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Posted 20 hours ago

Cuckoo Summer

£3.995£7.99Clearance
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An interesting and nostalgic look at sheep farmers and countryside history, as well as quite a page turner for this young audience. Yesterday a parent came over to tell me how impressed she was by the book fair and that you did a fabulous job of selling the books to the children first.

Sally, despite her carefree attitude to life and her situation, displays a kindness to the injured enemy that is touching.Meanwhile, Tommy’s having doubts, not only about the size of this secret, or Sally’s circumstances with the hateful Mr Scarcross, but about his father. Only gradually do we find out why Sally is compelled to forge this bond with another human being, alone and in need of help, despite putting herself in grave danger by doing so. Within a dozen pages, I'd been won over, and found myself totally engrossed in a rattling story with an endearing pair of main characters. The Lake District is untainted by WWII, with only the evacuees and drafted soldiers any indication there is a war going on, which was a refreshing take of the children's wartime novel – so many stories of the same genre often thrust you right into the action. With vicious Scarcross out to track the airman down, backed up by his Home Guard cronies, the decision becomes increasingly dangerous.

Cuckoo Summer is a perfect book to share alongside WWII topics, and it will be loved by any child looking for an immersive story of adventure and friendship. The unfolding of Sally’s story and the close friendship between these children, and the silent Simon is a pleasure. It seems Mr Scarcross has little time for his evacuee, and nor does Miss Gently or others in the community. Candy Gourlay introduces Wild Song, her companion novel to Bone Talk, in which Luki and Samkad leave their home in the Philippines for America. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

The blurb sounded suspiciously like Robert Westall's masterpiece, the Machine Gunners, and I wondered doubtfully whether it would measure up. Characters that have individual voices and personalities; a landscape that is as vibrant and interesting as the story; real danger; risk taking; hope, trust, friendship. Your words, like your reviews, bring books to life and give them a voice before the front cover is even turned. I counted sixteen different plays on Scarcross’ name in her references to him: Stinkcross, Scarecrow, Skunkcross… each is funny and apt. Some are lucky, others, like Sally, less so; she ends up with farmer Scarcross, an ill-tempered, abusive carer.

There's also the titular cuckoo, a gentle reminder of time passing through the countryside and a nice metaphor for the story arc. Part of Sally's appeal as a character is her dialogue - a young Liverpudlian, Tulloch captures her immense energy for life and fierce integrity through her dialogue, rich with her northern accent. Tommy’s Dad is missing while on active service in the war and Tommy lives on the family farm with his Aunties.

There was just the right amount of choice to suit everyone without being overwhelming and I received comments from parents and staff about the quality of books offered compared to previous sales which have always been based around current crazes and well known celebrity authors.

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