Tearing At The Emotions
When The Sky Falls by Phil Earle is a powerful historical children’s novel that I absolutely loved. I was drawn into the story from the start.
The four leading characters are an unlikely combination- a twelve-year-old boy; a similar aged girl; a middle-aged lady; and a silverback gorilla. All are thrown together due to World War II.
The novel is set in London in 1941 when a young lad is sent to live with Mrs F. He arrives hurt and angry, and no one can get through his defences. “The last time he’d been at school. The laughter, the pointing fingers and humiliation. He couldn’t do it. Not again.” The fear of school is not unfounded as he meets two classroom bullies and a cruel headmaster. The reader’s heart breaks for the hurting young lad.
Everywhere he goes, people leave. He wonders “what he must have done to cause it.” The reader ‘feels’ his pain.
Encountering the London landscape after rural Yorkshire comes as a shock. “He was shocked… He’d seen photos… of the Blitz… but nothing had prepared him for the smell of it… a cloying smell of charred decay.” This is very descriptive and really sets the scene for the reader. Amid the ashes, the brave Londoners carry on.
At the heart of the novel is Adonis (we met him in Phil Earle’s book The Dawn Of Adonis set in 1911), a silverback gorilla. He is powerful, but once you earn his trust, you have it forever.
At first Joseph is appalled at the actions of the wild ape but having viewed Mrs F’s relationship with Adonis, Joseph wants that too. For a hurt, young lad, it is beautiful to witness him opening up and learning to trust.
Little was known about dyslexia in the 1940’s. The classroom was a hostile place for Joseph as no one understood him and the letters that bounced on the pages.
As the relationship between Joseph and Mrs F unfolds, we read “how did you hold a boy together, when he was already broken?” The reader really feels for the hurting Joseph.
When The Sky Falls was an emotional read. As I read it, it was easy to place myself in the three leading human characters. Phil Earle has written with beauty and sensitivity. He has portrayed the horrors of war for civilians; and the battle that is faced every time Joseph enters the classroom.
I thoroughly enjoyed When The Sky Falls. It is a perfect read for anyone over the age of ten. I think it would be a great addition to the national curriculum for English for years 7 or 8 as it introduces them to the Blitz and to the topic of dyslexia, showing that not everyone learns in the same way.
JULIA WILSON