Every once in a while we come across a book that we think our patrons will just love. We buy it for the library and then it sits on the shelf and sits on the shelf. This series is a way for us to promote under appreciated books we think you might enjoy.

The Great War, The First Day of the Battle of the Somme: An Illustrated Panorama by Joe Sacco

All stretched out

Okay, technically this isn’t a book, but it’s really cool. I had ordered it thinking that with all the interest in World War I it would be sure to go out, but it has been sitting on the shelf for awhile, so I thought I’d plug it here.

It is basically one long drawing of the all the events of July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. One end of the picture is the beginning of the battle, while the other is the end of the battle, and in between are all of the events drawn in detail. Completely unfolded it stretches some 20 feet.

But don’t worry, you don’t have to unfold it all at once. You can just look at it a section at a time. Each part of the picture transitions from one aspect of the battle to the next in one seamless image.

The panorama also comes with a booklet. This has a brief history of the battle as well as a key from finding particular events in the panorama.

So if you are interested in World War I make sure to grab this one of the shelf.