Goodnight Mister Tom: Michelle Magorian (A Puffin Book)

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The friends were pointless, apart from Carrie, who was just stupid. There was literally no reason for the friends to exist, other than filler. Carrie was a local girl who wanted an education. She, and the novel, were so ridiculous I found myself wishing they’d just ban women from school so she could shut up for a bit. I’m a feminist, and the book made me wish women couldn’t go to school. Yeah. She was literally that annoying. Willie gradually recovers from his injuries and reunites with Zach and the others. While speaking with Zach, Willie learns about the concept of sex, something his mother raised him to believe was "something dirty" and unacceptable, and realises that his mother herself had been having a relationship with another man, which resulted in the birth of Trudy. Eventually, Stelton and some social workers come to Tom's house with the news that Willie's mother has died by suicide. They intend to take Willie to the children's home, but Willie and Tom protest. Tom explains a bad dream that Willie has repeatedly been having regarding this exact event, and argues that he needs to be with someone who loves him. Mister Tom was also a great character. Although he was viewed by others as grumpy and secluded, from the outset I found that he was kind to Willie in an unconventional way. Even before he realised that Willie was sensitive and traumatised, Mister Tom was never mean, it was simply part of his nature to be blunt. In fact, he had quite a few hilariously blunt quips throughout the book and I loved his unexpected sassy remarks. It was amazing to see how much he grew throughout the book too. And the insight this 40th anniversary special gave us into his relationship with his wife through the inclusion of the short story was sweet and very tragic. Slowly but surely, with Mister Tom’s kindness and wisdom, and the help of the good people in the nearby community, Willie begins to flourish. He makes friends, and discovers what it’s like to have a normal childhood.

Tom Oakley, or "Mister Tom" as William calls him, is a reclusive and ill-tempered widower in his sixties. He is avoided by the community and vice versa. William's mother wanted William to live with someone who was either religious or lived near a church, and Tom takes in Willie. Though initially distant, Tom is moved after discovering William's home life and treats him with kindness. William grows attached to Tom and his dog, Sammy.We see that Tom is a man of integrity, who has a strong grip of what is right and wrong. If something is right, he will do it, regardless of whether or not it is easy. Tom breaks the rules of the hospital by kidnapping Willie because his moral sense, personified through his wife, tells him to do so. His fiercely loving nature gives him the courage to make these difficult choices and take risks to defy what he perceives to be unfair. William Beech His happiness comes to an end when he is summoned to return to his mother in London and a life of abuse and cruelty. Willie's mother pours anger on him for his new found happiness and hatred for his being friends with Zach because Zach is Jewish. she has hidden a baby she has secretly given birth to. The other protagonist of the novel, Willie is an eight-year-old evacuee from Deptford, a neighborhood of London. After a huge threat of bombing raids from the German Air Force in his hometown, Willie is sent to Little Weirwold, a country village in the north of England. When Willie arrives on the doorstep of Mr. Tom, he is a nervous, scrawny, and quiet little boy. He has been subjected to intense abuse and neglect from his extremely religious mother all of his life. This abuse has shaped Willie into someone who can barely engage in a conversation with Mr. Tom and frequently wets the bed. Everything in his new home initially terrifies Will, such as a squirrel in the yard and Sammy the dog, who he eventually comes to love.

This is a story about how two people can change. It never fails to make me laugh, and cry, and feel lighter after I put it down. As I mentioned, I read this book when I was ten and now twelve years later this book was still beautiful. It has aged extremely well. He was standing quite still, feeling both paralysed and yet at the same time filled with a flood of energy. The second half of the book takes on serious issues of child abuse/neglect, the horrors and losses of war, and the grieving process. It's done in such a way that it wouldn't be overwhelming for a young adult (age 12 and up) to read about.I love wry humor - I love humor that is never outwardly spoken, but you have to find it in the little subtexts - those little nuances that indicate that it is said with a lilt that makes it a humorous tone - blink and you'll miss it. And these little moments of Zach spouting his signature phrase touched my heart at how it added such levity to the seriousness of the scene. And --- and then, my heart broke when Ms. Magorian led us down a path of Zach's fate that I was not prepared for. 🥺🥺 In September 1939, the United Kingdom declares war on Nazi Germany, and children are evacuated from London to the countryside for their safety. Tom Oakley, a lonely and bitter old man living in the countryside village of Little Weirwold, is forced to look after one of the evacuees, William "Willie" Beech. Tom has become reclusive after losing his wife and child to scarlet fever many years before, while Willie is a quiet young boy who comes from an abusive home and is apprehensive of Tom. When I read a book like this one, I try to imagine what my eight or ten year-old self would have thought of it. I’m pretty sure she would have loved this and read it more than once. It is beautifully written, very sweet and uplifting, and inspires kindness and a view of the world as a place that will rescue you. In the tense period just before Britain enters what will be WWII, Will, a young boy from London, is sent as an evacuee to the country where he is going to live with Mr Tom, an uncommunicative and what seem to be (on the surface) a grumpy old man. Their encounter will change them both. It will, above all, radically change Will's life. The setting is perfectly constructed, the friendships that are developed are honest and true and there is always this rich sense of innocent fun running through the story, which is perfectly balanced with the more harrowing points of the tale. But I’m not talking about them because it just makes me too sad.