Muff, Dudley and Simon Pollard (ed.). Dear Alison. 2009. 72 pp. Ages 10-15. 978-0-143304-609
Dudley Muff was librarian from New Zealand who fought in WWII, where he was captured by the Nazis and placed in a camp for prisoners of war. During his years in the camp, Dudley kept a diary for his niece Alison, full of stick figure illustrations, his “little men.” Dudley’s tells Alison of the war and his life in the camp with an incredible amount of humor, despite harsh living conditions and a frequent lack of provisions. The full text of his diary, which he called “Alison’s Book” is reprinted with an introduction and conclusion from Simon Pollard, Muff’s great-nephew. Some New Zealand idioms and metric expressions may be difficult for American students to comprehend. The diary is a good introduction to primary texts and gives valuable insight into the experience of living in a POW camp in WWII, however more supplemental material would have rendered the diary more useful as a historical document. Its humor will make it an enjoyable and easy read for students interested in WWII. Recommended. Ages 10-15. ( )

Definitely worth a look, this diary is printed in its original format, and is an interesting look at the life of a New Zealand POW in the second world war. Written for his 4 year old niece, the diary is resolutely upbeat and cheerful, and wonderfully illustrated throughout with funny stickmen drawings. Useful additional information is given at the beginning and end of the diary, explaining the context and also what became of the author. ( )

Dear Alison was a non-fiction finalist in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2010 and won the Children's Choice non-fiction award. At aged 42, Dudley Muff was a prisoner of war in Stalag 383 in Germany during World War 2. He had been part of the 20th Battalion of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In July 1942, with a notebook and pencil bought from a German guard, he started writing a book in diary form for his niece, four-year-old Alison, who lived in Timaru, New Zealand.

The diary begins 'Dear Alison, Mummy has told you all about Uncle being a prisoner so now I must tell you what we do to pass the time.' With wonderfully endearing and humorously chatty entries and illustrated with sketches and stick-like figures he calls his 'little men' his story developed into a wonderfully insightful account of his time served in two prisoner-of-war camps. The boredom and restrictions of this experience as well as the resilience of the prisoners is obvious.

After the war Dudley returned to Christchurch and gave Alison the diary. Rereading it as an adult she picked up on what she has missed as the child: the harsh reality of conditions in the camps. When she became a nun in the mid-1960s Alison returned the little green book to her Uncle Dudley as part of her vow to separate from worldly goods. He made photocopies of the book for family and friends then donated it to the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch.

Editor of the book, Dr Simon Pollard, the great nephew of Dudley Muff, had often wondered what had become of his great uncle’s diary. By a lucky coincidence he came across a newspaper clipping saying that Dudley had donated the diary to Canterbury Museum. In another coincidence, Canterbury Museum was where Simon worked as Curator of Invertebrate Zoology. Through the Museum database Simon was able to track down the archival box that had housed the original diary for many years and this book is the result. Dudley Muff has left a stunning legacy, a treasure. He died in Christchurch in 1995, six weeks before his 95th birthday and almost fifty years after the end of World War 2. ( )