The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders; or, The Fighting Canadians of Vimy Ridge

Hayes, Clair W. (Clair Wallace), 1887-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 1.8

Word count: 245K words
Chapters: 25

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders; Or, the Fighting Canadians of Vimy RidgeAuthor: Hayes, Clair W. (Clair Wallace), 1887-,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jul 1, 2004

Editor's review

The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders is a juvenile military adventure novel by Clair W. Hayes, set against the Canadian Corps at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War and presenting the wartime experience through the eyes of young protagonists. A patriotic reading matter for young readers in the early twentieth century, it has a tight plot and a clear stance, and is of documentary value for understanding how the English-speaking world told adolescents about war and alliance at the time. The public-domain English eBook from Project Gutenberg makes the original text easy to search. It should be read in the context of First World War juvenile literature and propaganda discourse, with attention to the limits of its narrative perspective; it is not to be taken as a factual war history. Suitable for English reading practice, topics in the history of children's literature, or comparative discussion of war narratives.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-speaking readers studying early twentieth-century war reading matter for the young
Senior secondary students needing English extensive reading material with a First World War background
Readers interested in Canadian military history and narratives of the Battle of Vimy Ridge
Supplementary readers for courses on children's literature or propaganda discourse

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking rigorous First World War historical analysis or military archives
Readers sensitive to war themes who do not wish to read combat descriptions
Young children with limited English reading ability

Reading tips

Before reading, learn the basic timeline and background of the Battle of Vimy Ridge so as not to equate the novel's plot with factual history.
After each chapter, note the protagonist's observations and judgments, and consider how the narrator shapes images of "allies" and "enemies."
Read alongside other juvenile war literature of the same period to observe similarities and differences in patriotic discourse.
Separate combat descriptions from characters' emotions, and note how the author handles courage, fear, and comradeship.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for children to read independently?

It depends on age. The book is aimed at young readers but contains war scenes and period prejudices; younger readers should be accompanied by an adult and given background explanation.

Is the historical content reliable?

It is an adventure novel set against the First World War, with fictional plot and characters. Its historical framework can be consulted, but specific details should not be cited as fact.

Why choose the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is freely available and makes the original text easy to search, suitable for close reading and quotation, but it lacks modern annotation, so readers must supply historical background themselves.

Can it be used in the English classroom?

It can serve as extensive reading or topic material. Teachers should select chapters to discuss war narrative and propaganda discourse, and supplement authentic historical sources to balance perspectives.

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About the author

Hayes, Clair W. (Clair Wallace), 1887- Author

Clair W. Hayes (full name Clair Wallace Hayes, 1887– ) is an English-language author about whom little biographical information is available, best known for juvenile military adventure fiction. The seventeen works held in the collection belong almost entirely to his "Boy Allies" series, placing young protagonists in various theaters of the First World War, from the trenches of Belleau Wood and Château-Thierry in France to the Carpathians, the Balkans, the Italian Alps, and the North Sea and submarine patrols. The books follow a serialized, action-driven formula emphasizing friendship, courage, and battlefield resourcefulness, and their titles typically introduce a subtitle with "Or," a hallmark of popular reading of the period. His nationality, life, and writing career cannot be reliably documented from publicly available sources.