Tom Palmer’s debut picture book bears all the hallmarks of his award winning historical novels for children, balancing comprehensive research and historical facts with an empathetic and accessible text. Carolina Rabei’s atmospheric illustrations in a watercolour style convey beautifully the bond between Judy the special dog and the sailors for whom she acted as both look out and morale booster. In War Dog Tom Palmer pays tribute to a loyal and remarkable animal and provides a thoughtful look at the role, and bravery, of animals in wartime for his readers.
War Dog tells the moving true story of Judy, a ship’s dog aboard HMS Grasshopper who, as the ship’s mascot, has many duties including catching rats, listening out for danger and acting as a source of hope and a reminder of home. Judy had an uncanny ability to detect incoming aircraft, giving early warnings to those on board ship. She loves the crew and they in turn love Judy. When, with her fellow sailors, she is captured by enemy soldiers she endures life as the only animal officially registered as a prisoner of war, sustaining morale and aiding survival in a Japanese POW camp. The important bond between Judy and one particular prisoner, Frank, is beautifully depicted through both words and pictures and is at the heart of the ensuing story in the prison of war camp. War Dog is a perfect picture book for sharing in the classroom being suitable for younger primary children and covering many themes including loyalty, courage, companionship and love.
Illustration by Carolina Rabei
The additional biography and Dickin Medal notes at the end of the story add to the narrative providing background to Judy’s wartime exploits and quoting her citation, “For magnificent courage and endurance in the Japanese prisoner of war camps...” The PDSA Dickin Medal is sometimes referred to as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross and Tom Palmer provides brief information of two recipients of the award, a cat named Simon and Upstart the horse. He also mentions Glen the parachuting dog who may not have won a medal but showed great bravery prior to the Allied invasion in 1944. Tom Palmer fans will no doubt recognise Glen from his earlier book, D-Day Dog.
There are some excellent resources linked to War Dog on the comprehensive website created by Tom Palmer and his wife Rebecca which you can find here. You may also like to explore the Dickin Medal section of the PDSA website which provides more background information and a full Roll of Honour.
War Dog by Tom Palmer and Carolina Rabei is published on 14th August by Scholastic just in time for the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day on 15th August. I should like to thank Tom Palmer and Rachel Phillipps at Scholastic for kindly providing my review copy.
War Dog tells the moving true story of Judy, a ship’s dog aboard HMS Grasshopper who, as the ship’s mascot, has many duties including catching rats, listening out for danger and acting as a source of hope and a reminder of home. Judy had an uncanny ability to detect incoming aircraft, giving early warnings to those on board ship. She loves the crew and they in turn love Judy. When, with her fellow sailors, she is captured by enemy soldiers she endures life as the only animal officially registered as a prisoner of war, sustaining morale and aiding survival in a Japanese POW camp. The important bond between Judy and one particular prisoner, Frank, is beautifully depicted through both words and pictures and is at the heart of the ensuing story in the prison of war camp. War Dog is a perfect picture book for sharing in the classroom being suitable for younger primary children and covering many themes including loyalty, courage, companionship and love.
Illustration by Carolina Rabei
The additional biography and Dickin Medal notes at the end of the story add to the narrative providing background to Judy’s wartime exploits and quoting her citation, “For magnificent courage and endurance in the Japanese prisoner of war camps...” The PDSA Dickin Medal is sometimes referred to as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross and Tom Palmer provides brief information of two recipients of the award, a cat named Simon and Upstart the horse. He also mentions Glen the parachuting dog who may not have won a medal but showed great bravery prior to the Allied invasion in 1944. Tom Palmer fans will no doubt recognise Glen from his earlier book, D-Day Dog.
There are some excellent resources linked to War Dog on the comprehensive website created by Tom Palmer and his wife Rebecca which you can find here. You may also like to explore the Dickin Medal section of the PDSA website which provides more background information and a full Roll of Honour.
War Dog by Tom Palmer and Carolina Rabei is published on 14th August by Scholastic just in time for the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day on 15th August. I should like to thank Tom Palmer and Rachel Phillipps at Scholastic for kindly providing my review copy.