No.56 - The Silver Sword

To my absolute disgust I had this book out from the library for the 18 months... I got it out right before the first UK lockdown, and had it for months after! And, do you know whats made me even more ashamed... It took me all that time to read it, and at least another year to post this!! So finally, here is my experience of Ian Serraillier's classic Second World War novel The Silver Sword. 

This is one of those children's books that hits you hard. It tells the story of the Balicki children, growing up in war torn Europe during WW2 and the Nazi regime, and their journey to be reunited with their parents. It often amazes me that childen's books can deal with these topics in such a careful, emotive way, without being overtly scary or disturbing. The authors manage to distill the topics, sites and sounds so that we feel all the emotions and tension without the adult themes. This is particuarly powerful when dealing with troubling themes for middle-grade readers. Ian Serraillier does this beautifully in The Silver Sword. 

Ruth, Edek and Bronia Balicki are left in war torn Poland after their father Joseph is arrested for his anti-nazi sentiments. After escaping prison he makes his way back to Warsaw only to find that his home and the neighbourhood he lived in has been bombed and his children are missing. Whilst looking in the rubble of his home he discovers a sword shaped letter opener that his wife had bought for him, but along with this discovery he also finds Jan, an orphaned boy, and his pet chicken, intent on stealing the shiny letter opener. Joseph agrees to let Jan keep it on one condition, if he ever sees the Balicki children he should tell them that if they make their way to their grandparents house in Switzerland he will meet them there and they will all be safe. 

I won't give away much more of the plot, because my description would not do the story justice at all. This story has twists and turns, well rounded characters and a sense of hope that can only be experienced by reading the book. And I'm not at all surprised, as this book is based on true events. Some place names have been changed, along with names of the camps that appear in the story, but overall the main plot of this book is based on true accounts of life in Nazi occupied Europe during World War Two. Without books like this it would be hard for modern children to understand exactly what their conterparts at this time went through. Children need to read about children, to relate to the characters that mirror their own ages' life experiences. This is why school stories are forever enduring. It is also why books like Carrie's War and Goodnight Mr Tom are used to educate children about the Second World War, and Ian Serraillier's book is no exception. Although children can't relate to the hardship of the Balicki children, they can relate the fact that they are children, and this is key. This book is another one of those enduring stories that will continue to be used in schools and recommened to children, because it is so authentic. Although it took me a while to get through it, I would read The Silver Sword again, and no doubt I would pick up on different details the second time around, which is great. It is a heartwarming, but also heart rending tale, and I really enjoyed it. Yes, Jan is stubborn and annoying, and yes, the girls are a little stereotypical, but that being said, the children are strong characters and you end up really warming to them and routing for them to get to their parents! But I wont spoil the ending for you! 

Thanks for reading, L x

No. 87 - Carrie's War

Hi all!

I finally got around to reading Carrie's War this weekend!

As I'd been avoiding reading it for such a long time I decided that I would try and read it pretty much in one go. Get it over and done with, you might say, not that I can tell you why I was so hesitant to read this book. I think maybe I'd just loss my motivation. I don't often read books in one go, it usually takes me weeks to finish a book, so I came away feeling a bit phased, like i'd been plunged into an alien world! However, this totally immersive experience did help me get to know the plot and the characters much better than if I'd read it in a more stilted way, so that was positive!

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting a fairly ordinary wartime story of evacuation. A domestic, wholesome, account of daily life in WW2, with a fair share of sadness too. Instead, Nina Bawden's book is a peculiar mix of Goodnight, Mr Tom and a Dickens novel; an interesting combination of domestic and the slightly uncanny. Carrie and her brother are sent to live in rural Wales with God-fearing shop keeper Mr Evans and his sister Lou. Aunty Lou is a lovely but timid lady, frightened of her brother's temper and very keen to please. Mr Evans is a strict, mean man, with strong religious and moral views. Carrie and Nick go to school with the other evacuees in the local chapel, and enjoy the fresh mountain air in their time off. These are all key elements that you might expect in an story about evacuees for the 8-12 age group. However, when the children are sent on an errand to Druids Bottom (no giggling please...), the house of Mr Evan's other sister, whom he disowned when she married, the tone of the story starts to change. On her death bed, Mrs Gotobed (the other sister), is looked after by her beautiful and mysterious housekeeper Hepzibah Green. Also living with the women is Mister Johnny Gotobed, a relative of the family with learning disabilities, and evacuee Albert Sandwich. It is here that it all gets a bit Dickensian! For starters the names have all the quirk of Dickens characters, and Mrs Gotobed has a slight Miss Haversham feel about her! In fact I think all the characters at Druids Bottom could have stepped out of any one of Dickens's classics. Also, due to their rural location, Druids Bottom is still living in the Victorian period, allowing for a clear contrast between the Evans' shop and the rural farmhouse. It is this other setting that made the book stand out for me.

Hepzibah Green is by far my favourite character, a caring, motherly housekeeper, rumoured to be a witch. She is always just about the serve up dinner whenever the children arrive, she is a gifted herbalist, and a very good story teller. She makes Druids Bottom a magical place, and it is around her that the story weaves itself, right up until the very end.

I don't want to give too much away, because I feel I've been doing that too much in my reviews recently, but this story is certainly set in two very different camps. There's the domestic, homely and fairly ordinary world of the Evans's and then their is the magical, valley setting of Druids Bottom, with its myths and intrigue. The actual narrative is also split between two worlds, the past and the present, as the main plot is bracketed by the older Carrie returning to Druids Bottom with her own family. This allows for a lovely little plot twist right at the very end of the book, which I wont give away!

This book was a total surprise, but I actually really enjoyed it! The cover of my copy says that Carrie's War is 'A heartwarming, unforgettable story', a sentiment I was sceptical about to begin with, but I've not been able to shake the characters and haunting plot quite yet. If you're looking for a book that explores what it was like to be an evacuee then this is not the book for you, the war is sort of incidental to the story. Instead this book is an emotional, intriguing tale of friendship, family and loyalty.

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up a firm favourite of mine, one of Jean de Brunhoff's Babar books.

No.96 - War Boy

I was told after my last post that I should have shown you all my lovely little copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately it was quite tricky to show the gold edged pages in a photo, but here is my little book anyway! I love the slightly camp cover illustration! 

                                    

Anyway, to this post's book, War Boy by Michael Foreman, a memoir of the author's wartime childhood. This is really beautiful book! The illustrations are wonderful, and the observations are funny and moving. I reminds me of Laurie Lee's classic Cider with Rosie, with it's village anecdotes, vibrant characters and naive charm. It's a favourite of mine, and well worth a read! 

War Boy begins with Michael remembering a bomb that came through the bedroom ceiling, 

I woke up when the bomb came through the roof.

It came through at an angle, overflew my bed by

inches, bounced up over my mother's bed, hit the 

mirror, dropped into the grate and exploded up

the chimney. It was an incendiary. A fire-bomb.

This introduction is poetic in both structure and style. It is a vivid image that you can see instantly in your mind's eye. You are catapulted straight into wartime Britain, and the rest of the story follows in the same way. Each page contains more illustration than text and this makes the story really engaging, as the words are not only written, but drawn and painted across the page. Foreman uses a mixture of single line drawings, wartime graphics, full page inky spreads, and delicate colour illustrations. Each page contains something different. The landscape orientation of the book gives the illustrations more room to tell the story, which is lovely! 

The story is full of lots of little anecdotes about life in wartime Suffolk. Having lived near there as a child I recognised the place names which was nice, it was all rather familiar! I particularly liked the stories about the corner shop that his mother owned. As a toddler he used to sit in the window like some kind of display, and eat the sweets out of their jars! The shop seemed to be the heart of the village, a place where the soldiers and sailors could go for a cup of tea, a cigarette and a chat! Again, Foreman has illustrated this beautifully, in particular the grumpy old lady trying to get to the counter for her shopping! 

This book is full of little gems, all illustrated in the most wonderful way. It is brilliant and touching story of life during the Second World War from a child's perspective, but it's also peppered with interesting facts about the troops and defences put in place on the Suffolk coast too. I'd thoroughly recommend Michael Foreman's War Boy to any child, or indeed anyone, wanting to learn a bit more about WW2.

Thanks for reading, L X

Next up is no. 95, Cornelia Funke's Inkheart. I've read the first few pages already and it's promising to be a really good read, so I'm quite excited! But... it's a huge book and I've got lots of stuff going on and another grown up book on the go too (Chocolat by Joanne Harris, I recommend it!), so I apologise in advance for the inevitably long wait for the next post! I may pop in a few other posts in the mean time about other things children's book related, so fear not!