'There is a whistling sound behind us. Shells pass overhead and explode
in a sheet of flame a hundred meters away.' When Paul Bäumer and his
classmates join the army, nothing has prepared them for the death and
destruction that they witness. Machine guns, huge artillery shells and
poison gas create a nightmare world for these young men and their older
comrades. For months and years attack is followed by counter-attack.
Will any of Paul's friends survive long enough to return to their
families and loved ones? Will there be a place for them at home, when
peace finally comes? Can any of these soldiers make sense of the massive
conflict in which they are involved?
Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy
development of primary and lower secondary age children while
introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage.
Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the
world's greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic
stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as
a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other
cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the
original versions.