When the Sky Falls

Product Information

When the Sky Falls is a historical fiction middle-grade novel based on a true story. As the war raged around the characters their strengths and weaknesses are brought to the forefront. Joseph is struggling with his life and he reacts the only way he knows by pushing people away and causing mayhem. Mrs F is a stubborn but fair woman who is trying to save her family’s zoo and keep Joseph safe and show him in her own way how to survive. Brilliantly written and fast-paced, this is a superb book. Suitable for upper key stage two and key stage three. The end note shares the true story that inspired the book, which would make for a great classroom study or project. Highly recommended. That was part of a wider issue with the elements introduced as playing on Joseph's psyche never really cohering into a narrative. The dyslexia was underserved alongside the threads of Joseph's father, mother, and grandma. We didn't need resolution and catharsis on these threads but we did need a little development in each case if they were going to become a story rather than inert. There have been quite a few books dealing with children during the blitz. The horrors and hardships they faced are ones I find truly unimaginable. With such stories, we are stripped of these great heroes and villains we come to expect. What we are left with tends to be more about survival. That living through these events is enough for anyone to go through. In coming to Joseph we see a slightly different view on this. He is someone whose anger we can see boiling up inside him. He feels betrayed and abandoned by all those who are supposed to care for him. And being sent hundreds of miles away only adds to this feeling of isolation. In this case, Joseph never feels overplayed. His feelings and emotions come across as valid to the reader. I think too often writers try and simply their younger characters. They want to show them to be childish and invalidate the experiences they go through. But here I was not only allowed to experience them for what they were but given the reasons behind them. I read this book very slowly to savour every chapter and emotional scene. It will most certainly be one of my favourite all time reads. This story was beautifully told with rich language that would be a great resource for Y5/6 writing. It would also make a fantastic class read where pupils can share the emotion and thrill of this story together.

An emotional story about young Joseph, a child with dyslexia growing up whilst the war is raging who travels to London to stay with gruff and mysterious Mrs F. This story was beautifully written and There were many things I loved about it. A wonderful story of hurt, kindness, and what it means to be human in an inhumane world.” - The Times of London, Children's Book of the Year I do appreciate the instinct not to neatly resolve everything neatly, but these aspects just felt like they didn't get the attention they needed. Twelve-year-old Joseph has had it tough, not only is there a world war raging, his mum has died, his dad has been enlisted to fight, and now his Grandmother has sent him to London to stay with an old friend of hers after she struggled to cope with him, whilst other children were being evacuated out of the city. Mrs F (Farrelly) is the woman who is to look after Joseph. She is a stern woman who takes no nonsense from the young lad and makes him earn his keep, much to Joseph’s disappointment. He hasn’t even been there a day when he smashes his bedroom window.In this deeply moving story of Joseph’s journey of self-discovery Phil Earle not only tells a brilliant story of a child’s emotional development but also added an important and true dimension to World War 2 stories. This is a beautifully written historical adventure story that will take readers on a very emotional and exciting journey. The pace is fast and the feelings run high. The reader ends up fighting for Joseph and Adonis all the way–and this book is almost impossible to put down. The historical details are brilliantly researched and the basic story of Adonis and what happened to other big wild animals in zoos during the war is based on real-life events. My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed spending time with the characters in this one. The story itself, well, the plot was hard-to-take at times. I'll try to explain. Hard on the heart. I can absolutely see why the author felt so inspired by that image of a person in a zoo in the blitz, their duty to keep their gun trained on the most dangerous of the animals in case bombing allows the animal's escape. That image remains richly evocative in this book. But I don't think Earle quite nailed the elements to make this the most powerful exploration of that image it could be. The characterisation in this book was really good. Each character has an easily recognisable strong personality and together they all contrast very well. This strong characterisation will definitely speak out to younger audiences and make this book popular. I especially like the pairing of Mrs F and Joseph - they are both stubborn yet vulnerable characters yet as the plot develops the unlikely pairing find a home in each other. Joseph was a very dislikable character to begin with, which made the book hard to get into as I couldn’t empathise with him. However, as Layers of his personality are peeled away throughout the book you begin to like him.

From this book, I learnt that and realised just how chaotic things were during World War Two. Having studied it, I knew it was pretty bad but the way the author described how bombs were exploding it made me see a new side to it and feel what people felt at the time. This book being set in WW2 made it very interesting seeing as you get to see what people had to regularly go through and how tough it is. The most exciting plot had to be Joseph being protected by Adonis the gorilla. This showed how not all big animals are wild, tough beasts but also caring and loving animals too. I would definitely recommend this to other people because it's so interesting and you get to see what happens in the war when you don’t get evacuated. I've been a fan of Phil Earle's work for a long while now, and ten years after "Being Billy" marked him out as a top author in the YA field, "When The Sky Falls" should catapult him into a whole new league. It's a book that's going to win awards and reach a huge audience, and the world at large is going to discover what those of us already in the know have been aware of for the past decade -- that Phil Earle is a must-read author. An extraordinary story with historical and family truth at its heart, that tells us as much about the present as the past. Deeply felt, movingly written, a remarkable achievement’ Michael Morpurgo Because of these details, I would recommend this book, to give others the opportunity to read about this interesting side of evacuee life. However, I myself would not read it again, for although I enjoyed reading it, it wasn’t particularly life-changing, nor is it my favourite book, but I believe that it was still worth reading.

Demolition Dad

History inspired activity researching and writing a leaflet (non-chronological report) about rationing in the war.

He struggles to deal with the fact his Mum left when he was small and now feels even more alone as his Dad is sent to fight in WW2. He skips school frustrated with a learning difficulty he hides, has anger issues, fights and does mostly as he pleases until his Gran can take no more and he is sent to London, the result of a closely guarded kept promise. The plot is certainly different. Whilst you have our two main characters, the zoo also felt like a main character as did the war which felt eerie and ever-present in your mind.

Mrs F, Grans associate is the lady now in charge of him. She is short, strict and makes it clear his behaviour will not be tolerated and sets about making him conform by going to school, doing chores and working. And this is where the story takes a different direction. Mrs F runs the family Zoo at a time in the Blitz when food is rationed and people think animals should be put down. But Mrs F has Adonis the gorilla and as Joseph works at the Zoo with the help of his new friend Syd he begins to warm to her, him and vice versa. But Joseph is not the only one with difficulties and a past and will that be the end of the loss in his short life?. Can they help heal each other?. First impressions: I knew going into this one that it had the potential for sadness. Not necessarily *only* because it had an animal on the cover. That in and of itself wouldn't mean it has to be sad (on principle). Once I knew that this was historical fiction set in England during the Second World War, I knew this one might be a heart-breaker. Again, war books don't always, always have to be sad tearjerkers. But the potential is almost always there. I wanted with all my heart for this NOT to be a sad book. I was okay with the potential for sadness, holding onto hope that even in wartime good things can happen... Oh wow! When the Sky Falls is the most emotional and exciting middle grade book that I have read this year! Take a moment to look at the front cover more closely. A fabulous illustration that gives you a peek at what lies inside that cover When the Sky Falls took into a part of WW2 that I haven't previously read about. We have read stories about life on the home front but this is a new angle looking at the struggles of a city zoo.

Mrs F is using all her energy to look after her animals, in times of rationing and daily bombings, in the city. She has no time to nurture this unhappy lad that has arrived. As the sirens alert the people to take shelter, Mrs F and Jospeh dash to the zoo but Mrs F's strange ritual every night has Joseph confused. As Joseph settles into his new temporary home he realises that he is not alone, he also comes to share a bond with Adonis but as the bombs rain down on the city, both he and Mrs F know that if Adonis escapes his cage then they must do the unthinkable, a task neither of them wants. When the Sky Falls is currently shortlisted for the To Carnegie Medal 2022 and, my oh my, I hope it wins. This book has everything that makes a children's book so deliciously enjoyable. This was an amazing and interesting book. I loved the monkey because it was so interesting – it acted as if it was a human! I wasn’t keen on Mrs F because she was so strict and mean to Joseph – she didn’t let him do things like go outside when he wanted to.

Phil Earle Press Reviews

Joseph has other battles with school, in particular bullying and his serious troubles with reading. Like so many children of his generation, his dyslexia is not recognised or understood. I think this book is a really good book because of the way it's written, it shows how different the characters are and their personalities. My favourite character has to be Mrs F because at first she seems like a really bossy or pushy person but once you get to know her properly, she’s actually a really thoughtful and caring person. Extremely fun and engaging unit of work based on this fantastic new Carnegie award shortlisted book! And for Earle that is a great part of this story, he wishes to tell us. He shows us that be it human or animal. we all have to deal with pain and sorrow. It is some of our most basic instincts and too often it course us to lash out at those around us. We think they cannot possibly understand this raw and unbridled pain we are going through. And to some extent, this took me by surprise in a book aimed at a younger audience. Earle doesn't try and sugarcoat what is happening here. But allows the reader to experience that journey Joseph goes through. And maybe that is part of what makes this book so well, there is no dumbing down. He treats us all equally and trusts readers of any age to something that feels very real. I thought the whole plot was really thought-provoking and very exciting. Joseph’s life was very hard.