The Battle Of Britain

by Gillian Clements

Brings alive some of the major events in British history.

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2003

About the author

Gillian Clements studied Illustration under Raymond Briggs at Brighton Polytechnic.

Reviews

[Samuel Tyler]

When learning history you have to start somewhere and for every ten people that get their World War One knowledge from Blackadder, there is one that will pick up a book. The issue is that it is easier to let knowledge wash over you from the TV than it is to glean it from a book or even a classroom. However, for the child that is curious about the past there are some great resources available. ‘Great Events’ is a series of history books aimed at the 6-11 year old, but that is a rather large age span and would it suit everybody?

‘The Battle of Britain’ by Gillian Clements is both a simplified and complex history of a period of WW2 that prevented the Germans from invading our shores. To get the entire thing into 48 pages and have illustrations is a task, but one that Clements is up to. As a student of history myself (with a few more years on me than an eleven year old) I learnt quite a lot from this book. The history contained is pretty intense, it talks about the bombing raids, radar, blitz, tactics and much more. The book has an impressive amount of detail, but would a child be able to follow it?

Clements has tried to produce a book that not only informs, but does it is a manner that a child can follow. Therefore, when slightly complex ideas are written, or a historic figure introduced, there is a little aside telling you what or who that is. There are also plenty of illustrations that surround the text, giving a visual clue as what is written. The words themselves are bold and easy to read, giving the book an emerging reader feel.

However, will the context appeal to an emerging reader? The age grouping 6-11 suggests that it would appeal to this spectrum, but that is not the case. You must know what the child you are buying the book for is like. It requires a youth who enjoys history and detail, but who has not moved on to more complex books. The balance in ‘Battle of Britain’ is a little off as perhaps the concepts are too complex for the simplified layout. You could get a six year old who is confused, or an eleven year old who is patronised. Despite this, for just the right child, this book is great. I would imagine that an advanced 6-8 year old would get the most from the book, for the right audience this is a great outing for the series.