Goodnight Mister Tom

"The evacuees in this book are the obvious outsiders. This is the story of how the rescuer and the rescued bring salvation to each other. Although the evacuee boy, Will, is the obvious outsider, Tom, a reclusive and taciturn older man, is in many ways just as much of an outsider in his own village. The boy puts him back in touch with his feelings and makes life meaningful for him again. It is a lovely story. Tom’s loyalty towards Will—once he has allowed this boy into his life—is amazing and I think that is a really strong message for a young person. As a kid I remember finding this very powerful. “All I did as a child was read about people who didn’t fit in in one way or another–this was me making sense of my life.” I grew up in the 70s and —my dad was 10 when the war ended—so the end of the war then was only where the 80s are today. It would be like reading a book about Bananarama now or LiveAid. It felt really close to me, it didn’t feel historical. Is Goodnight Mr Tom a kind of crossover book? Do adults read it even though it’s aimed squarely at children? It does contain some distressing scenes – readers should be prepared for this. Exactly. Everybody should read this."