No sooner are they told about the three places on the property that are off limits to all the evacuees, then June and Clive Spencer, a smirky troublemaker, come up with a game of dare - it's the boys against the girls, and whichever team nicks the most things from each forbidden areas is the winner. Just as the game takes off, American soldiers arrive when one of their drivers, Eddie Johnson, drives right off the road and into a ditch outside Frost Hollow Hall. Left there to take care of the vehicle, things suddenly take a very strange turn.
The second story is called "Olive's Army" and takes place Budmouth Point, not far from Frost Hollow Hall. Londoners Olive and younger brother Cliff live with Ephraim Pengilly, the lighthouse keeper, while older sister Sukie and friend Esther, who had come to England on the Kindertransport, live with Queenie, the postmistress. Needless to say, Olive is quite shocked when Sukie announces that she is going to marry Ephraim, as soon as she asked him. But when a body washes up on the beach with identity papers claiming he is Ephraim Pengilly and that he is German, Sukie's fiancé is taken away to Plymouth for questioning - the day before their wedding.
Enter the Americans - who decide that the papers the dead man is carrying are plans for the German invasion everyone in Britain has been expecting. Off they go, following the plans to stop the invasion and leaving one soldier behind to guard the dead body. Yep, none other than Eddie Johnson. But what happens when Olive figures out what the German's plan is really about? Can she convince everyone, including Eddie, of what she's worked out and stop the invasion?
The third and final story is called "Operation Greyhound" and takes place in Plymouth, just up the coast from Budmouth lighthouse. Plymouth has already been nearly bombed out of existence, but when yet another air raid siren goes off, Velvet Jones heads to the shelter with her best friend Lynn. Luckily, their shelter warden, Mr. Perks, lets everyone bring their pets to the shelter, too. But on this night, they have a new warden, Mr. Jackson, and he is not letting pets into the shelter anymore. And now it's even more crowded that usual as people from Portland Place are sharing the shelter, thanks to bombing, including stuck up Mrs. Clements and son Robert.
Velvet and Lynn take it upon themselves to find an alternative pet-friendly shelter, but on the first night, Velvet finds a man lying in the street as bombs begin to fall, and yep, it's Eddie Johnson, American soldier. After helping him, Velvet realizes that their alternative shelter isn't going to work out, and she and Lynn decide to find another solution. But when they discover their truth about Robert Clements's father and then he and his pregnant dog go missing, the girls make some surprising discoveries, because sometimes people just aren't who or what you think they are.
When I first got When We Were Warriors, I was a little disappointed to see it was three stories instead of a novel, but no sooner did I begin reading, and I was totally hooked, reading it straight through. It was, simply said, unputdownable.
And there were a lot of things I liked about this book. I loved that the stories are connected to each other by the presence of Eddie Johnson, an African American soldier on his own personal mission and whose life is ultimately changed. I also loved that so many characters were diverse. I had no idea how diverse small towns along the coast of England were at the time, but I somehow found it plausible. And I did discover that there apparently was some diversity in port cities, thanks to WWI (see Mixing It: Diversity in World War Two Britain by Wendy Webster, Oxford UP, 2018).
Did you recognize Olive, Sukie and Cliff in the second story? That's because they are the same wonderful characters in Letters From the Lighthouse and they are every bit as appealing. Remember Frost Hollow Hall in the first story? Well, I didn't, but you can bet the book by the same name will be the next Emma Carroll novel I read.
If you are looking for a great book that explores themes of family and friendship along with some mystery and adventure, look no further that When We Were Warriors for a wonderfully satisfying middle grade book.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library
This time, instead of a complete novel, Carroll has written three short stories, all set in the summer of 1942, all along the Devon coast, and connected to each other by an interesting thread.
Story number 1 is called "The Night Visitors" and the main protagonist is a boy named Stan. Living in Bristol, Stan and his sisters are on their way to get some fish and chips for dinner when a bomb hits and changes their lives. With their house destroyed, and their mum hurt rather badly, Stan, older sister June, and younger sister Maggie are evacuated to the Somerset hills, to a large old supposedly haunted house called Frost Hollow Hall, joining other kids who have already been there for a while.
No sooner are they told about the three places on the property that are off limits to all the evacuees, then June and Clive Spencer, a smirky troublemaker, come up with a game of dare - it's the boys against the girls, and whichever team nicks the most things from each forbidden areas is the winner. Just as the game takes off, American soldiers arrive when one of their drivers, Eddie Johnson, drives right off the road and into a ditch outside Frost Hollow Hall. Left there to take care of the vehicle, things suddenly take a very strange turn.
The second story is called "Olive's Army" and takes place Budmouth Point, not far from Frost Hollow Hall. Londoners Olive and younger brother Cliff live with Ephraim Pengilly, the lighthouse keeper, while older sister Sukie and friend Esther, who had come to England on the Kindertransport, live with Queenie, the postmistress. Needless to say, Olive is quite shocked when Sukie announces that she is going to marry Ephraim, as soon as she asked him. But when a body washes up on the beach with identity papers claiming he is Ephraim Pengilly and that he is German, Sukie's fiancé is taken away to Plymouth for questioning - the day before their wedding.
Enter the Americans - who decide that the papers the dead man is carrying are plans for the German invasion everyone in Britain has been expecting. Off they go, following the plans to stop the invasion and leaving one soldier behind to guard the dead body. Yep, none other than Eddie Johnson. But what happens when Olive figures out what the German's plan is really about? Can she convince everyone, including Eddie, of what she's worked out and stop the invasion?
The third and final story is called "Operation Greyhound" and takes place in Plymouth, just up the coast from Budmouth lighthouse. Plymouth has already been nearly bombed out of existence, but when yet another air raid siren goes off, Velvet Jones heads to the shelter with her best friend Lynn. Luckily, their shelter warden, Mr. Perks, lets everyone bring their pets to the shelter, too. But on this night, they have a new warden, Mr. Jackson, and he is not letting pets into the shelter anymore. And now it's even more crowded that usual as people from Portland Place are sharing the shelter, thanks to bombing, including stuck up Mrs. Clements and son Robert.
Velvet and Lynn take it upon themselves to find an alternative pet-friendly shelter, but on the first night, Velvet finds a man lying in the street as bombs begin to fall, and yep, it's Eddie Johnson, American soldier. After helping him, Velvet realizes that their alternative shelter isn't going to work out, and she and Lynn decide to find another solution. But when they discover their truth about Robert Clements's father and then he and his pregnant dog go missing, the girls make some surprising discoveries, because sometimes people just aren't who or what you think they are.
When I first got When We Were Warriors, I was a little disappointed to see it was three stories instead of a novel, but no sooner did I begin reading, and I was totally hooked, reading it straight through. It was, simply said, unputdownable.
And there were a lot of things I liked about this book. I loved that the stories are connected to each other by the presence of Eddie Johnson, an African American soldier on his own personal mission and whose life is ultimately changed. I also loved that so many characters were diverse. I had no idea how diverse small towns along the coast of England were at the time, but I somehow found it plausible. And I did discover that there apparently was some diversity in port cities, thanks to WWI (see Mixing It: Diversity in World War Two Britain by Wendy Webster, Oxford UP, 2018).
Did you recognize Olive, Sukie and Cliff in the second story? That's because they are the same wonderful characters in Letters From the Lighthouse and they are every bit as appealing. Remember Frost Hollow Hall in the first story? Well, I didn't, but you can bet the book by the same name will be the next Emma Carroll novel I read.
If you are looking for a great book that explores themes of family and friendship along with some mystery and adventure, look no further that When We Were Warriors for a wonderfully satisfying middle grade book.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library
dewey027's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book contains rhree separate but linked novellas. Although they can be read as stand alone, they have connections to other books by Emma Carroll.
beckyt89's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
teri_b's review against another edition
5.0
The book consists of three short stories, The Night Visitors, Olive’s Army and Operation Greyhound. They all take place during the second World War. The three stories are linked by one of the characters showing up in all three of them.
The first one is a ghost story that brings us back to Frost Hollow Hall with much older inhabitants now and a horde of children that have been evacuated from London after their street was bombarded.
The story evolves around Stan who is the middle child with an older sister, June, who is rather bossy and Maggie, who is the youngest and has a special connection to dogs. They discover the inhabitants of Frost Hollow Hall, including ghosts as well as its surroundings, make friends with one specific GI and live through quite some scary moments.
In the second story we move to the next town at the coast with a lighthouse involved. There we find ourselves in the middle of preparations for a war wedding when a German dead body washes up on the strand and provides quite some turbulences.
But the children in the family stick together and sort things out, and possibly even prevent an invasion by German soldiers during the night.
In the third story we meet Velvet Jones who has a big heart for animals and grows up amidst the air raids that are terrifying by themselves. When the air shelter ward forbids animals in the shelter, the children in the neighbourhood bound together and find ways to keep animals safe during air raids all the same.
I loved all three stories. They all touch down on sibling relationships, rivalry, jealousy, friendship as well as looking out for each other and being there for one another. And dogs play a part in each of the stories, small or big. The book has also representation of diversity woven in and out of the stories very unobtrusively, but it is definitely there.
The first one is a ghost story that brings us back to Frost Hollow Hall with much older inhabitants now and a horde of children that have been evacuated from London after their street was bombarded.
The story evolves around Stan who is the middle child with an older sister, June, who is rather bossy and Maggie, who is the youngest and has a special connection to dogs. They discover the inhabitants of Frost Hollow Hall, including ghosts as well as its surroundings, make friends with one specific GI and live through quite some scary moments.
In the second story we move to the next town at the coast with a lighthouse involved. There we find ourselves in the middle of preparations for a war wedding when a German dead body washes up on the strand and provides quite some turbulences.
But the children in the family stick together and sort things out, and possibly even prevent an invasion by German soldiers during the night.
In the third story we meet Velvet Jones who has a big heart for animals and grows up amidst the air raids that are terrifying by themselves. When the air shelter ward forbids animals in the shelter, the children in the neighbourhood bound together and find ways to keep animals safe during air raids all the same.
I loved all three stories. They all touch down on sibling relationships, rivalry, jealousy, friendship as well as looking out for each other and being there for one another. And dogs play a part in each of the stories, small or big. The book has also representation of diversity woven in and out of the stories very unobtrusively, but it is definitely there.
goldenbooksgirl's review against another edition
5.0
I`ve been a fan of Emma Carroll since not long after she was first published, so by this point I don`t need any more proof that she is an exceptional author. However, this book provided it anyway. It`s a book of three short stories about different children in World War Two- two of which revisit previous Emma Carroll settings and one that is entirely new. All of them are so readable and interesting that you could definitely read this without prior knowledge of Frost Hollow Hall and Letters to the Lighthouse, but I would recommend reading them first anyway as they`re fabulous and also so you get the full impact of the stories, because I found returning to Frost Hollow Hall incredibly emotional (I literally started weeping the second it appeared on the page, and sobbed quite solidly for the rest of the story because of the way it linked to Frost Hollow Hall). The first story- which is the one that features Frost Hollow Hall- was my favourite for this reason and also because of the fact that Stan was my favourite of the three protagonists as his quiet strength was so lovely, but I absolutely loved both other stories and their characters Olive and Velvet too. Something I else I particularly loved was the clever way in which all three stories are linked, and the nods to the others in each one. This is phenomenal. 5/5
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