Gladys Goes to War

Author(s): Glyn Harper

Children's Fiction | Feminist | New Zealand

A stunning picture book from the award-winning Glyn Harper and Jenny Cooper, bringing us the incredible true story of Gladys Sandford u mechanic, First World War ambulance driver, New Zealand's first woman pilot and a trailblazer ahead of her time. Gladys loves nothing better than tinkering with car engines and driving at top speed. She also dreams of learning to fly a plane. But it's 1914 and people, especially her mother, keep reminding her that women are not supposed to be adventurous. When war comes, Gladys offers her services at the front as an ambulance driver. She receives an infuriating response from the War Office: 'This will be a short war and women will not be needed. If you want to help the war effort you should stay at home and knit socks and balaclavas.' But Gladys is not the kind of person who stays home and knits. She is determined to go to war. There are many stories about men who enlisted and courageously fought for their ideals. In Gladys Goes to War, the award-winning team of Glyn Harper and Jenny Cooper brings us the amazing true story of Gladys Sandford, ambulance driver, adventurer and trailblazer.


Product Information

Shortlisted for the 2017 Picture Book Award at the NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults

Glyn Harper is Professor of War Studies at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He is Massey's Project Manager of the Centenary History of New Zealand and the First World War. A former teacher, he joined the Australian Army in 1988 and after eight years transferred to the New Zealand Army, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Glyn was the army's official historian for the deployment to East Timor and is the author of numerous history books, including Kippenberger: An Inspired New Zealand Commander; In the Face of the Enemy: The complete history of the Victoria Cross and New Zealand; Dark Journey: Three Key Battles of the Western Front; Images of War: World War One: A Photographic Record of New Zealanders at War 1914 - 1918 and his most recent Letters from Gallipoli: New Zealand Soldiers Write Home. He has written a number of children's books, of which Le Quesnoy, Jim's Letters and Roly, the Anzac Donkey are the most recently published. In 2015 Glyn and illustrator Jenny Cooper won the Best Picture Book Award at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, as well as a Storylines Notable Picture Book Award, for Jim's Letters, a moving story about a correspondence between two brothers during the First World War.

General Fields

  • : 9780143507208
  • : Penguin Group (NZ)
  • : Puffin
  • : March 2016
  • : March 2016
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Glyn Harper
  • : Paperback
  • : Jenny Cooper
  • : en