The Good Son – A Story From the First World War, Told in Miniature
By Pierre-Jacques Ober, Jules Ober and Felicity Coonan
Published by Candlewick Studio Imprint US and Walker Books Australia in May 2019.
Released in French translation by Seuil Jeunesse in October 2018 as Petit Soldat.
The Good Son is about being small in a large world. It is about a vast, ghastly piece of history, and the feeling of being subject to forces beyond your control. And it is sad.
But it transcends mere sadness. Its original style taps into one of the fundamental insights of childhood, especially related to conflict and complexity: when we play with figures, dolls, models, and small things, we participate in them, as the mover and creator and combiner. To play in miniature is to experience things with knowledge and security, even when those things are difficult. This is a series whose originality creates the perfect environment for learning difficult things. For rehearsing, yes, but also for the formation of a historical and moral consciousness.
Awards
The Good Son has been awarded the NSW Premier’s History Award – Young People’s History Prize 2020. It has also been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year 2020. It has been awarded a gold medal by The Junior Library Guild of America. It is part of the Bank Street College of Education’s 2020 Best Children’s Books of the Year list for outstanding merit.
Petit Soldat has been awarded the Prix Sorcières for the most beautiful picture book of 2019 in France.
What the judges said: NSW Premier’s History Award – Young People’s History Prize 2020
The Good Son stood out from all the other entries in that way that it combined innovative illustration with verbal economy to make a work of emotional power and moral intelligence accessible to all ages.
An Overview
The book was made in collaboration with Felicity Coonan who worked on design and digital edits. It was originally conceived as book one in a 4 part series spanning the devastating 4 years of the First World War. Read more about its trajectory on our blog.
It is represented by Inkwell Management, New York.
Explore our growing page of educational resources.
A young French soldier named Pierre is under arrest. It is 1914, and he is one of the millions of young men who signed up to fight the war to end all wars, and be home by Christmas.
That did not happen. After a battle, Pierre left his regiment for two days. When he came back, they locked him up and told him he was to be executed for desertion.
While in captivity, we learn of Pierre’s journey—how he became swept up, how he surged with patriotic joy. How he came to make a friend, how that friend saved his life for no reason beyond brotherhood. Pierre writes to his mother and tells her of the time he captured some German soldiers and how they were just like him. He thinks about Christmas, and freedom, and his mother. He is visited by his friend, who brings him food and drink. And he waits. Will he be saved? Will he escape?
We see him begin to understand his own story. We see that even the littlest character has a world inside of him, and how that world can be a safe harbor when life beyond is unfair and dangerous.
This is a story loosely based on real events.
