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Goodnight Mister Tom

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Now he’d be for it. Don’t ask help from anyone, his mum had said. He waited for the cuff around the ear.” 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.

Ms Magorian’s writing feels so comfortable to me; it’s simple and gentle but never ventures into twee-ness (twee-dom?)… fine, it never becomes twee. Willie Beech is a scrawny eight-year-old boy from London. For his whole life, he has been physically and emotionally abused by his religious mother, leading him to be extremely timid and fearful. He is evacuated to a small village called Little Weirwold and is placed to live with a man named Tom Oakley, a gruff but kind widower in his 60s. Tom has lost his wife and baby son over 40 years ago and has consequently become somewhat of a hermit, not participating in the usual town social activities.Is that not a beautiful sentiment - the true value of being loved and recognized. That, you can feel the comfort of knowing someone is there, but when you don't have the opportunity to see that person, you feel their absence even more. This little town welcomed him with open arms so much - that they got so much joy in seeing him grow - that they saw how this little boy changed an old man, who had been grieving for his wife and child for forty years. He was not only Mr.Tom's - he had become a lovable part of their community. 🥹🥹 When they return, Willie and Zach decide to explore Spooky Cott – an abandoned cottage that is rumoured to be haunted. To their surprise, they discover a young man who loves to paint. Geoffrey offers Willie art lessons and volunteers to teach in their school. As he observed it tumble and fall between the wood and hot coke, it occurred to him that strength was quite different from toughness and that being vulnerable wasn’t the same as being weak.” 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. 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 ]

It’s about how a man who once lost so much is at last given the chance to show what a truly good man he is, what a wonderful Father he could have been if fate hadn’t robbed him of that opportunity so many years before. You will love Tom. He’s the perfect adult character of all time for me! I just wish every adult to be this giving, caring and nurturing towards every child. 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. 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]

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Normally I hate watching adaptations of my favourite books because they never ever EVER measure up. Goodnight Mister Tom is a children's novel by English author Michelle Magorian, published by Kestrel in 1981. Harper & Row published an American edition the same year. [1] Set during World War II, it features a boy abused at home in London who is evacuated to the country at the outbreak of the war. In the care of Mister Tom, an elderly recluse, he experiences a new life of loving and care.

Speaking of additional features in this 40th anniversary edition, the new introduction from the author was lovely. Not only did it explain the concept of sewing children into their clothes (something that confused me in the story) but it also explained the origin of the story which is something that’s always interesting to read about. The last scene was so cheesy I wanted to vomit. Like Willie did at his birthday, but in a less annoying way. It also involves Willie stealing his dead friend’s bike, which just shows what sort of a person he is. Unfortunately, if like me, you were hoping for one final tragedy, in which the bike crashes into a grenade, blows up the whole town and kills everyone in the novel, you will be severely disappointed. It ends with Willie calling Tom ‘Dad’, and being happily adopted. Oh well. 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. 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.

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It must have been traumatic, leaving behind Mums and Dads, older siblings, their former schools, pets possibly, in fact, everything that was familiar and comforting, and finding themselves in a totally different environment with people who knew nothing of these children’s former lives.

Television & Radio Industries Club Award 1999: Best ITV/Channel 5 Programme of 1998 for Goodnight Mister 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.

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Here's a great picture of what it must have been like living during those uncertain time, a picture also of the innocence of childhood ripped apart by a war yet to come. Heartfelt, here's a deep and disturbing read too, as it doesn't shy away from such a tough topic as child abuse (and in graphic detail at that). Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review* By November, most evacuees have returned to London, which poses a problem for the play director, Miss Thorne, as she has to keep re-casting roles for the Christmas show, " A Christmas Carol." Willie takes over as prompter after finishing the scenery and after a week he knows most of the play by heart. When he is asked to fill in for someone, he turns out to be an incredibly talented actor, even impressing Zach. Miss Thorne needs a new actor to take on the role of Scrooge and gives the part to Willie. Tom also steps up to fill in for Mr. Bush, who is called to war, to play the organ for the men's choir. He has not played in a very long time as it reminds him of his wife. Thus, both Willie and Tom are faced with a new opportunity to come more into the spotlight. 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.

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