Archie's War provides an astonishing insight into what it was like to be a 10 year old child in one of the most important moments in history - the First World War that began in 1914. With its striking scrapbook style - containing flaps and fold-out letters - Archie's War is fun, informative and instantly accessible to a young audience. In the years that follow, until the war ends in 1918, he writes in the book and we experience life through Archie's eyes and learn about his world and his family in an exhilarating collage of strip comics, doodles, drawings, cartoon characters, mementoes, photos, thoughts and jokes.
This is a funny and moving story of life during the First World War, told through the eyes of schoolboy Archie Albright. When 10-year-old Archie Albright is given a scrapbook for his birthday in April 1914, he thinks he'll fill it with comics, souveniers and funny stories about his family. But then, on 3 August 1914, war breaks out, and his life changes for ever. Archie tells the story of the First World War from his point of view, filling his scrapbook with anecdotes about life in London's East End, newspaper clippings, letters from his dad and uncle who are fighting in France, and his own war-inspired comic strips. Archie's War is funny, touching and accessible, and gives a unique insight into what life was life for a child during the First World War. This is a new edition published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the First World War. It is a unique and accessible introduction to the First World War. Fold-out letters, collage-style illustrations and newspaper clippings give the book an authentic scrapbook feel. Packed with jokes and detailed illustrations, this is a book to enjoy again and again.
Archie's scrapbook is a thing of beauty. - The Observer
Author
About Marcia Williams
Marcia Williams' mother was a writer and her father was a playwright and theatre director. She spent the early part of her life in Canton, Hong Kong, Nigeria and the Middle East with her mother and diplomat stepfather. She loved books from an early age and remembers being read to almost every night; "I would often be scared, especially by fairy tales, but I never wanted the stories to end." She went to boarding school in Sussex, from where she sent weekly illustrated letters to her parents overseas.
Marcia didn't receive any formal art training. She calls herself "an obsessive illustrator. I've just always done it. I never consciously thought: that's what I want to do." She had a number of jobs, including nursery teacher, which is when she developed her taste for story-telling to young children; "I learnt what they found accessible and what they enjoyed." Giving up teaching to paint, she studied watercolour at Richmond College and held some successful local exhibitions before a friend suggested that she took her work to show Walker Books.
Marcia lives in London and has two grown-up children and three grandchildren, one extra-large dog and a cat.