The Machine Gunners

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Finished the book now, Its great and can be rather interesting, as I have overall given this book a rating of 4 out of 5. I would like to see other books by Robert Westall's and look at them. They might be really interesting as I enjoy reading historical books. e.g war The children work on the base a lot, and make many improvements to it. They steal and scavenge. Cem gets blueprints for the machine gun, and finds out how to work it. Angels and Heroes The Story of a Machine Gunner with the Royal Irish Fusiliers August 1914 to April 1915

The Machine-Gunners by Robert Westall book review | Yakbooks The Machine-Gunners by Robert Westall book review | Yakbooks

Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Chas tries to steal a plane engine, and fails. Goes off into the woods and finds a crashed German bomber, machine gun still intact.Westall creates a cast of characters you love and care about - apart from the ones you're meant to hate – and occasional unnecessary descriptive aside (the size of the woman pushing the push chair is totally immaterial), a world you almost wish you were living in. I have finished reading The Machine gunners finally! it was a really good book, it was very interesting, especially when they found the machine gun. I mean if you found a machine gun you would go mental, haha. Overall this book was a great read, i read it in 3 days of the holidays. i would definitly read another book from Robert Westall, After the fortress is finished, the kids spend their free time watching out for German planes. When one finally appears, Chas starts shooting the machine gun, missing it but scaring the pilot into making an error and causing the plane to be brought down by anti-aircraft. The rear gunner, Sergeant Rudi Gerlath, manages to parachute out of the plane just before it explodes. Injured, he is force to spend a week hiding out in a rabbit hutch on a victory garden allotment, eating frozen Brussels sprouts he finds growing there. When he is finally able, he wanders about, wondering what to do. Cold and tired, he eventually finds the fortress, wraps himself up in the blankets he finds there and falls asleep. Robert Westall's gripping first novel for children set during World War Two and winner of the Carnegie Medal. Now with a brilliant new cover look and celebrating its fortieth anniversary. Includes a bonus short story - 'The Haunting of Chas McGill' - and an extended biography of the author. About This Edition ISBN:

The Machine Gunners (Literature) - TV Tropes The Machine Gunners (Literature) - TV Tropes

A surprise will come their way which will create an interesting dilemma for the secrecy and integrity of their hidden gun emplacement. Will tragedy, glory or something in between visit these intrepid youths. A fully operational German machine gun in the hands of 6 school children, what could go wrong? The adventures start in Garmouth, a town in England, when Chas finds a machine gun from a dead German bomber. The story is excitingly fast and fun, but more than that, it can teach you a lot. Consider screen adaptations of the book and compare and contrast different ways of presenting the same story. So you'll no be speaking to me anymore. You've nae time for Glasgow hooligans. It was you who said to do him proper." We also have a lot of "Nazi pig"ery going on, which while probably historically accurate does rather jar with modern sensibilities.

The book is set in the North East of England near to where I grew up so it was nice to read about places I've been to. Westall paints a very realistic picture as to what life was like during the blitz; the food shortages, the constant stress of being bombed, the fear of being invaded.

English KS2: The Machine Gunners - BBC Teach

On one level this is an exciting story of how a group of children overcome all kinds of difficulties to pursue their project. Chas and his chosen friends build a warren of air-raid shelters connected by tunnels, with a machine-gun emplacement, in the derelict garden of a bombed-out house. Apart from dealing with suspicious parents and the class bully, the children also deflect the interest of the police and the Home Guard, who would like to recover the machine-gun, if only they could find it. Conduct an author study exploring Robert Westall’s body of work and consider what experiences may have influenced his writing.the language layout, it was like old English, for example Yee harty ol' feed. insted of what we say now ' mean harty feed bro ' No wonder Chas feels insecure: Ever since he was little, Dad had meant safety: large, solid, bristly-faced, smelling of tobacco. His thumb always grew in three segments, where he had hit it with a hammer while he was an apprentice. But could any grown-up keep you safe now? They couldn't stop the German bombers. They hadn't saved Poland, or Norway or France. Or the battleship the German submarine torpedoed in Scapa Flow itself. Their own air-raid shelter at home - it wasn't as safe as the Fortress. It was only covered with a foot of soil. Couldn't Dad have done better than that? He looked at his father, and saw a weary, helpless middle-aged man. Dad wasn't any kind of God any more The Machine Gunners was adapted by the BBC for television in 1983 and again for radio in 2002. A stage play by Westall also exists and had a run at the Polka Theatre in London, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum. The book won the Carnegie Medal in 1975 and was voted in 2007 as one of the ten most important children's novels of the last seven decades by the Carnegie Medal panel. Machine-Gun Squadron : The 20th Machine Gunners from British Yeomanry Regiments in the Middle East Cammpaign of the First World War Combat Pragmatist: Confronted by Boddser on the street, surrounded by the bigger boy's gang of followers, Chas opts to clobber his aggressor with his steel gasmask case.

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall - AbeBooks

My favourite part of the book is when Chas McGill, the main character is being chased by Chas' enemy, Boddser Brown, through the makeshift marshes in Garmouth. I found this passage very thrilling and it encouraged me to read on. This book was unpredictable. I had no idea what was going happen next. people who were going about there every day lives were thrown in to a world of bombs, air-raid sirens and running to the air-raid shelters for cover. Oop North: Aye lad, we're gannin' oop North for this ane. Justified, since it's set in the North East of England and based on the writer's own childhood there. The Glasses Come Off: Chas gets Boddser to take his off before they start fighting; so he can't be blamed for breaking them.They start to build the base, and are nearly killed when German planes come out of nowhere and start bombing the area. The school is bombed, and since all other schools are full, school is called off. The Robert Westall Box Set: The Machine Gunners; The Cats of Seroster; The Watch House; A Time of Fire; Blitzcat; Stormsearch; Fathom Five (BOX SET WITH SLIPCASE) The Machine Gunners is a children's historical novel by Robert Westall, published by Macmillan in 1975. Set in northeastern England shortly after the Battle of Britain (February 1941), it features children who find a crashed German aircraft with a machine gun and ammunition; they build a fortress and capture and imprison a German gunner. The author also wrote a play based on the book, and others have adapted it for television and radio. A sequel, Fathom Five, set two years later, was published in 1979. The Machine Gunners is Robert Westall’s first novel about World War II. It is set in the town of Garmouth, a seaside town in northern England. Though fictional, it is modeled on Tynemouth, the town where Westall grew up during the war. The machine gunners" (1976 U.S. hardcover edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-09-05.