With this year’s centenary in mind, last year I did a series of three books with Harcourt Education set in the trenches of the First World War.
Written by Alison Hawes, they tell stories of Tommy (of course) and Eric; two underage volunteers who witness the deprivations and horrors of the conflict; including enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the famous episode where opposing German and British soldiers sang carols and played football in no man’s land – things that we learn and know about but, in truth, probably have no real concept.
The books were aimed at giving confidence to struggling readers; well written and designed to give the feel of holding a novel, not a picture book; so the illustrations were to be kept low-key, in a limited range of colours and to be printed on cream-coloured paper. It was an approach I’d not really considered before but I think it worked for the books and was probably better than trying to portray the horror of that great conflict full on.
I enjoy collaborating with editors and designers and I’m happy to take direction; one instruction did make me wonder though: throughout the project, particular care was given to the accurate depiction of uniforms, trenches, equipment, gas masks etc. and having initially been sent reference for the specific Lee Enfield rifle that the British used, I was, due to some concern about guns in schools I think, asked to remove the rifles from many pictures and to make them less obvious in others.
‘Political correctness gone mad, eh Tommy?’
‘Bloody right there, Eric.’
