The Children of the King

March 1, 2014

Gr 5-8-This book takes place in England during World War II, when the possibility of air raids was ever-present. Siblings Cecily and Jeremy, along with their mother Heloise, are sent to the northern countryside to live with Heloise's brother, Peregrine Lockwood, in mysterious Heron Hall. Cecily notices many children evacuees being taken in by local townspeople and asks her mother if they can adopt a child. The family winds up taking in May Bright, a 10-year-old refugee from London. The two girls become fast friends and begin exploring Heron Hall and the surrounding areas. On one of their daily adventures, the girls come across two boys in the ruins of a nearby castle. Cecily finds the boys creepy and annoying, but there is more to them than meets the eye. Though slow-moving, this story could work as a complementary text for students learning about World War II history, as it gives a glimpse into what everyday life was like and the conflicting feelings that people had about war.-Jesten Ray, Seattle Public Library, WA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 15, 2014
No matter how far north of London the Lockwoods travel, they can't escape the ravages of World War II. Twelve-year-old Cecily Lockwood isn't happy to leave her revered father behind in London, but she's secretly thrilled she and her older brother, Jeremy, are bound for Heron Hall, her uncle Peregrine's lovely country manor. At the train station, they convince their mother to take in a 10-year-old London evacuee named May Bright, who, to Cecily's delight, becomes a sort of sister to her, though (less delightful for bossy Cecily) she's "prone to bouts of independence." Through her likable, vividly wrought characters, Hartnett respectfully captures the depth and ferocity of childhood. The poetic descriptions of the girls' rural wanderings are to be savored like the best tea and biscuits, but the masterful lyricism never slows the suspenseful story of Cecily and May's discovery of two "horrid boys" in velvet jackets, hiding among nearby castle ruins...or the rising tension between Jeremy and his mother as he battles his sense of helplessness as others fight the war. Uncle Peregrine tells a 450-year-old story whose themes are curiously relevant to World War II England...perhaps even to the be-velveted boys-in-hiding. Mystery and history dance a mesmerizing waltz in this poignant, thoroughly entertaining novel that shows how "[t]he past lives everywhere." (Historical fiction. 11-14)

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Starred review from January 1, 2014
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Shortly before the London Blitz, 12-year-old Cecily and 14-year-old Jeremy are sent to live in the countryside with their uncle, Peregrine. They take in an evacuee, 10-year-old May, who comes from a less privileged background but is very much her own person. Jeremy longs to return to London and prove himself by contributing to the war effort. Immature Cecily tags along after May to the nearby ruins of a castle, where two strangely dressed boys (fifteenth century ghosts) sometimes appear. From time to time, Peregrine entrances Jeremy, Cecily, and May with his episodic telling of an intense, occasionally violent tale from English history, a narrative that informs each child's experiences. The novel rewards careful reading with well-turned phrases and apt metaphors. At the book's heart are the many believable characters who gradually reveal aspects of themselves as they act, react, and subtly change throughout the novel. Though the story-within-a-story format makes the book's structure somewhat more complex, it also enriches the narrative in many ways. The writing is accessible, the story flows well, and the plot moves at a good pace. Like her character Uncle Peregrine, Hartnett is a fiercely truthful, accomplished storyteller whose stories have real staying power.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
Twelve-year-old Cecily, her older brother Jeremy, and their mother flee WWII London for the safety of Uncle Peregrine's country manor. Once there, Cecily discovers two boys hiding in some nearby ruins. Hartnett's gift for language deftly conveys both the sublime and the mundane in life. She grounds the book's fantasy elements with a heartfelt examination of the hardships endured by civilians in wartime.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 1, 2014
Continuing her string of novels exploring the effects of war on innocents (The Silver Donkey, rev. 9/06; The Midnight Zoo, rev. 9/11), Hartnett's latest book tackles the home front. In the early days of World War II, twelve-year-old Cecily Lockwood, her older brother Jeremy, and their mother flee London for the safety of Uncle Peregrine's country manor. Jeremy chafes at being packed off to the country, since he desperately wants to contribute to the war effort, and tensions escalate between mother and son. Meanwhile, Cecily and an evacuee named May discover two boys dressed in fifteenth-century clothing hiding in the nearby ruins of Snow Castle, as Uncle Peregrine begins to recount the legend of Richard III and the young "Princes in the Tower." As always, Hartnett's gift for language deftly conveys both the sublime and the mundane in life. "[The sun's] heatless light reached over miles of marshand finally crawled, with a daddy-longlegs's fragility, up the walls of Heron Hall to Cecily's window." Hartnett grounds the relatively minor fantasy presence in the book with a heartfelt examination of the pain and hardships, endured by civilians in wartime. Cecily is a naive, spoiled, but well-intentioned heroine, effectively contrasted by the quietly independent and mature May and impetuous, brave Jeremy. Over the course of the story, Hartnett's characters waver between feelings of helplessness, anger, and fear; ultimately, they find the necessary resolve to carry on. russell perry

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 20, 2012
The Children of the King challenges stereotypes of war from the first page, which opens, not with a sombre and terror-filled London, but with a lively household full of love and play. War is a backdrop for young Cecily, who believes her father will keep any threat at bay. Her brother Jeremy has a bleaker outlook. He knows that the war is getting closer, and it’s not long before he’s proved right. Cecily, Jeremy and their mother flee London for the safety of the countryside, arriving at Heron Hall with May, a strong and independent young refugee who is nothing like the grateful doting waif Cecily had hoped for. May’s adventurous spirit leads them to Snow Castle, and into a story of war and power that is decades old, and could be the key to changing their present. Sonya Hartnett uses shifting dynamics between the characters to breathe life into a bygone era, and the result is lively and real. The Children of Men is the third book in Hartnett’s ‘war trilogy’, thematically linked to prize-winning titles The Silver Donkey and The Midnight Zoo.

Bec Kavanagh is a Melbourne-based writer and reviewer