Books with author Riordan James

It's 1930s America and the Depression has ripped the nation apart. Poverty is rife and families are starving. Fourteen-year-old Molly has no one to rely on but herself. She has to find work - any work. But with millions of people unemployed the competition for jobs is stiff, and the only way to find work is to travel. Riding the freight trains in search of a square meal, Molly sees the misery of the Depression at first hand. Part of a unique collection of fictional stories about young people caught up in real-life conflicts and disasters. Through their eyes we experience the day-to-day hardships and dangers of living through troubled times from throughout history.

Vova is a fifteen-year-old boy living in Kiev. His first love is playing football, but when the Nazis invade the Ukraine in 1941, priorities change, and Vova and his sister join the partisans, to attempt to fight the enemy. Soon Vova is given the chance to play football again, but in a gamewith very high stakes - if Vova's team win, they will be shot. Vova and his team have to decide whether to disgrace their country and lose the game, or whether to win - and die.

This is the story of two friends, Jack and Harry, both keen footballers, both recruited for the army and sent to fight in the trenches in the First World War.Award-winning author, James Riordan, brings to life the fear and horrors that both English and Germans went through as they fought each other in the trenches. The book ends with a moving account of the football match played in the Christmas truce of 1914.