A Soldier's Sketchbook: The Illustrated First World War Diary of R.H. Rabjohn

author: John Wilson
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2017/04/30
date added: 2017/04/30
shelves: children-s, non-fiction
review:
'A Soldier's Sketchbook: The Illustrated First World War Diary of R.H. Rabjohn'
by John Wilson has over 100 sketches that Russel Rabjohn made during his time in the First World War.

Russell Rabjohn joined the Canadian army when he was 18. Because he was a trained artist, he was assigned to draw dugouts, maps, and graves. Because of this, he was allowed to carry a sketchbook, which was also his diary of the war. The book is broken up into chapters, including his training, his time in Vimy and Ypres and the end of the war and heading home.

Russell Rabjohn was in the fight at the Battle of Passchendaele, a brutal, bloody, muddy battle that has a 100 year anniversary this year. He lost a lot of people around him as the bombs fell.

This is a book for younger readers, so the diary entries are not completely printed, but there is text giving a flow to the events. There is also a timeline of the war and a further reading list.

What is most notable are the stunning sketches that are made. Most soldiers were prohibited from taking pictures or sketches of the war. The author of this book, John Wilson, first ran into these in a privately published book from 1977. Rabjohn has 5 written diaries in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

This is a moving record of a young man, far from home, experiencing terrible things around him and recording them. I'm very glad I got a chance to read this ebook.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Tundra Books, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


via Wayne's bookshelf: read http://ift.tt/2qsZZGB