A soldier stands in all weathers. He’s been there for years and will be there for many more, looking down upon passersby from his high concrete plinth.

Some stop and wonder and some don’t look up at all. The soldier sees them however, watching them grow and seeing them assemble in the early morning once a year. They parade past, tuck flowers into his base and play The Last Post on their bugles.

Year after year, decade after decade, the soldier stands, looking out across a city that expands and changes at his feet. He remembers his war, and the people changed in it. Now standing silent, always watching and never changing, the soldier stands in memory of all those lost before him.

This is a sombre, quiet, reflective picture book, taking the reader from a soldier’s place high up on the concrete plinth where he stands, through his memory of war and then the changes in society he has seen. He watches people wonder about him, and age where he does not.

Standing, watching, guarding the names etched in the stone below him, he reminds us all of the thousands of soldiers just like him, who went off to war and never returned.

Based around a particular NZ statue in Devonport New Zealand, the illustrations in muted colours and soft edges take the reader on a journey through time, whilst guarding us from the horrors of war. A reminder – hushed and beautiful.

Author – Philippa Werry

Illustrator – Kieran Rynhart

Picture Book

Age – 6+

Learn more about this soldier here

Teachers Notes here

(Anzac Day, History, NZ, Kiwi, New Zealand, The Untidy Soldier, Devonport, WWI, World War I, War, Memories, Soldiers, Lost lives)