RATING: 4 STARS
(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)

A really cool book for history buffs and young ones looking to know more about WWI and history. I really like the sketches.

'A Soldier's Sketchbook: The Illustrated First World War Diary of R.H. Rabjohn'
by John Wilson has over 100 sketches that Russel Rabjohn made during his time in the First World War.

Russell Rabjohn joined the Canadian army when he was 18. Because he was a trained artist, he was assigned to draw dugouts, maps, and graves. Because of this, he was allowed to carry a sketchbook, which was also his diary of the war. The book is broken up into chapters, including his training, his time in Vimy and Ypres and the end of the war and heading home.

Russell Rabjohn was in the fight at the Battle of Passchendaele, a brutal, bloody, muddy battle that has a 100 year anniversary this year. He lost a lot of people around him as the bombs fell.

This is a book for younger readers, so the diary entries are not completely printed, but there is text giving a flow to the events. There is also a timeline of the war and a further reading list.

What is most notable are the stunning sketches that are made. Most soldiers were prohibited from taking pictures or sketches of the war. The author of this book, John Wilson, first ran into these in a privately published book from 1977. Rabjohn has 5 written diaries in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

This is a moving record of a young man, far from home, experiencing terrible things around him and recording them. I'm very glad I got a chance to read this ebook.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Tundra Books, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I first received this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review since I'm a huge history buff, and I live about twenty minutes away from the American National WWI museum. I looked forward to this book because the Great War was always somewhat overlooked in elementary and middle school--probably because it's a more complicated war where no one is truly the "bad guys" like in WWII-- and feel this book does a fair enough job introducing the war through a pretty awesome medium: a sketchbook from someone on the front lines. I really felt the art and the diary entries were a really novel concept for the topic and really drove home the point of how terrible the conditions were in a way children could understand, for which I give it props. My main complaint that knocked the rating back from four stars was I feel there was a lot of redundancy in the explanations of the diary entries and the diary itself, and feel a ten year old would find it annoying to read essentially the same passage twice. The author doesn't let the diary and art tell its own story, and instead over-explains points that I believe a middle schooler could figure out through the context clues, and I think the explanations could have instead been told through more diary entries. I'm not saying have no explanations, but maybe just one before a key concept instead of summing up every single diary before showing it. I also wish there was more art and diary entries, but I understand that this is essentially an annotation of the published diary from 1970. Altogether, I feel this would be a good way to introduce the concepts of WWI as part of a unit, and I can see the WWI museums carrying it because though it's flawed, it IS still an interesting story nonetheless.

I really liked the fact that is mostly a primary source document-the sketchbook of a solider during the war. The immediacy of the art work as well as the sparse prose make it feel like you were really there. I think the kids will like this one a lot.

A Soldier's Sketchbook: The Illustrated First World War Diary of R.H. Rabjohn by John Wilson is a fascinating glimpse into the actual sketchbook/diary of a soldier who served in World War I. It follows Russell Rabjohn from 1916 to 1919 during his time in World War I. Russell was a trained artist, so his superiors directed him to make technical drawings and maps. Constantly having pen and paper available enabled Russell to freely sketch his experiences on the frontlines. The drawings are a unique peek into the past.

The selected diary entries are interspersed with clearly marked context. The black-and-white pencil drawings are impressive and the sketches that show the horrors of war are respectfully rendered. What impacted me most in the beginning was the innocence of the young man from Toronto going out into the world for the first time. It's noted that there were visual changes in Rabjohn's handwriting when he arrives in France and the reality of war sunk in. It was interesting to learn the practical concerns soldiers had to deal with, such as really sticky mud. I was impressed by Rabjohn’s empathy towards the prisoners-of-war.

I appreciated this chance to get to know a little more about World War I from the life of a Canadian soldier. It was a pleasure to get to know Private Rabjohn! I am grateful to him for his commitment to documentation. Historian and author John Wilson did a great job providing context and compiling the information into an engaging and beautifully formatted book. This book can be appreciated by older children and adults.

I received this advanced readers copy from Penguin Random House Canada and Tundra Books via NetGalley

What was cool about this is its rarity... it is hard to find writings of a soldier from WWI. The most spectacular part of it are the sketches - so well done and beautiful. The entries from his diary are quite short and just factual. A reader would have a hard time piecing together any narrative if it weren't for the authors background information and transitions. For those interested in WWI it would be a worthwhile purchase.