What Are We Fighting For? Poems About War by Brian Moses and Roger Stevens

What Are We Fighting For? Poems About War – at a glance

The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Powerful anti-war poems for children.
Children’s book title: What Are We Fighting For?
Children’s poets: Brian Moses and Roger Stevens.
Genre: Children’s poetry, war poetry.
Published by: Macmillan Children’s Books.
ISBN: 9781035075300.
Recommended for children aged: 7+.
First published: Paperback April 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: children who are ready to question heroic war stories, discuss bravery and peace, and think deeply about what causes conflict.

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Our review:

I hope that when Brian Moses and Roger Stevens were discussing what this marvellous collection should be called, they were remembering the opening track of I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die by Country Joe and the Fish:

And it’s one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam.

We are living through a dangerous time. Some journalists and politicians of a certain cast of mind might dismiss with a sneer books like this as ‘woke’ propaganda, or ‘leftist’ indoctrination of the nation’s youth. These same people can often be heard talking of ‘fallen heroes’ offering ‘the ultimate sacrifice’ to ‘protect our freedoms.’ If these poems can sow a small seed of doubt about the truth of these cartoon versions of war, they will have done their job.

The poem Bravery in this collection tries to subvert the fantasies which are fed to young people, and which make it possible for them to rush into uniform and murder other young people in a muddy field in ‘gallant little’ somewhere or other.

Bravery
(After Adrian Mitchell)

Over the top
In the face of enemy fire
Bravery
I like that stuff

In the sweltering, airless
Sweat-box of a tank
Bravery
I like that stuff

In the sky above the fields of France
Enemy planes coming out of the sun
Bravery
I like that stuff

Defusing a bomb, rescuing
A child from a firebombed house
Bravery
I like that stuff

Fighting, fighting, killing, wounding, maiming
All for a piece of land ?
War
I hate that stuff

The poems cover both World Wars One and Two, providing plenty of stimulus for class discussions and questions for older family members, and more recent disasters, in the Middle East and closer to home. Almost the last piece is called What Causes War? It ends with this verse:

As troubles breed
And wars increase
We need to know
What causes peace?

This sums up the big hope for people in the immediate future. That they do not allow themselves to be deceived by the loudest voice, the most fluent speech, the most assured personality. That they see through the spurious ‘logic’ of betrayal and revenge. That they are not cowed by bullies who call their flag-drivel ‘raising the colours.’

In literature, war poems usually fall into one of three categories: Before, During and After.

Many thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for the review copy.

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