When the Sky Falls
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A boy and a gorilla create an unbelievable bond in this powerful WWII tale for young readers, for fans of Alan Gratz and Michael Morpugo.
"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
In 1940, with his father off to war, Joseph is sent on a train out of his British town into the care of Mrs. F., a gruff woman with no great fondness for children. But he soon discovers her softer side when she takes him to the rundown city zoo and he learns she is the only one who ever checks in on it.
Many of the animals have escaped, been released, or have sadly starved . . . but not Adonis, a huge silverback gorilla. Adonis is strong and ferocious-and a danger to the whole city if a bomb should fall and damage the fence that keeps him in. But as Joseph struggles in his new school and starts to spend more time at the zoo, he finds, unexpectedly, Adonis becoming a loyal new friend.
From acclaimed author Phil Earle comes a touching historical fiction story of how a boy and a gorilla find redemption in each other amid the toughest of circumstances.
Children's Fiction Book of the Year Winner at the British Book Awards
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1941 Britain, following his father's conscription and the effects of his own explosive anger, 12-year-old Joseph Palmer is sent from Yorkshire to bombed-out London to live with gruff Mrs. F, caretaker of her family's deteriorating zoo. Capable Mrs. F struggles to keep the remaining animals alive, particularly "the pride of the zoo"—a silverback gorilla named Adonis, to whom, after a disastrous first meeting, Joseph takes an immediate dislike. Despite his burgeoning friendship with a classmate who assists at the zoo, school represents difficulties for Joseph, as he navigates bullies, a cruel schoolmaster, and severe dyslexia in addition to exhausting, almost nightly air raids. Solace from this unrelentingly bleak existence appears in an unlikely form, as the child slowly gains the gorilla's trust and it becomes clear that Joseph is not the only one battling the pain of loss. Equal parts gripping and emotionally devastating, Earle's (The Bubble Wrap Boy) detail-rich novel explores the healing power of hard-won interspecies friendship amid a harrowing depiction of wartime grief and resilience. Characters cue as white. Ages 9–11.
