This is a beautifully illustrated account of Canada's extensive involvement in WWII from the pre-War build-up to the post-War impacts and legacy. The text is a little flat and wordy in places but there is so much to get in it is hard to see how this could have been avoided without losing some of the impact of the Canada's role. This is clearly well researched and very informative. A great place to start building your Canadian war knowledge.

An interesting tale of the Canadians' heavy involvement in the battles of the Second World War and the liberation of the Netherlands. Looks at different aspects of the Canadian Army through use of different chapters, and highlights important, sometimes lesser known, battles in which the Canadians fought. A great story for those who want to learn more about Canadian involvement in the war, the military, as well as the ships, vehicles, and aircraft used in Europe, Hong Kong, and at home.

Really disappointing. There was no narrative to this graphic NOVEL, no characters to become invested in, virtually no dialogue - only the text of a mid grade-level textbook (plus some oddly specific details about equipment) accompanied by illustrations that didn’t add much value and weren’t beautiful or striking enough on their own to make up for the weak text. I learned a handful of new facts about Canadian involvement in the war, but not many. I was going to give the book two stars because it wasn’t offensive, but then I decided that there is something genuinely harmful about a book about WWII that mentions Jewish people exactly once, concentration camps exactly once, and (in a book about CANADIAN involvement) mentions Canadian internment camps not at all. There was hardly a word on Canadian support for the war, no mention of the Canadian refusal of refugees, and very little attempt to humanize any of the victims of the war. Basically a summarized wikipedia article with pictures. Ergo, one star.

Are my standards unrealistically high because I just days ago read Maus, a staggering graphic novel about WWII? Perhaps. Does maybe having unrealistically high standards mean I will soften my stance? No.

Not bad

Originally reviewed at Jayne's Books.

Since I knew the broad strokes of the Canadian involvement during World War Two and had a good sense of the war overall, I found this book to be a little simple at times, but nonetheless, I found the book to be very informative in regards to various battles that the Canadian military was involved in during this time period. I read this as a library download from FVRL (Fraser Valley Regional Library) and found that it took time for the book to load quickly, due to the heavy graphic usage. I would have liked it more if they had done it on a year by year basis rather than by covering the service branches (army, navy, and air force) individually.