Skip to main content

Learning Commons Resources

Due to the sensitive nature of Remembrance Day, we recommend that parents guide their students in conversations while reading these suggested resources.

Primary (Grades K-4)

Remembrance Day Learning Commons Resources (2).jpg

Peace Tree from Hiroshima by Sandra Moore and Kazumi Wilds

Winner of the 2015 Silver Evergreen Medal for World Peace

This true children's story is told by a little bonsai tree called Miyajima, which lived with the same family in the Japanese city of Hiroshima for more than 300 years before being donated to the National Arboretum in Washington DC in 1976 as a gesture of friendship between America and Japan to celebrate the American Bicentennial.

Remembrance Day by Heather Hudak

Canadians have many reasons to celebrate, and they enjoy gathering throughout the year to observe many uniquely Canadian holidays. This book provides readers with a closer look at the history of these events, the reasons for each holiday, and the ways in which Canadians gather to celebrate them.

Remembrance Day by Molly Aloian

This book describes how people worldwide hold similar services to ensure their sacrifices for the world’s security are remembered.  Poppies, poems and special prayers are featured as important symbols and traditions. 

The Peace Book by Todd Parr

This book delivers positive and hopeful messages of peace in an accessible, child-friendly format featuring Todd Parr's trademark bold, bright colours and silly scenes. Perfect for the youngest readers, this book delivers a timely and timeless message about the importance of friendship, caring, and acceptance.

The Sky of Afghanistan by Ana Eulate

In a country ravaged by war, a girl looks up at the sky, closes her eyes, and her imagination begins to soar, far away from hatred and sadness. She flies up high, high above into the sky, until she envisions that long-awaited dream in which we all hold hands. She invites us to dream with her so that in her country, Afghanistan, peace may reign forever. Her dream is directed to all regions, she enters homes, homes, families, and hearts.


Middle School (Grades 5-9)

Remembrance Day Learning Commons Resources (3).jpg
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae and Linda Granfield

This physical book presents the context for writing the famous poem by the Canadian medical officer who visited injured soldiers in Flanders during the First World War.

In Flanders Fields by Norman Jorgenson

An eloquent counterpoint to the senselessness and inhumanity of war, this digital book tells the story of a young, homesick World War I soldier who risks his life to cross the no-man's-land and rescue a robin caught in the barbed wire that separates the opposing forces.

I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 by Laura Tarshis

In this novel, readers meet Max Rosen and his family. It's been years since the Nazis invaded Max Rosen's home country of Poland. All the Jewish people, including Max's family, have been forced to live in a ghetto. At least Max and his sister, Zena, had Papa with them...until two months ago when the Nazis took him away. Now Max and Zena are on their own. One day with barely enough food to survive, the siblings make a daring escape into the nearby forest. They are found by Jewish resistance fighters, who take them to a safe camp. But soon, bombs are falling all around them. Can Max and Zena survive the fallout of the Nazi invasion?

I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 adapted by Georgia Ball and Alvaro Sarresca

Perfect for readers who prefer the graphic novel format, the "I Survived" graphic novel series combines historical facts with high-action storytelling that's sure to keep any reader turning the pages.

On Remembrance Day by Eleanor Creasey

For children learning about remembrance and the human toll of war, there can be hard questions to answer. This book is meant to answer the questions kids ask about Remembrance Day and to explain how and why we honour the men and women who have served our country. Through every generation, some Canadian families have lost loved ones to international conflict and war. On Remembrance Day present the origins, traditions, and customs of Canada's Remembrance Day in an engaging and easy-to-read fashion.


High School (Grades 10-12)

One Peace by Janet Wilson
The Ghosts of War by Ryan Smithson

Ryan Smithson was an ordinary teenager until he witnessed the devastation of September 11th, 2001. Watching the Twin Towers fall motivated him to enlist in the Army Reserve at the age of seventeen. In Ghosts of War, Ryan vividly chronicles his experience of basic training and deployment to Iraq as a heavy equipment operator. From the pain of losing comrades to his inspiring encounters with Iraqi children, Ryan shares how his experience changed him—and what it taught him about the meaning of patriotism and service.

The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr
War Poems by Siegfried Sassoon