Ghost Army - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

2 minutes ago
5 min read

Amazingly, we are still learning about secret military units, amazing acts of bravery, and ingenious instances of creativity which saved countless lives. The underlying true story of the Ghost Army was kept secret until 1996. Then finally, in 2022, the Ghost Army Unit was acknowledged and awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. This fascinating and engaging historical fiction highlights the amazing accomplishments of a secret army unit of "painters, pretenders, and inventors" whose deception and quick thinking helped win WWII.

Book cover - an artist soldier holds three paint brushes aloft as others carry a fake rubber tank in the background.

Ghost Army: The Troop of Artists Who Helped Win WWII

Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh

Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (June 23, 2026)

Ages: 4 - 8

Historical Fiction

Themes:

WWII, deception, misdirection, art, ingenuity, and military secrets.

Synopsis:

A riveting picture book about a little-known piece of WWII history where a troop of artists put on a traveling show of deception and misled Hitler's forces again and again.

During World War II, a 1,100-man unit known as the Ghost Army was sent to Europe with an important mission: mislead Hitler’s forces as to the size and location of Allied troops so that those troops would have time to carry out urgent plans of their own.

This unit of artists, musicians, actors, architects, set designers, and engineers came together to construct “shadow soldiers” and put on a traveling show of deception for over twenty different campaigns throughout the war, using everything from fake radio transmissions to inflatable tanks to convince the enemy of their presence.

Opening Lines:

Ever since he was a boy, Charlie loved to draw everything he saw.

From busy, rustling bird's wings to calm, cool, mountains. Charlie tried

to capture the world on paper, all its light and depth, to share with

others how beautiful he found it.

As the years passed, he found that life was full of even more colors

than he had ever imagined, and they found their way into his art.

But when Charlie was older and away at college, studying to be

a painter, the world went to war.

War was ugly, destroying many of the things Charlie so tenderly put

on canvas, but he wasn't sure how he could help make it better.

Until

one day . . .

What I LOVED about this book:

Successfully treading the line between honesty and age appropriateness, Sarah Glenn Marsh created a main character that young readers can identify with - a young boy who loved to draw - as an entry point into a very bleak period in the world's history. "War was ugly, destroying many of the things Charlie so tenderly put on canvas." While not sugar coating it, as the story of an army unit of artists, it feels natural to portray the war through the lense of a loss of color.

Internal spread - on the left, a young man kneels in grass and draws a bird perching before him on a rock. On the right, the young man and a couple mill about an outdoor bulletin board, where an Army advertisement calls for artists to help defend our country.

Text © Sarah Glenn Marsh, 2026. Image © Becca Stadtlander, 2026.

Using fun, lyrical language Sarah Glenn Marsh sets out how this army unit would be different from all the others. As "painters and creators and music makers," these "painters, pretenders, and inventors" would "help confuse enemy troops" by using "inflatable rubber tanks, sound machines, art supplies, and their imaginations . . . to pretend to be a much larger, fully armored unit." Becca Stadtlander's watercolor illustrations gorgeously set up a striking contrast from the bright, colorful images in the U.S. and what the unit found when they arrived overseas, to a loud, muddy countryside "robbed . . . of all its color."

Internal spread - tanks and an ambulance roll throough a bombed, desolate, and grey and brown town.

It is so fascinating how these artists painted realistic rubber tanks to fool the enemy into thinking they were a full army unit. And used recordings of tanks and radio signals to amplify this confusion. Then they put on a spectacular show, moving everything throughout the countryside. Part of their deception required them to sew a fake unit badge to uniforms and hang out in towns where enemy spies might be, adding even more fuel to the illusion and "leading the enemy to think there were many armed American forces in places where there were only shadows." Such an elaborate bit of smoke and mirrors.

When enemy planes threatened to expose their act, Charlie ingeniously used a tractor to create a series of tracks around the rubber tanks and trucks. I love the bird's eye view with which the illustration captures the sense of movement and 'reality' which Charlie created. As they perform their show, color slowly seeps back into the illustrations in the grass, trees, cafe's, farms, and their own drawings.

When they were called to "fill" a gap in the front lines near Bettembourg, "it was a job so big, even the shadow army who dreamed up impossible things would have to convince themselves the were up to the task." It was dangerous "because the bullets were very real."

Internal spread - on the left an operations map shpwong the French front line against Germany. On the right, an army caravan of trucks taking the shadow army to their next assignment.

Pretending for eight long days, the shadow army, managed to fool the enemy long enough for the American troops to arrive. It's still amazing how fifty rubber tanks and their sound equipment successfully confused enemy for units allowing the army to send troops where they were needed and feel like a much bigger force. [Though least we get too cocky, the U.S. troops bombed sand tanks in the South Pacific, for days. Many armies have used camouflage and foolery during wars.] An author's note explains that Charlie is fictional and offers additional information on the ghost army, their actual missions at Bettembourg and during D-Day, some of the real individuals who were part of the unit and what they did after the war. This is a wonderful tribute to a truly special unit of soldiers who played a big role in the winning the war.

Resources:

do you think fake tanks and loudspeakers would work these days? What decoys or illusions would you create to fool enemy soldiers? Could you imagine something that might not exist yet?

Collage of photos of origami, paper roll, and cardboard tank crafts.

make an origami, paper roll, or cardboard (slightly harder) tank. How would you camouflage, or decorate, your tank?

why do you think the enemy was fooled by the fake tanks and recordings? Do you think it would have fooled you? Have you ever been to a haunted house, a magic show, or seen a street performer sitting in mid-air?

If you missed my interview with Sarah Glenn Marsh on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.