My Side of the Story: Escape from War - Softcover

"My Side of the Story" is completely unique approach to historical fiction. Read the story of one youngster's life in turbulent times, then flip the book and find out first hand how another child reacts to the same events - with very different feelings and results! "Frank": Frank is eleven and lives in war-torn London in a house which has two bedrooms but 10 family members. The 'gezzunder' of the attacking German bombs can be heard, but Frank isn't scared, he loves it! The war is exciting to him: the night-time dogfights, hunting bombed houses for trophies and sitting in the air raid shelter. His uncles and aunts talk about the Germans and the Jews, but they don't seem real to him. Then Frank is evacuated to the boring country were he lives with a strange Jewish girl called Hannah from Germany..."Hannah": Hannah is a young Jewish girl living in Berlin. Her family are growing more horrified at what is happening to Jews in their own country. Her parents' fear frightens her more than news of what's happening on the street. For her the threat of war is real and terrible. But she is one of the lucky ones who, after the horrors of Krystal Nacht, is transported out of Germany and goes to live in England. Thrown together with Frank, she clings to playing her beloved violin and wonders what is happening at home. Can she ever become friends with this strange English boy?

James Riordan's first novel, Sweet Children was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award, and won the NASEN Special Educational Needs Award. James specialises in historical fiction and myth retelling. He won the Urals Peace Prize for The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, a collection of folktales. He has had many other books published by OUP, Macmillan, Barefoot and Chrysalis, amongst others. Jim lives in Southsea, Hants.