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Home > Categories > Books > Kids - General > My New Zealand Story - Here Come the Marines review
It is 1943 and Lillian is brassed off. Until now she was like any normal city girl - at least, as normal as you can be when there's a terrible war going on and your father is away fighting. Then a spot is found on Lillian's lung - tuberculosis.
Before she knows it, Lillian is packed off to recover on her grandparents farm in Whangateau, near Warkworth. With no friends, and only her preening older sister Joyce and their grandparents for company ( and Granddad's a miserable blighter at the best of times), Lillian feels like a duck out of water. That is, until the day a US Marine Division moves in down the road. That afternoon, four Marines turn up on their doorstep wanting to buy milk. Life in Whangateau is about to get a LOT more interesting ...
My New Zealand Story is a series of vividly imagined accounts of life in the past ... making history come alive.
My Story - War Nurse
My Story - Titanic
My Story - Workhouse
My Story - Viking Blood
My Story: War Stories for Girls
My Story - 1900 - A Brand New Century
My Royal Story - Cleopatra
My New Zealand Story - Earthquake! : Napier, 1930-31
My Story - Henry VIII's Wives
Gumdigger
My True Story: Give Us the Vote!
My Story - No Way Back
London Stories
My Story: Berlin Olympics
My Story: Titanic - Anniversary edition
My New Zealand Story: Cyclone Bola
My New Zealand Story: Cup Magic
My New Zealand Story: Lighthouse Family
My New Zealand Story - Canterbury Quake
My New Zealand Story - Harbour Bridge
My New Zealand Story: Bastion Point
My New Zealand Story: Dawn Raid
My New Zealand Story: Chinatown Girl
My New Zealand Story: Pandemic
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Review by: kymmage (Kym)
Dated: 18th of June, 2012
My New Zealand Story - Here come the Marines is a really great book. I'm a huge fan of the My Story range anyway, but this is even cooler because it's got our voices! Kiwis in history! This book would but good for an 8 + audience. Even though the main character is 14, I reckon I would have easily read this at 8.
Just like the My Story range, this is set out like a diary. The language is so familiar, loads of kiwisms, but not in a way that seems forced. I also felt this was really well researched. A lot of the race stuff rattled me, but I guess that's how it was back then. It's nice to see how far we have come.
I knew a small amount about the events surrounding the situation here in New Zealand during the second World War and this book helped to round that knowledge out. But I don't think prior knowledge is required to enjoy this book. I also liked that the author added photos and more information at the end of the book.
This would be so neat for studying the events during the second world war. Or to take a glimpse into your grandparents' past. A great read!
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Three different girls, three diaries from the second world war:
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Sophie joins the Resistance movement in northern France and becomes involved in a dangerous plan to save a young soldier.
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