Gun Stripping: At one point the children strip the gun down, and then realise they don't know how to reassemble it. The story is good. It moves along at a brisk pace and has plenty of action to keep the reader engaged. This action comes at some expense to the realism but that tacit bargain is understood. Westall is more interested in telling a good yarn than delivering a true-to-live account of the German blitz raids on England.

The Machine Gunners: Books - AbeBooks The Machine Gunners: Books - AbeBooks

My dad brought me this book when I was 11 and studying war books at school. He'd read it when he was studying and had enjoyed it so much that he thought I'd love it. I'm not too sure why but I put it off for so long but after 10 years, I finally decided to read it and I'm so glad I did! Whilst it wasn't 100% what to expect, I really enjoyed it. Consider screen adaptations of the book and compare and contrast different ways of presenting the same story. Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - Now with a brilliant new cover look, Robert Westall's gripping first novel for children set during World War Two is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. One of the best war books ever written for children. Completely unputdownable, scary and with incredibly well portrayed characters, itt captures the life during World War II brilliantly. The Machine Gunners won the Carnegie Medal in 1975.Consider how young people lived in the 1940s and how this compares to the lives of young people today. Well, I must admit that when I encountered Robert Westall's Carnegie Medal winning WWII themed late middle grade to early young adult 1975 novel The Machine-Gunners at our school library in 1980 (when I was the intended audience, for yes, in 1980, at the age of fourteen, I definitely was that), the WWII premise of The Machine-Gunners and that as a recent German immigrant to Canada I was constantly being bullied and called a Nazi, this all turned me off so utterly and so lastingly that I basically never bothered to sign The Machine-Gunners out of the library, even though my English teacher had warmly recommended the novel and had even tried to assure me that Westall's story absolutely and totally did not fit into the all German are Nazis category. But stubborn I obviously did not believe my teacher at the age of fourteen, and yes, in retrospect, very much and very much unfortunately so, since indeed, Robert Westall's text for The Machine-Gunners is totally NOT AT ALL showing Germans and in particular the German pilot that Chass and his friends discover and befriend as negatives, as textual monsters, but that indeed Rudi is not only likeable but also someone very much a kindred spirit to and for the children. After the fortress is finished, the kids spend their free time watching out for German planes. When one finally appears, Chas starts shooting the machine gun, missing it but scaring the pilot into making an error and causing the plane to be brought down by anti-aircraft. The rear gunner, Sergeant Rudi Gerlath, manages to parachute out of the plane just before it explodes. Injured, he is force to spend a week hiding out in a rabbit hutch on a victory garden allotment, eating frozen Brussels sprouts he finds growing there. When he is finally able, he wanders about, wondering what to do. Cold and tired, he eventually finds the fortress, wraps himself up in the blankets he finds there and falls asleep. Finished the book now, Its great and can be rather interesting, as I have overall given this book a rating of 4 out of 5. I would like to see other books by Robert Westall's and look at them. They might be really interesting as I enjoy reading historical books. e.g war Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments

The machine gunners - Plot The machine gunners - Plot

Angels and Heroes The Story of a Machine Gunner with the Royal Irish Fusiliers August 1914 to April 1915 Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2014-06-10 22:38:34.622105 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA1611111 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Donor Explore with the children the power of peer pressure, the impact of charismatic leaders on a population and how difficult it can be for people to challenge the status quo. I got this book from the book shelves in my class. I chose this book because it had an appealing title and I like war-time stories. The adventures start in Garmouth, a town in England, when Chas finds a machine gun from a dead German bomber. The story is excitingly fast and fun, but more than that, it can teach you a lot.Rudi starts to gain a liking for the children. They tell stories to one another, and start treating Rudi more like a friend than a prisoner. The children and Rudi add much more on to the base, making it an intricate network of tunnels and rooms. They seal the floors with carpets and rugs, and add shelves and doors. If the sequence is extended, the children could research the lives of British and German children during World War Two and how war affected them. The novel treats this rather cynically, however, by the sheer fact that Chas was outnumbered by a gang of bigger boys who would have beaten Chas to a pulp had Chas not used his weapon, and the self-righteousness of the adults is undercut with an element of hypocrisy in that there are rather a lot of British boys fighting a war with guns (i.e. weapons) at that very moment.

THE MACHINE GUNNERS Read Online Free Without Download - PDF THE MACHINE GUNNERS Read Online Free Without Download - PDF

Dumb Muscle: Played somewhat literally in the form of John Barrowlee, a disabled adult with the mental age of a young child. Chas and friends recruit John to help them build their fort because he's so much stronger than any of them. He's not actually mute, but the only thing he's able to say coherently is "Where you going now?" Machine-Gun Squadron : The 20th Machine Gunners from British Yeomanry Regiments in the Middle East Cammpaign of the First World War Westall creates a cast of characters you love and care about - apart from the ones you're meant to hate – and occasional unnecessary descriptive aside (the size of the woman pushing the push chair is totally immaterial), a world you almost wish you were living in.

The children see Rudi, and instantly grab his gun and take him hostage. After a few minutes of debate, they decide, for the sake of the fortress, to not turn him in. If they turned him in he would split about the base. So you'll no be speaking to me anymore. You've nae time for Glasgow hooligans. It was you who said to do him proper." On one level this is an exciting story of how a group of children overcome all kinds of difficulties to pursue their project. Chas and his chosen friends build a warren of air-raid shelters connected by tunnels, with a machine-gun emplacement, in the derelict garden of a bombed-out house. Apart from dealing with suspicious parents and the class bully, the children also deflect the interest of the police and the Home Guard, who would like to recover the machine-gun, if only they could find it. A group of school aged children in a small coastal Northeast English town join the fight against the Germans in WWII. Their adventure begins when Chas, the main characters, finds a downed German plan with its machine gun intact. With the help of some friends, they remove, transport and hid this still operational weapon.

English KS2: The Machine Gunners - BBC Teach English KS2: The Machine Gunners - BBC Teach

The last few years have, and I think I can say this without fear of contradiction or reprisal, been a bit much. We also have a lot of "Nazi pig"ery going on, which while probably historically accurate does rather jar with modern sensibilities.

War Adventures [ Box Set. ] There's No Escape. What About Me? Great Escape Stories. The Machine-Gunners. Fireweed Rumour is spread that there was no German paratroopers; it was all a mistake. The children are still in the shelter the next morning, and they are scared. They thought the Germans would have invaded the city by now, and everyone would be dead. No. Instead, when Rudi is found by Constable Hardy, the children think Rudi is a German and shoot him.