Stars: ****
Dieppe: Canada's Darkest Day of World War II
978-0-545-99420-0
Scholastic Canada (July 2009)
Ages 9 and up
Summary: On the night of August 19, 1942, a force of five thousand Canadians launched an attack on the Nazi-held French port of Dieppe. When all was said and done, and the Allies were forced to retreat, nearly a thousand Canadian troops lay dead and almost two thousand were taken prisoner. Through meticulous research and interviews with veterans both in Canada and at Dieppe, Hugh Brewster has created a fascinating and haunting historical tour of the planning and execution of this tragic raid, and it's aftermath.
I received this book as an unexpected extra from Scholastic with the hopes that I'd review it. I don't normally read books about wars, whether fiction, non-fiction or children's books. I'm just not interested in learning more about that part of our history. However my husband does enjoy history and although he's not a book person, this book is full of pictures and small anecdotes as it's meant for older children so he read it as did I.
My husband said it was pretty good but he thought it was too technical, even for children 9 and up. I agree. I never paid much attention in history class so I don't know all the facts or much about WWII so I figure I'm at about the same level in understanding as a child over 9. However I had trouble following what was going on. Perhaps it's just that I wasn't all that interested in the topic though. I suppose if a preteen or teen was interested in learning more about the war at Dieppe then they would enjoy the book more.
The book is a mixture of real photographs, scanned images of dog tags, badges, maps and the like and man-made illustrations of what went on.
You can see a spread from the book at Scholastic's website.
About the Author:
Hugh Brewster is a Toronto-based historian. His two previous acclaimed Canadian military history titles, At Vimy Ridge and On June Beach, were both nominees and winners of various awards. As a result of his engaging presentation-style, he is in high demand to give talks and presentations at schools and libraries.
