Guest Blog: Jenny Pearson
Author of Shrapnel Boys
Manageable Pieces of War in Shrapnel Boys
A secret desire to write about WW2
My inspiration to write Shrapnel Boys came from my love of history. At school, I had an excellent teacher, Mr Dennis, who brought lessons to life by giving a voice to the past – from him, I learned about people’s lives, their thoughts, their reactions, not just facts.
History to me is story, and when I first became a children’s author, I was already harbouring a secret desire to write a story set in World War II.
Hard times and laughter
However, being known as a funny writer, I wasn’t sure if I could bring my voice to such a serious event in British history. But through conversations with my grandparents about growing up in Kent during the war, I understood that though times were hard, there was laughter too.
My nan told me a story of how my great-grandfather was sitting on the outside toilet when an unexploded bomb dropped through the roof. My great-grandmother was mortified that he didn’t re-trouser before charging out in front of the neighbours! I hoped to capture a little of this spirit in Shrapnel Boys.
Scavaging for treasure
My grandfather was eleven when war broke out, and like the boys in my book, he viewed it as an adventure. As well as playing in ruins, he became a keen shrapnel collector. He and his friends would scavenge for their deadly treasure, no concern given to cuts and scrapes.
I could picture this so vividly, and an image of a group of boys scrabbling about in ruins, clutching bits of ammunition shell, started to form in my mind.
Collecting manageable pieces
I was very aware that writing a work of historical fiction would require a great deal of research, and I started here, with the shrapnel.
I discovered that the collection of shrapnel is a phenomenon found in most war zones. One of many excellent research papers by Gabriel Moshenska,A Hard Rain: children’s shrapnel collections in the Second World War, goes on to discuss various reasons for this. Firstly, children are natural collectors (I can attest to this by the sheer number of Pokémon cards in my house).
However, the reason that I found to be most profound was that in taking possession of these trophies of war, children are in some way attempting to claim some control in a world where they have none. War is abstract and terrifying, and something tangible, like a shard of metal, can make the experience more concrete and perhaps allow fear and trauma to be processed in manageable pieces.
It may also allow children to emotionally distance themselves from the horrors – if I can pick it up, if I can play with it, it can’t be that scary.
Understanding war on a deeper level
From here, my research expanded to old newspaper articles, history books, the bombsight website, photographs and to the BBC archive WW2: The People’s War, where I read thousands of first-hand accounts detailing life at war. It is a phenomenally rich resource, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the period. To know that Dunkirk started on May 26th 1940, is one thing, but by reading the account of someone who, as a child, had stood by the docks in the Thames and watched the boats sail by, I was able to understand it on a deeper level.
I hope that through listening to the people that were there, that in Shrapnel Boys I have been able to bring this part of our history to life.
Thank you to Jenny for visiting our blog this week to tell us more about her new book, Shrapnel Boys, which is available to purchase from Amazon or Bookshop.
A set of teaching notes is also available to download.
Shrapnel Boys was published on 8th May 2025 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marking the end of WW2 in Europe. Visit our VE Day children’s book recommendations blog post to see more book ideas about VE day.
Readers may also be interested in the following booklists
- World War 2 Books for Children
- Children’s books about community
- WW1 Booklist
- Primary history booklists
- Year 5 booklist
- Year 6 booklist
Browse our curriculum topic booklists for more.
Find more Jenny Pearson books for children here.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.