Guest Post by Craig Simpson (author of the Special Operations series)

I am a huge fan of Craig Simpson's Special Operations series. I had the luxury of discovering the series three books in, and so could read them all in one go, although this did then leave me waiting impatiently for the fourth book. You can read my reviews of the first three books here, and the fourth book, Dead or Alive, here. I therefore jumped at the chance to host Craig for a guest post, especially given the subject of why boys continue to find war stories so thrilling.

~~~

Scary times! Why stories about the Second World War remain so popular with boys.

Seventy years on, young readers are still avidly devouring stories set during WWII, and every year new titles are published to satisfy their insatiable appetites. As a writer of such novels, I think I know why this is, and it comes as no surprise to me, despite the fact that we all know how the war ended! And I think the reasons go deeper than simply boys liking stories about war, armies, aircraft etc…

Post-war children’s classics such as Goodnight Mister Tom, Nina Bowden’s Carrie’s War and Robert Westall’s The Machine Gunners & Blitz Cat tended to focus on the ‘war at home’ in Britain. In fact, it might be said that in the immediate post-war decades (to the 1980s), children’s literature largely steered clear of the worst aspects of war. It was as if Anne Frank’s diary had the role of giving that kind of insight. And, of course, it does, but only to a point. This cautious approach was understandable to a generation of adults who’d lived and fought, were weary of war, and desperate to protect their children from such horrors. But, I believe they missed an important point.

I grew up in this post-war period but was fortunate to hear stories first hand; one of my teachers had been in the RAF and flown Pathfinders. I also heard stories about family friends; one of my godmothers had worked for the French Resistance. Later on in life, I was privileged enough to meet the wonderful Miep Gies who famously helped the Frank family while they were in hiding and who rescued Anne’s diary from the Annex. They were remarkable people.

In recent times, the nature of wartime children’s literature has changed. With titles like Mal Peet’s Tamar, John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, James Holland’s Duty Calls series, Robert Muchamore’s Henderson’s Boys, and my own Resistance & Special Operations series (just to name a few), stories have reached out into the heart of the conflict. Interestingly, readers often say to me that what they like about my books is that my characters get involved with the war, that they’re not just innocent bystanders. This aspect is important to me too, because it’s easy to forget that a whole generation of children lived through Nazi occupation and witnessed all aspects of war, and many did indeed get involved with resisting. In response to my books, I’ve even received correspondence from older readers telling me stories of when, as teenagers, members of their family had worked for the resistance, risking their lives. They tell me this with immense and justifiable pride. Vindication, I think.

At their heart, the majority of WWII stories explore some of the most powerful and appealing themes in storytelling; personal fears, danger and sacrifice, the struggle of good versus evil, the defence of freedom, and testing ones courage to the limit. To be fair, this is also true of many books of other genres (science fiction, fantasy). In fact, pick any fiction book from a library shelf and I bet it explores at least one of these themes in some way. But, there are key differences in the case of stories set in WWII.

Firstly, it was a world that really existed, is still recognisable to us today, and is within living memory for some parents and grandparents. It was also all-out war on an unprecedented and almost unimaginable scale, not witnessed before or since. The very worst aspects of mankind’s nature were exposed in its horrors and, yet, in the midst of the darkness, the very best of mankind shone through and triumphed.

It’s the fact that such a time really existed that I find so captivating, thrilling, and often extremely scary, and I think readers do too. As a writer I have no need to create some fantasy world, or one of evil monsters or superheroes to have the reader on the edge of his or her seat and biting their nails – the real world back then will do nicely. Put bluntly, it was the mother of all wars – accounting for an estimated 55+ million lives in just six years. And, yet, I don’t think the appeal to readers comes from the scale of the conflict, rather the complete opposite.

It is the stories of individuals caught up in it, the soldier wading towards the beach on D-Day as bullets fly past him and his comrades fall, the Spitfire pilot in the midst of a soaring dogfight, the family in hiding or being arrested and carted off to a concentration camp, the resistance fighter risking all when surrounded by the enemy, or the spy or secret agent on a dangerous mission. Through the eyes of such people (characters) the true nature of war is exposed. The choices and decisions they are forced to make challenge our very moral fibre, questioning our beliefs about who we are and what mankind is capable of. And, despite the fact most of us find war abhorrent, we also know that it can be justified – there are simply some things that are worth fighting for. It is exciting and very, very powerful stuff.

There’s a second element to the enduring popularity. It’s the fantastic ingenuity and courage of those involved. The war was a rich seam of astonishingly original ideas and rapid developments, of incredibly audacious missions and seemingly impossible achievements. Whether it was the evacuation of over 330,000 troops from Dunkirk, the brilliant minds of the code-breakers, the boffins who developed radar, the celebrated dam busters (Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bomb), or the brave citizens who became active members of resistance movements or who risked their lives while hiding people from arrest, all have truly jaw-dropping stories to tell. Some are well known, others have only recently been revealed as Top Secret documents are released or people have finally broken their silence. For a writer there is an almost endless source of inspiration. For the young reader there are plenty of thrills and spills as this most dangerous of times is brought back to life on the page.

C Simpson April 2012

~~~

Huge thanks to Craig for taking the time to write this for The Book Zone. If your son is a reluctant reader then the Special Operations books could be the ones to get him hooked.

Review: Special Ops - Dead Or Alive by Craig Simpson (Special Ops Book 4)

A rogue British agent has vanished with a suitcase full of cash and a head full of secrets. Have Britain's defences been exposed? Special Operations must act fast. Finn Gunnersen and fellow agents head for the dark and sinister streets of Nazi-occupied Paris. Their orders are simple: Bring the agent back - Dead or Alive.

Fact: Many boys love books about war. If my own experiences as a teacher are not evidence enough of this then I have a little more for you. First up, my good friend Liz from the My Favourite Books blog has made several school visits in recent years, talking to kids about books, and she told me that one of the boys' favourite subjects is war. Add to this the continuing popularity of Commando Comic. Following a recent visit to the National Army Museum, where I discovered an exhibition of art from the comic, I became intrigued as to how many people still read Commando. The information from the publisher's website shows that 34% of the readers of Commando Comic are under 25, and the comic has a readership of approximately 40,000, with 8 issues being published each month. Ergo, boys love war stories - and yet there are still only a small handful of books being published each year that fall into this genre, my favourite of which are the Special Ops books by Craig Simpson.

Back in 2010 I posted a review that covered all three of the Special Ops books that had been released up to that point. I discovered the series after the publication of the third book, Wolf Squadron, and had the luxury of being able to read the three almost back-to-back. I found them more enjoyable, and certainly more believable, than the likes of the CHERUB books as the stories are grounded in fact - young people did play a huge part in the resistance movements of the various occupied contries during WWII, and all Craig Simpson has done is take this a step further by having a trio of Norwegian teenagers drafted in to work for S.O.E., the very real intelligence organisation that was set up to fight back against the Nazis.

Now, after an 18 month wait, the fourth book in the series, Dead or Alive, is out and is yet another thrilling addition to the series. I would like to say that Dead or Alive is more of the same from Craig Simpson, but that sounds like I am being negative. Far from it - in this case, more of the same means it is just as brilliant has his previous three books in the series. It has all the ingredients that have made this such an exciting series to read - great characters putting their lives on the line for the greater good, tight plotting, great action scenes, realistic dialogue and as much tension as any best-selling adult thriller.

Importantly, in these books Craig Simpson never glorifies the role these young people play in the war. Yes, they find themselves having to carry guns, and occasionally having to kill others in order to survive, but they never seem wholly comfortable with these extreme actions, however necessary they were. This is possibly more apparent in Dead or Alive than in the previous ones, as this time they are sent over to France to locate a fellow agent oy may, or may not have turned traitor. Said agent has gone missing with a headful of secrets vital to the defense of England fortune in funds that were supposed to aid the Resistance. Finn, Loki and Freya are instructed to seek and if necessary destroy this agent, and this is something that does not sit well with them from the very start. Should they follow their orders to the letter? What if he turns out to be innocent and by shooting first and asking later they end up killing an innocent man? What are the consequences if they fail to carry out the orders that come from Churchill himself?

I hope that these books are selling well as I would love Craig Simpson to be able to continue writing about his trio of youg heroes. The events of Dead or Alive take place in November 1941, so there is plenty more wartime remaining for him to set his stories in. If you are/have a 10+ boy who loves action thrillers then these books come highly recommended. Not only will yuo/he be able to enjoy a fast-paced exciting story, but there is also a history lesson with it. At the end of each book the author includes a postscript, explaining which elements of the story are based on fact (in this case, an agent really did go missing with a suitvase full of bank notes).

My thanks go the the generous people at Corgi Books for sending me a copy of Dead or Alive to review. Please watch this space as I hope to feature a gust post by Craig Simpson sometime in the near future.

Review: Special Operations series by Craig Simpson

At the beginning of the summer I was asked by the people at Corgi books if I would like to receive a copy of Wolf Squadron, the third books in Craig Simpson's Special Operations series. It was with a little embarrassment that I had to admit that I had not yet read either of the first two books in the series, and within days the generous people at Corgi had sent me the full set to review. As I already had a huge To Be Read pile I spaced these books out over the summer, although after reading the first one I was sorely tempted to read them all in one go. These books are brilliant and I wish I had discovered them sooner. We have all three in the school library but I had never picked one up, and it makes me wonder how many other great books are out there that I have missed out on due to lack of time.

The Special Operations series is set during World War II, not an era that has been particularly fashionable in kids and YA literature in recent years, but with these books Craig Simpson should be the man to change that. "What about Robert Muchamore's Henderson Boys series?" I hear you ask. Whilst I enjoyed those, in my opinion these are even better than the Henderson Boys.

The Special Operations books follow the adventures of three 16-year old Norwegians - Finn Gunnersen, Loki Larson and Freya Haukelid - who have been recruited by the historically factual Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.), an Top Secret organisation that was created in the fight against the Nazis during World War II. This isn't like CHERUB, H.I.V.E. or any of those other organisations using young people such as in the Alex Rider books -  S.O.E. really existed and young people actually played an important part in the resistance movements of many of the occupied countries in Europe at that time. My knowledge of this era is not great so I do not know whether or not S.O.E. actually used agents as young as 16, but the WWII setting instantly makes these stories far more believable than any of those others I just mentioned. The reality aspect of the stories is also helped by the fact that the group's adventures are all based on real life events from this period, which Craig Simpson gives further details about in the postscript in each of the books.

There have been three books released so far on this series: Dogfight, Death Ray and Wolf Squadron.

Dogfight:

Finn Gunnersen and his best friend, Loki, are mad about planes. Finn wants to follow in the footsteps of his father and become a pilot. But with the Second World War raging on and German soldiers invading his Norwegian village, flying isn't the only thing on his mind. The Resistance movement is making plans to reveal top-secret information to the British, and Finn and Loki are desperate to lend a hand. But, talking about risking your lives and actually doing it are two different things. Courage and determination takes them beyond Norwegian shores for more action-packed, full-throttle adventures. So get ready for take-off!

Death Ray:

Finn Gunnersen and his friends Loki and Freya have been recruited by the enigmatic 'X' as special agents, working for the Allies. Acting on information from the French resistance they are dispatched on Operation Death Ray to aid in the sabotage of vital German technology. But with suspected double agents in their midst and their loved ones held by the Gestapo, it's not just their own lives at risk if they fail...In a world at war, everyone has their part to play.

Wolf Squadron:

Finn Gunnersen and his friends Loki and Freya are behind enemy lines once more and at the heart of a dangerous Special Ops mission. A mole has struck at the heart of HQ and is jeopardizing the entire resistance network in Holland. Meanwhile Finn's charged with providing a escort for a British Double agent in possession of critical Nazi invasion plans but with his father missing in action, he has a personal score to settle with the enemy...

As I have already mentioned, I think these books are brilliant and boys of 11+ will love them. Younger boys who are confident readers will also find them hugely enjoyable, but sometimes the content may be a little violent for them. The events of the time period the books are set in have given the author a great starting point for his books, and as a talented author he has so far created three tightly plotted stories that twist and turn throughout. This was a time when your best friend or neighbour could easily turn out to be a Nazi collaborator and you had to be careful about who you trusted, and saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could find you and your friends and family facing a firing squad. The Nazis did not look sympathetically on members of the resistance or British spies, and so the tension levels in these books are almost unbearable at times - cliched though the concept is, these books are very difficult to put down.

Craig Simpson has also created a very believable cast of characters, both primary and secondary. The three Norwegian teenagers each have their own reasons for putting their lives on the line for S.O.E., although for all three of them the main driving motivation is to see the Nazis expelled from Europe so they can return to a free Norway. However, it is their individual reasons for fighting that often cause the team problems, especially where Finn is concerned as he still grieves for his father who left Norway at the start of the war and went down in battle whilst flying a Spitfire for the Allies. Loki and Freya are also something of an item, and as such the decisions that Loki makes in some scenes are not always for the good of the mission - he is after all a teenager and emotions play an important part in the actions of him and his friends.

If you enjoy fast-paced thrillers with great characters then these really are the books for you. The agents of the Special Operations Executive played a huge part throughout the whole of the war, and were key players in the D-Day landings in 1944. Wolf Squadron takes place in the summer of 1941, so Craig Simpson has plenty of time and events that he can use to write more books in the series - it would be great to see Finn, Loki and Freya take part in the Allied invasion that became a turning point of the whole war. If you are interested in finding out more about Craig, his books and the real life Special Operations Executive then his website is well worth a visit.