Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. And for Earle that is a great part of this story, he wishes to tell us. He shows us that be it human or animal. we all have to deal with pain and sorrow. It is some of our most basic instincts and too often it course us to lash out at those around us. We think they cannot possibly understand this raw and unbridled pain we are going through. And to some extent, this took me by surprise in a book aimed at a younger audience. Earle doesn't try and sugarcoat what is happening here. But allows the reader to experience that journey Joseph goes through. And maybe that is part of what makes this book so well, there is no dumbing down. He treats us all equally and trusts readers of any age to something that feels very real.

A heartwarming story about the value of friendship and trust. In which love plays an important role. Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers. My favourite part of the book was Joseph’s relationship with Adonis because it was a demonstration of how he began to trust others and care for them. However, I also liked how he and Mrs F ‘finally found’ a bit of solace in each other. The book made me research things I have never questioned before, and some of the answers were upsetting and gave way to a certain amount of anger, to say the least.An extraordinary story with historical and family truth at its heart, that tells us as much about the present as the past. Deeply felt, movingly written, a remarkable achievement’ Michael Morpurgo When The Sky Falls is a powerful take on relationships, friendships and finding yourself in a world gone mad. Expertly written by someone with a keen sense of history and a strong understanding of human vulnerabilities. Mrs F. is the owner of a zoo and she takes Joseph to work with her. This is where Joseph meets the strong gorilla named Adonis. At first he wants nothing to do with the animal until the gorilla takes him under his protection

I really liked this book because of the characters and how they changed over time. Joseph, a young dyslexic with anger issues, overcomes his difficulties with sharing emotions and letting people in whilst Mrs F opens up about her family. Against the tide of devastation walked a boy: tutting and huffing at the tears and carrying-on. He looked just like any of the other evacuees in the station: regulation case, tag and gas mask box. But instead of being shoehorned onto a train, he was marching away from one, having just arrived.' This is our first introduction to Joseph, a 12 year old boy from Yorkshire, who is fizzing with rage. Angry at everything, with everything; determined to go it alone, convinced he's been rejected by everyone, adamant he'll not suffer the pain of abandonment again. Angry. He's met by Mrs F. She keeps her pain in a tin and wears her kindness and loyalty under a coat of brusque efficiency and focused determination. She speaks plainly and appreciates the same in return. Her days, and now Joseph's, are consumed by the upkeep and maintenance of her family's zoo ...of which precious little remains. And then there's Syd. Syd is about Joseph's age and works at the zoo after school. She talks about her pain, the grief becoming almost bearable if she can talk about it and working at the zoo keeps her busy and takes her mind off it. The pain of loss, it shrouds them all: Joseph, Mrs F, Syd and Adonis. Brilliantly written and fast-paced, this is a superb book. Suitable for upper key stage two and key stage three. The end note shares the true story that inspired the book, which would make for a great classroom study or project. Highly recommended.I do appreciate the instinct not to neatly resolve everything neatly, but these aspects just felt like they didn't get the attention they needed. Those are the four main characters and they're brilliant (I have to confess to loving Adonis, his quiet presence - you can feel it radiating from that cover). Thrown into a war torn city with these characters, Phil Earle shows us the harsh realities of wartime. The bombings, the night raids and the destruction from them, the endless disturbed nights sleep, the tiredness. The loss. With rations barely enough to sate their own hunger, Joseph, Syd and Mrs F are forced to forage, beg and barter for food for the zoo's remaining residents - camels, snakes, a couple of ponies, a pair of 'scarily thin wolves', and Adonis. The zoo, this is the glue that binds them. The characters were also conveyed in a great way. Joseph was really hateable (if that's a word) at the start, but you gradually grow to like him, and begin to realise that he is a boy that is mentally troubled by his previous life. Syd is a wonderfully kind, yet talkative character who just wants to help. Mrs F, well, you just feel sorry for her at the beginning - she was just dumped with this boy, that, let's face it, she didn't really want. David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true.

Chosen by our Guest Editor for May 2023, Jacqueline Wilson,as one of her must-reads- " This story about a fierce lonely boy and his bond with a huge gorilla called Adonis is exceptionally moving." My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed spending time with the characters in this one. The story itself, well, the plot was hard-to-take at times. I'll try to explain. Hard on the heart. I think Joseph was relatable and that made him more likeable; the way he struggled with his dyslexia and no one believed him evoked sympathy from the reader. The way his family was split up was also sad as his mother had seemingly suffered depression and his father was shot in the war. Although situations like this would have been common at the time, it is interesting to see how it affects Joseph and leads to him closing himself off from all others apart from Adonis. I loved seeing Joseph realise that Adonis thinks, feels and acts in an almost-human way yet he does not reject Joseph like (in his opinion) real people in his life.

About Phil Earle

I liked the issues and themes dealt with in this book. Especially for a children's book, the issues were not sugar coated but presented for all age groups to understand which I liked. These issues could be easily understood through the character development and readability. The dyslexia representation was very good - it was interesting to see it through a child's perspective during the war and especially easy to feel Joseph's frustration as we know what he's talking about, but of course in the 1940's they didn’t. This further strengthened the emotion and understanding of themes in this book. The representation of war time was also great. Earle does a great job of bringing the past to light and keeping it accurate. But as well as revolving around the past this story also develops around the question ‘will they pull the trigger to kill Adonis?’. This question not only keeps a tense and exciting atmosphere but also reaches out to readers - I found myself questioning if I would do it - making it a more immersive experience. There have been quite a few books dealing with children during the blitz. The horrors and hardships they faced are ones I find truly unimaginable. With such stories, we are stripped of these great heroes and villains we come to expect. What we are left with tends to be more about survival. That living through these events is enough for anyone to go through. In coming to Joseph we see a slightly different view on this. He is someone whose anger we can see boiling up inside him. He feels betrayed and abandoned by all those who are supposed to care for him. And being sent hundreds of miles away only adds to this feeling of isolation. In this case, Joseph never feels overplayed. His feelings and emotions come across as valid to the reader. I think too often writers try and simply their younger characters. They want to show them to be childish and invalidate the experiences they go through. But here I was not only allowed to experience them for what they were but given the reasons behind them. He struggles to deal with the fact his Mum left when he was small and now feels even more alone as his Dad is sent to fight in WW2. He skips school frustrated with a learning difficulty he hides, has anger issues, fights and does mostly as he pleases until his Gran can take no more and he is sent to London, the result of a closely guarded kept promise. This is a beautifully written historical adventure story that will take readers on a very emotional and exciting journey. The pace is fast and the feelings run high. The reader ends up fighting for Joseph and Adonis all the way–and this book is almost impossible to put down. The historical details are brilliantly researched and the basic story of Adonis and what happened to other big wild animals in zoos during the war is based on real-life events.

When the Sky Falls is a historical fiction middle-grade novel based on a true story. As the war raged around the characters their strengths and weaknesses are brought to the forefront. Joseph is struggling with his life and he reacts the only way he knows by pushing people away and causing mayhem. Mrs F is a stubborn but fair woman who is trying to save her family’s zoo and keep Joseph safe and show him in her own way how to survive. The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction ( Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943. I read this book very slowly to savour every chapter and emotional scene. It will most certainly be one of my favourite all time reads. This story was beautifully told with rich language that would be a great resource for Y5/6 writing. It would also make a fantastic class read where pupils can share the emotion and thrill of this story together. In particular, the zoo, which is of course at the heart of the book, felt frustratingly underexplored. Its physical space, atmosphere and history are so intriguing and distinct and there are passages where the experience of being within it are very sharply imagined. But just too much is covered vaguely.

Publisher

Twelve-year-old Joseph has had it tough, not only is there a world war raging, his mum has died, his dad has been enlisted to fight, and now his Grandmother has sent him to London to stay with an old friend of hers after she struggled to cope with him, whilst other children were being evacuated out of the city. I can absolutely see why the author felt so inspired by that image of a person in a zoo in the blitz, their duty to keep their gun trained on the most dangerous of the animals in case bombing allows the animal's escape. That image remains richly evocative in this book. But I don't think Earle quite nailed the elements to make this the most powerful exploration of that image it could be.