All About Middle Grade Review: 50 Things You Should Know about the First World War

50 Things You Should Know about the First World War by Jim Eldridge, July 1, 2014. 80 Pages. Published by QEB Publishing. Source: publisher.

The story of the War, brought to life through illustrations, photographs, diaries, and newspaper reports. In this illustrated exploration of World War I, readers discover what caused the war and why it eventually affected every corner of the globe. The key battles, events, and figures are all explored and recounted in succinct and easy-to understand text while illustrations and photographs bring the past vividly back to life.

First Sentence:

For hundreds of years, countries in Europe had been at war with one another.

I seem to have fallen down the rabbit hole of history books of late, so, I thought why not drag y'all down with me, too. *insert evil laugh*

This book was really,  really fascinating to read through. While I know quite a bit about WWI because, well, how many people don't at this point, it was really interesting to see the way everything was laid out in this book. It really made it easy for one to follow the progression of the war and really see the way it impacted the entire world.

One of the reasons I found myself enjoying 50 Things You Should Know About the First World War is that there was no beating around the bush when it came to the travesties that took place during the war. I liked that it also not only talked about the many battles fought and means used to fight them

3 Reasons Why You should Read It

•  It is a great means for showing the way the war progressed and how it quickly enveloped many countries and how it snowballed into such an all encompassing war that would change history. 
• The timeline and images. Ah, I just loved the layout for the book because everything just helped to really bring forth, in a readable coherent fashion, the timeline of events and little tidbits about the big players from WWI. The way the book's laid out really brings home the damage and lost of life that was sustained throughout the entire war.
• I'm fairly certain that you will learn some facts about the war that you may not have known...or that you forgot you knew. Like when certain things were first used during the war efforts. Or the fact that there were still horses, camels, swords and lances used during the war...yeah.

Final Verdict: 50 Things You Should Know About the First World War- This is a great book to help middle graders learn about WWI. The graphics and short facts about the war will surely capture their interest and help all to learn about the impact it had on every one-civilian and fighter alike.

50 Things You Should Know About the First World War earns

A copy of this book was provided in consideration for review. All thoughts are my own.