Micro Review 61

 When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle (Andersen Press)

This one was another recommendation from Kentishbookboy as it was their family read a few weeks ago. I didn't know that much about it beyond that it has been shortlisted for (and won) lots of awards.

I am drawn to books set in WW2 and I was eagerly awaiting my library copy to come in when I got a message from my sister warning me that I'd need tissues by the end and to make sure I had them easily to hand...

I was so grateful for the warning as this book packed a huge punch and while I couldn't see that it could end any other way I was still sniffing gently (full blown sobbing) by the last page.

The book is about a troubled boy being evacuated to a friend of his grandmother's after his father is sent to France to fight. It is a reverse evacuation however as Joseph is sent into a city that is under sustained attack from German air raids. Mrs F is not your standard guardian and is trying to save the last few animals remaining in her family's zoo - including Adonis, the male silverback gorilla. Looking after dangerous animals at a time when they could be released from their cages by bomb damage brings a whole new level of dilemma and thought provoking points for discussion as well as making it an edge of the seat read.

There's so much covered in this book but it all works together and as with all the best books I wanted to know what happened to the characters after the last full stop.

I'm glad I got the warning about the ending of the book - and if books carried warnings then this one would have 5 handkerchiefs on the back cover, but also 2 laughing emojis as there's a lot of dry humour in the book. 

It is being recommended for fans of Michael Morpurgo and I'd agree with this - but it is definitely for the older end of his readership. I've seen that Earle has another book about WW2 coming soon but I think I'll have to recover from this one before reading that!