When We Were Warriors

Emma Carroll's When We Were Warriors is a book of Second World War stories for 9 year olds, and it opens with a boy whose street is bombed while he's out buying chips.

What happens

Stan, his big sister June and little Maggie are only round the corner when it happens. There's no siren. When Stan comes to, their house has gone. Their mum was inside, in bed with flu. She's dug out alive and taken to hospital, which is a huge relief.

But June blames Stan, and she won't let it go.

The next day the children from their street are sent off to the countryside. They end up at Frost Hollow Hall, a huge old house in the Somerset hills with chandeliers, a pack of sausage dogs and a big glittering lake. It's grand, and it's a bit creepy.

There are rules. No going through the door to the servants' quarters. No going near the East Wing, where the owner lives. And NO swimming in the lake, which is the one thing Stan wants to do most.

So of course the big kids start a dare game. It's boys against girls, and you have to bring back something from each forbidden place as proof. Little Maggie scoops a dog right off a sleeping lady's lap in the East Wing. Stan finds an old ice skate in a cupboard in the middle of the night (he was actually down there dealing with wet sheets, but he isn't telling anyone that).

Meanwhile somebody keeps sitting on the end of the children's beds in the dark...

Stan is such a likeable hero. He cries easily and hates it, he's nervous of dogs, and he desperately wants his cross older sister to like him again. We've probably all had a sibling who made us feel about two inches tall. Then some American soldiers turn up in the middle of the night, which is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to him.

The bombing in the first chapter is vivid (their bathtub ends up halfway across the yard), and there's a ghostly feel from then on. For most readers this age it'll be thrilling rather than too much. A child who worries about their own home or family might like to read that opening with you.

What to read next

Still hungry for Emma Carroll and deep, secret water? The Tale of Truthwater Lake follows Polly, who's scared of swimming, to a reservoir with a drowned village at the bottom of it.