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. I first read it when I was about ten and I was in Year 5, learning about WW2 and the Blitz and evacuees. Seeing as I had read all the books we had to read and I was allowed to go into the library and choose my own book. And this one was the first book I chose.

William Beech is an evacuee from London during WWII, and Tom Oakley is the reclusive elderly man who has the boy foisted upon him. Will is a child who has been abused and bullied and his fear is evident almost immediately to Mr. Tom, who is a very kind man at heart. The reader witnesses the growing relationship that saves these two people, who don’t always fit with the rest of the world, as they face both everyday life and some traumatic experiences together. Some found themselves being expected to sing for their supper by helping on the farms they were sent too. In September 1939, as Britain stands on the brink of the war, many young children from the cities are evacuated to the countryside to escape imminent German bombardment. William Beech, a boy from Deptford who is physically and emotionally abused by his mother, arrives at the village of Little Weirwold. Willie is timid, thin, and covered with bruises and sores. He also believes he is full of sin, thanks to his strict, religious, and mentally unstable mother. He wets the bed every day. 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. I just can’t imagine what it must have been like for all those children who were sent away at the beginning of WWII, to live with total strangers.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.

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. 🥺🥺 Magorian and Mister Tom won the annual once-or-lifetime Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, judged by a panel of British children's writers. [2] She was also a commended runner-up for the Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best English-language children's book published in the UK. [3] [a] 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.

Willie Beach finds himself living with Tom, a man in his sixties, a widower who has lived alone for a long time, but who fits the bill for the kind of person Willie’s mother has requested her son be put with.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. 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 novel has been adapted as a stage musical and as the film Goodnight Mister Tom (1998). In 2003, it was listed at #49 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. [4] The most recent theatrical adaptation, Goodnight Mister Tom, won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. [5] Plot [ edit ] The twins Carrie and Ginnie are almost impossible to tell apart but are actually quite different in personality. Like George, Carrie is very interested in plants and animals, whereas Ginnie prefers more traditionally feminine pursuits, such as homemaking and sewing. They tend to confide everything in each other so when Carrie decides to ask if she can take the examination for the local high school and confides her plan in Zach, Ginnie's feelings are very hurt. Carrie is extremely intelligent and loves studying, and is also ambitious and determined to not fit into the usual mould when it comes to opportunities for women. Despite support from her father, Carrie's attendance at the high school is not something her mother truly believes in and consequently Carrie often has to study outside of the home where her mother cannot find her to avoid being told to stop reading and do chores instead. Carrie has a particularly close relation with Zach, and so his passing deeply affects her. In the last chapter, we see a budding relationship between Carrie and Will. Annie Hartridge

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. I still laughed (seriously, Zach and I need to be best friends) and I still got teary at certain parts and I still got a warm feeling in my tummy at that epilogue. Mrs. Hartridge is Willie's school teacher and they have a special bond, mainly because she is so proud of Willie's accomplishments. Halfway through the book, she gives birth to a baby girl named Peggy. At the same time, her husband is reported to be missing, presumed dead, but later it is discovered that he is a prisoner-of-war in Germany. Willie loves her and thinks that she is the most beautiful person he has ever seen. She is a motherly presence in his life. Emilia Thorne This book is one of my all-time favourites and I know I say that about every book, but I definitely mean it this time. Normally I hate watching adaptations of my favourite books because they never ever EVER measure up.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. Willie Beech is an abused nine-year-old boy. "Mr. Tom" Oakley is a sixty-year-old man who was widowed 40 years ago and became the town recluse/curmudgeon. The two are thrown together when Willie arrives at Mr. Tom's cottage as one of the WWII evacuee children from London. They both blossom as they learn to love and encourage each other. Mr. Tom comes out of his self-imposed "hermithood" to participate in the community again, and Willie discovers his own talents while becoming healthy and robust. 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. The child reading this book will get to learn the difference between when an adult misbehaves and when an adult actually cares.