ON THE HOME FRONT

A touching memoir from a former teacher, about her experiences in Lydney, England (120 miles west of London), as a young child during WW II. Born in 1935, and only four years old when England entered the war against Germany, Stalcup wonderfully recreates the voice of young child to recount the everyday incidents of a small family coping bravely with the war. She describes the issuing of gas masks, which “looked like pigs’ snouts and smelled foul,” her mother and father’s attempts to keep her from worrying, and the blacking out of windows with thick curtains. She describes the evacuation of women and children from London, rationing, and the rescue of Allied soldiers at Dunkirk by the “little ships.” One night, in a scene right out of the film Hope and Glory, when an 18-year-old German parachutist landed in the field next to her house, the author discovered that he was a nice lad and “realized that a great many of the German people were probably just like us.” This child’s view of WW II is certain to touch the hearts of readers. (glossary, further reading, index) (Memoir. 11-14)