Teach Primary Issue 19.6

www.teachwire.net | 89 characters are beautifully written and relatable, the setting feels authentic, and the narrative is full of drama. The book touches on several themes including friendship, the complexity of family relationships, peer pressure and the difficulties of speaking out, even when you know it’s the right thing to do. The occasional references to the threat of fascism (Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts are mentioned) give the writing a particularly pertinent feel right now. With the historical setting, it’s W riting a World War Two novel aimed at primary school pupils can be a challenge, as it needs to touch on the horrors of war without being too graphic. Over the past few years there have been some masterpieces from Tom Palmer, Sufiya Ahmed, Phil Earle and several others; Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson, published earlier this year, definitely needs to be added to the list. It’s a long book – just over 350 pages – but could work wonderfully as a class read. The quite a departure from Jenny’s usual style. There are still regular flashes of her trademark humour (one of my favourite lines is when Mum says, “We’re not going to be the family who burned themselves to death on the first day of the war! We’d never live it down!”) but the overall tone is generally darker and more serious than her previous work. Shrapnel Boys is a genuinely compelling read, following the story of a group of young boys who stay in London when the vast majority of Join Ronnie, Micky and Lugs as they navigate friendship, school, and peer pressure against the backdrop of war-torn London, with Jenny Pearson ’s striking war novel... BOOK TOP I C JON B I DDLE Illustration © Tom Clohosy Cole T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG Book topic UKS2 Published by Usborne, 2025 Shrapnel Boys