Back Home (A Puffin Book)

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Lance A fellow sea evacuee of Rusty's, Lance attends the boys' school near Rusty's and is also ostracised for his American accent and behaviour. He provides Rusty with a friend as he sneaks out to meet her in their cabin in the woods, admires her talent with handicrafts and they help each other with their schoolwork. Lance's parents are getting divorced and to escape the house he goes for long runs in the holidays which leads to him joining the school rugby team and being accepted by other students.

Back Home DVD - Michelle Magorian Back Home DVD - Michelle Magorian

And, to be honest, I returned because I've spent too long without reading a Michelle Magorian. She's one of those writers who simply is and always will be there in my life and her stories are ones that I return to when I need comfort, or when I just need to remind myself of what can happen when people are really good at what they do. One day, on a trip into town, Rusty overhears some boys calling one member of their group Yank, and she begins talking to him, not realizing that speaking to boys is against the rules. For this infraction, Rusty receives a discipline mark and is called up in front of the whole school and publicly humiliated. The next day she receives the sad news that Beatie has died. Feeling sad and alone, that night, Rusty discovers that she can climb down some scaffolding outside her window, and escape into the woods surrounding the school, feeling free for the first time since arriving in England. She manages to get a note to Yank on her next visit to town, telling him where and when to meet her that night. Her ambition was always to become an actress. After three years of study at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, she spent two years at Marcel Marceau's L'école Internationale de Mime in Paris. From there she launched into a professional acting career and spent a few years touring all over the country - from Scotland to Devon and then Yorkshire - working in repertory companies, taking any part she could. Michelle's worst stage part was playing Orinoco in The Wombles musical. All this time she had been secretly writing stories. When she was 24 she became interested in children's books, and decided to write one herself. Rusty's continual clashes with her family, school and culture left me feeling almost depressed sometimes, but I wanted to read on because of her independent, fighting spirit.This is a great book. It might take a little while to get into, but you'll love it more and more as you read. Despite Lance and the little cabin, Rusty is still desperately lonely. Her unhappiness is compounded by the news that Beatie, who has always complained of 'ruddy indigestion', has died. Rusty and Peggy go to Devon for the reading of Beatie's will. Beatie leaves Rusty her collection of woodworking tools and leaves Peggy the house, with the condition that she's not to sell it for seventeen years and, if she does choose to sell it after that time, that she only sell it to a woman. These terms mean that Peggy cannot be forced by Roger to sell the house or put it into her husband's name, making her independent if she chooses to be. Rusty and Peggy spend the weekend in Devon and start to get to know each other a little better. Rusty discovers that her mother is actually fun and adventurous and that they surprisingly have quite a lot in common.

Back Home - Michelle Magorian - Google Books Back Home - Michelle Magorian - Google Books

The book was made into a television film starring Hayley Mills (screenplay by David Wood) and won a Gold Award at the New York Film and Television Festival in 1990. Rusty spends the following days feeling out of place in her new home. Peggy is cool and distant towards her, treats her like a child, and scolds her for unexpectedly mundane things, like talking about her American family, the Omsks. Rusty feels resentful towards her mother as Peggy doesn't appear to want to get to know her daughter, and instead spends a large portion of her days out working as a mechanic with the Women's Volunteer Service. Their mutual incomprehension comes to a head when Rusty heads out alone on the river in a rowboat, only to return hours later to find her mother furious with her for leaving without permission. The owner of the boat, thirteen-year-old Beth Hatherley, is initially angry with Rusty for taking the boat, however soon softens towards Rusty. They strike up the beginnings of a friendship, but are hampered by Peggy's protectiveness. Beth introduces Rusty to her three siblings and tells her about her school, a forward-thinking and progressive place (possibly based on Dartington Hall School considering the setting) that encourages creativity and independence. Rusty overhears her mother telling Beatie that the school isn't the right kind of place to receive a serious education, and that she is set in her plans to send Rusty to boarding school. This makes Rusty feel even more isolated from her mother. The only person aside from Beth to show Rusty any real warmth or affection is Beatie. My gut reaction to a lot of the book is a sort of incredulous "why don't you talk to someone?" And while I understand that Rusty is being thrust into the lingering auras of fading Victorian attitudes when she meets her grandmother and attends school, her mother, Peggy, is shown as becoming one of the "new women" who emerged after WW2, having had to take over men's jobs, and beginning to encroach on men's roles in society as well. Yet whenever Rusty tries to talk to her she reverts to the Victorian attitudes of her in-laws (possibly also her parents). These two different aspects to Peggy don't seem to mesh as well as they could, and, although it drives the plot forward, it does feel a little strained at times.Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - I probably read it nearly twenty times. I used to love stories about this kind of time period - I think it was about then that I'd seen the film 'A League of their Own', (and like when I watched Titanic and turned into a mini historian on the subject of the real sinking) I got really into that time period. One day Rusty meets a boy, Lance, from a nearby school who was also a US evacuee. She discovers that Lance lived in the same town as her US grandparents, the Fitzes. For the first time since returning to England Rusty feels happy and connected with someone who understands what she's going through. Unfortunately, talking to boys is strictly forbidden at Benwood, and Rusty is severely punished. Despite this, she manages to pass a message to Lance to meet her at midnight behind her school. From then on Rusty includes Lance in her nighttime forest wanderings and the two become friends. One night they stumble upon a bombed-out cottage that has an intact, albeit bare, sitting room. Rusty dubs the room their 'cabin in the woods'. I felt like the ending was a bit too tidy, but this is a YA book and geared for a younger audience--and it was originally published in 1984, so I had to take that into effect.

Back Home by Michelle Magorian | Goodreads

Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Modern readers will think that the best, indeed the only, way forward would be divorce, something Rusty mentions to her secret friend Lance in relation to his parents. Rusty doesn't seem at all phased by the idea, perhaps due to her American upbringing. Lance, on the other hands, evinces all the horror that the contemporary Brit would feel at the allegation. This is at once a necessary interlude to indicate to the reader the impossibility of separation at the time, and a well constructed contrast between Rusty's American ideas and Lance's enforced Britishness. Charlie's depiction, by contrast, is a delight. A four year old boy coping with the introduction of a sister, grandmother and father he never knew he had, as well as the (to him) inexplicable disappearance of his 'Uncle' Harvey. He doesn't adapt well to these changes, and is written in the same sympathetic way as the beloved children of Little Wierwold in Goodnight Mr. Tom. On her return, her family seem like strangers. Her mum is a part time mechanic, her brother wasn't born before Virginia left for the US, and he becomes instantly jealous of her. Her dad is still serving in the war on her return. Virginia's mum, Peggy, had been evacuated to Devon and loves the Estate, and the home she and her friends have created during their time together. No one seems to understand Rusty, except the fun loving old timer, Beatie, who owns the house. Soon though, Virginia is sent to boarding school, and with her mother and brother, must readjust to their life before the war. Their former house is ruled by an unkindly grandmother, who dotes on Virginia's father, and disregards Peggy and her children for a myriad of reasons. At boarding school, Virginia is rejected by her peers for 'showing off' (very Enid Blyton), and by her teachers for being behind in her studies, although she was a good student in the States. About halfway through, Virginia finds a place in which she can unleash her creativity, which leads to the compelling ending. Recommended: It is interesting, I think, for its subject matter of the returning evacuee, but even in this limited genre there are other books that do it better.I have reread this book more than any other. In fact, once I finished reading it, felt sad, and immediately started it again. Guardian Children's Fiction award-winning Michelle Magorian is the author of the iconic war-time children's book, Goodnight Mister Tom.

Back Home - Penguin Books UK Back Home - Penguin Books UK

This covers a topic that I don't think many people are familiar with: British children who were evacuated out of the UK during WWII and sent to live in other countries for safety, in this case, America. Michelle Magorian was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, [3] and is of Irish descent, her father William Magorian being from County Down, Ireland [ citation needed] She lived in Singapore and Australia from age seven to nine. As a child she spent as much time as possible in the Kings Theatre, Southsea. This is an older kidlit title -- I've had this thing for the past year or two where I'm focused on novels and non-fiction accounts of the children who were evacuated from Britain to the US during WWII, based on a conversation that was going on with the Betsy-Tacy group. Kidlit fans may recall that Magorian is probably best known for the five-Kleenex Goodnight, Mr. Tom. In this book, Rusty, our heroine, has returned to England after living in Connecticut for most of the war years, and has a variety of difficulties adjusting to her "new" life -- feeling estranged from her mother, not being recognized by her little brother, having not suffered the rationing and shortages along with her UK peers, and generally acting too Americanized to fit in. She has a miserable time at boarding school, until she discovers how to sneak out of her dormitory and go exploring at night. The plot is snappy, if none too profound, and it's a nice look at the details of home life immediately following the war. One odd thing, which I think comes of this book having first been published in the early 1980s, is that the author has stridently included robust mentions of menstruating and bathroom use. They don't have anything at all to do with the plot, it's that thing from the 1970s and early 80s where writers for young adult audiences felt the need to hammer home the point that there is NOTHING SHAMEFUL about menstruating or using the bathroom. Now of course, it just seems jarring. Of course, I probably cannot complain too much about scatalogical focus in books, having just spent half of the previous review earnestly explaining about dog poo ... but there you have it. Ivy The other woman resident in Beattie's house, Ivy has a little girl of Charlie's age and her husband is Missing Believed Killed. Ivy marries an American GI who was a friend of Uncle Harvey but during the novel her husband is found in a POW camp, making the second marriage void, despite Ivy being heavily pregnant with her new husband's child. This was a situation that did happen quite often during the war, when one partner was presumed dead and their spouse moved on, only to discover that they were alive years later and that their new union wasn't lawful.

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But, if living in her grandmother’s felt like hell on earth, boarding school is worse. Benwood House is definitely not the Chalet School. It is cold, unfriendly, condescending and highly critical of Rusty’s American experience and, of course, the ‘despicable’ accent. Everything Rusty does seems to result in a mark against her and her house, which has the unfortunate name Butt House. The character of Beatie, and the character of Beatie's house, is simply magic! I would love to have a hug from Beatie. She is insightful, intuitive, but most of all, does not ruin the story by telling people specifically all the things they could or should be doing, she gently guides them that way. Rusty’s paternal grandmother is strict, critical and condescending. She intensely dislikes Rusty’s accent, her confidence and her behavior. She also feels Charlie is too coddled by her daughter-in-law and needs to learn to behave like a big boy.