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Author: Iain Lawrence Date: 1 November 2008 Genre: Fiction, War Comment:**
 * Title: Lord of the Nutcracker Men

Lord of the nutcracker men is a very weird and interesting boo because it tellls the story of the first world war. Instead of telling the story of the people in the front it talks about the feelings and the emotions of the people at home in England.

Beggining in London during the start of the world war one or the great war as it was know, it tells the story of johnny and how he felt about his father going to war during the times of international nrest in Europe at the time. Johnny's father is a toymaker who began before the war, created little toy soldiers for his son to play with. His small collection of toy soldiers grew in large numbers when Johnny's father found a box of them in an abandoned german household. As the war grew so did Johnny's imagination as he played his toy soldiers against each other. Being half an inch too short, Johnny's father can not recruit into the army until one day when Johnny's father got the opportunity and left for war and promised that every letter he sends Johnny would contain a little gift.

London at the time though was not safe at all and people were fearing for thir lives as there were rumours that the german army had air ships that would bomb the city. Johnny's mother was really protective of her son so she sent him to the countryside not far away in a town called cliffe with his auntie, Auntie Ivy. Having bad impressions about his aunt he had to learn to live under many strict rules especially playing with his toy soldiers in the house and talking mindless chatter.

Moving into a new enviroment he was not the most popular person at his new school and was constantly bullied by other boys at school. He decied that he didnt like school and would not want to return because everyone thought that he was being smart and picked on him. After being discovered to be truant from most of his lessons the school principle Mr. Tuttle visited his house and then on he had private english lessons with the headmaster on saturday's. During his truancy he had made a stuffed man from the principle's roses and now feels guilty and regret it since those roses belonged to Mr. Tuttle's deceased wife.

Other problem's he faces is that the letters that his father sends usually contains unpleasent news and that the toy soldiers he was sent got more disturbing and disfigured everytime. And after hearing the news that one of the soldiers that was sent to the war from cliffe died and began to turn up near Johnny's house, thinking it was a ghost he has to try and convince Auntie Ivy what he has seen but she was unconivinced and thought that Johnny was being delusional. He is now facing what he dreads and soon he becomes to believe that the toy soldiers he was sent are more alive than they seem.

This book is very interesting, it is written in first person format and is narrated by the main character Johnny. It creates very vivid images for the reader. It really makes the reader feel that Johnny exist in a very sad and depressing enviroment and is felt sorry for in most aspects during his life in the war. With each chapter beggining with a letter from Johnny's father it makes the story more realistic and sounds more like a thrilling account of what had happened to his life. Even though this book is fiction it covers many aspects of life during the great war and lets in a greater understanding of how it would have been to witness such a devastating event in history.

I really enjoyed reading this book and taking not that long to read it is really helpful to understand why the author had the idea to write this story. There were many favourite parts in the story and everytime i read a new chapter i was delighted to see that the storyline has kept to the same rythm and adds new ideas in an easily absorbed format. It makes me sad to hear that Jonny's mother died because of the war and that it added great impact intot the stiry.

I really recommend people to read this story because it is really helpful to people who wants a greater understanding to the great war.


 * 10 clues, hahahaha.**

1. it is on earth 2. it is in the northern hemisphere 3. it is in asia 4. it has one of the worlds largest airports 5. it is famous for its technology 6. it has a long history since 18BC 7. its national bird is the magpie 8. they have there own distinctive national language 9. it is one of the four asian tigers 10. it isnt singapore

good luck, and i had a makeover for my profile, it has no videos now. :D

I dont know this poem is a bit dark to put on so i might as well place it down, maybe i should accompany it with an image

SILENTLY SCREAMING The flowers die slowly as the winter comes, Numbing my fingers one by one, The sky is grey To an angel I pray To take my soul far, far away I went to a plot in an unknown spot And there on a branch I tied a good knot My life was free While hung from a tree My body was swaying in the cold breeze I was shivering with cold As many have told My story finally had a chance to unfold As I held up my hand and gave out a cry My last words I said was just one WHY My hands started shaking like it wasn’t mine And on the horizon was a silver line I looked at the light and glanced at my knot And I looked at this plot What am I doing I began to talk I started to run and then I walked And in the far distance I saw this lad A little bit sad I had to add He was walking up the dreaded hill And made a moan and just stood still He fastened the tree with a thick rope A bit disturbing on the now rising slope I looked up and saw he now had a chair Holding his head up in the air Ready to leave his life behind He thought the whole world was already blind And went for a plunge with his head in the noose Kicking the chair with his hair hanging loose I screamed in horror as I saw from afar This problem seemed quite bizarre And ran to the body and wanted to yelp I wanted to scream I wanted to help The body turned and twisted around A froze and stared without a sound I saw my eyes reflected from it As my mind had to finally admit And from this lad I learnt a tale When life goes down you shouldn’t fail Then the world returned to the past I knew this moment would never last I left the tree and the plot of land Only I would understand Why my life hadn’t ended like it should had.

by SIDNEY WONG Hey Sidney Its Tarsha thanks for going on to my page

I like your choice of image. It suits your poem well. Miss Roper