Boys and Girls in No Man's Land : : English-Canadian Children and the First World War / / Susan Fisher.

• VerfasserIn: Fisher, Susan,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (296 p.) :; 18 halftones

Boys and Girls in No Man's Land examines how the First World War entered the lives and imaginations of Canadian children. Drawing on educational materials, textbooks, adventure tales, plays, and Sunday-school papers, this study explores the role of children in the nation's war effort.Susan R. Fisher also considers how the representation of the war has changed in Canadian children's literature. During the war, the conflict was invariably presented as noble and thrilling, but recent Canadian children's books paint a very different picture. What once was regarded a morally uplifting struggle, rich in lessons of service and sacrifice, is now presented as pointless slaughter. This shift in tone and content reveals profound changes in Canadian attitudes not only towards the First World War but also towards patriotism, duty, and the shaping of the moral citizen.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART ONE: PATRIOTIC TRAINING -- 1. Doing Their Bit -- 2. Studying War -- 3. Children of the Empire -- PART TWO: STORIES OF WAR -- 4. Brave Little Soldiers: Stories for Younger Readers -- 5. Dogs of War and Other Animals -- 6. The Adventure of War -- 7. But What Can a Girl Do? -- 8. A War for Modern Readers -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Recent Canadian Children's Books about the First World War -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index