New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards | My Brothers War

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New Zealand Post Children's Book AwardsThe New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards celebrates annually the depth and range of talent our home-grown authors can offer kiwi readers.

I pre-read a chapter of My Brothers War by David Hill before I unleashed it on Ethan and I’m glad I did. This book is definitely better suited to a reader aged 12+. In saying that, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting.

Hill offers a graphic, historical novel set in a young New Zealand torn between colonial allegiances and a new mind-set exploring a peaceful anti-war feeling that will persist to the current day (thank goodness!).
Two brothers write home of their very different experiences both before and during the war. William and Edmund, once divided and estranged by their polarising stance on the conflict find themselves on the French battlefield, each reconsidering the views held by the other and finding respect and validity where there was once only animosity and anger.

Make no mistake, the war is in no way glossed over, it is described in all of its gory, heart rending detail complete with imagery that pays tribute to the lives lost in Europe.

My Brothers War is a perfect novel for parents and young teens to read together and discuss. There is so much historical value in this beautiful novel it should be prescribed reading.

Five stars for sure.

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My Brother's War cover image

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