Description
London 1939 and the city’s children must be evacuated to the countryside to keep
them safe from the German bombs. After a tearful goodbye at the station, Peggy
Larkin is sent to live with strangers in the country, unsure if she’ll ever see
her parents again.
Peggy meets the ultra strict Mrs Henderson and does
her best to fit into country life. But what secret lies behind the locked door
in the big house? Who is the man hiding out in the woods? Peggy finds a friend
in Alfie, another London evacuee and together they try to solve the mystery.
Praise and Reviews
It's often a sign of quality in a
children's book that it has equal appeal for adults. And, in the case of `Peggy
Larkin's War', this is certainly true.
Set at the beginning of World War
Two, it tells the story of Peggy Larkin, a young girl who is evacuated from
London to the countryside. There's the mystery of a locked room in the house
that Peggy lodges in and of the reason behind the sadness of Mrs Henderson, the
house's owner. There's also the sinister presence of a stranger in the woods.
The story follows Peggy as she endures separation from her parents and makes a
brave attempt to settle into her new life. Along the way she makes a new friend
and demonstrates remarkable stoicism and resilience.
Forest's writing is
excellent and is pitched perfectly for its intended readership of upper primary
school age children. He doesn't patronise and he writes with an immediacy and
economy that will appeal to children. Forest never intrudes into the story, and
it never feels like he's trying to educate or preach. This is child-friendly,
accessible entertainment. It's all about the story.
The only
disappointing aspect for me was the book's brevity. Having set up such great
characters and a setting with so many possibilities, it would have been good to
have further chapters and more adventures for Peggy.
It would also be
great to see this book in paperback. At the moment it's only available for
Kindle and at least as far as my own pupils are concerned primary school
children don't tend to own e-book readers. It's got a cracking good cover for
one thing. But more importantly than that, it would be a good book to have in
school libraries and in World War Two project boxes.
But in the mean
time parents, grandparents and teachers it would be well worth purchasing
Peggy's story for your Kindle's and reading this aloud to the children in your
lives.
