The Swans of Ypres

If you’re a couple of  European white swans, it’s hard work surviving in the wild – finding food, bringing up families, getting through freezing weather and everything else. It helps a lot though if you have managed to find a good safe stretch of water to live in, like the moat around the city of Ypres in Belgium.

But when the humans suddenly start fighting a war with bombs and big guns right where your home is, life gets a lot more difficult.

The two swans had to choose: leave their home, or stay and face the dangers of the guns that were destroying everything around them. They took the brave course and carried on with their natural lives under fire. Their courage and beauty became an inspiration to the soldiers fighting the war.

But could something like that really happen? Perhaps it really did ...

Writers Jeff Hatwell (No Ordinary Determination; Brave Days) and Elspeth Langford (Miss D) join with artist Catherine Gordon to craft this dramatic yet touching story of the First World War for young readers.