When the Sky Falls

Product Information

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. History inspired activity researching and writing a leaflet (non-chronological report) about rationing in the war. In this story of hope and endurance, we follow a scientist and her team during their search for the elusive 'Giant Arctic Jellyfish'. My favourite part of the book was Joseph’s relationship with Adonis because it was a demonstration of how he began to trust others and care for them. However, I also liked how he and Mrs F ‘finally found’ a bit of solace in each other. A heartwarming story about the value of friendship and trust. In which love plays an important role.

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.The history of the time the book is set in (World War II) is so interesting to me because most people, including me, only know the facts and statistics. Sometimes we forget that people have actually been through this and children have had to witness the world wars and see the destruction, and live in fear in case there is an air raid or something which could destroy their home that they have grown up in. This makes it so thought provoking because as a reader it makes us think and sympathize with Joseph because of what he is going through even if he is portrayed at the start as quite a naughty child, who even his own grandmother couldn’t take care of. This masterful study in loss and redemption is a book strongly influenced by "Kes" and "The Machine Gunners" (I love the little knowing nod to the latter), but the style is all Earle's own, and it ends up sitting proudly by those two fore-runners, as an equal. It will make you weep more than once, and you're going to be biting your nails as it draws towards the climax, but ultimately it's a work that will make your heart sing. Writing tasks with a clear structure: ideas to inspire; text analysis; plenty of SPAG opportunities ; writing activities, editing and publishing 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. 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. If you are interested in more writing opportunities and history activities including an evacuee research topic, letter writing and designing and writing about a lighthouse in the war- you may be interested in my ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ unit.

Genre

Mrs F. is the owner of a zoo and she takes Joseph to work with her. This is where Joseph meets the strong gorilla named Adonis. At first he wants nothing to do with the animal until the gorilla takes him under his protection Behind every anger hides deep-seated sadness and that's a big life lesson that Joseph needs to learn. I thought the whole plot was really thought-provoking and very exciting. Joseph’s life was very hard.

I am a particularly hard judge of the handling of dyslexia in novels and I found this outing a little frustrating. The story opens in a train station where children are being evacuated to the countryside, except Joseph who is being sent to the city by his grandmother. An unlikely friendship develops out of need for teamwork between Joseph and his guardian Mrs F, who is in charge of the city zoo. Joseph is an unhappy lad who is missing his father fighting in the war and unable to comprehend why his mother left him. 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.Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/letters-from-the-lighthouse-literacy-reading-writing-and-history-unit-12727046

Mrs F is also the keeper of the local zoo, which has been in her family for years. There she attends daily to care for the animals that are left behind, including Adonis the Gorilla who is as moody as Joseph is.The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... 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 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. 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...