All over Britain children are being evacuated to rural towns but not Joseph. His grandmother sends him to London to live with Mrs Farrelly. Mrs F comes from a family that owned and ran a zoo. Now that Hitler is sending bombs every night most of the zoo animals have either been sent away or sadly destroyed. The only animals still needing care are a couple of camels, some birds, two wolves and an old silverback gorilla named Adonis.
Joseph feels rejected by everyone. His grandmother has sent him away. His mother left when he was just five. His father has joined the army. School is hell. Joseph is regularly bullied and he simply cannot learn to read. The words dance around on the page.
Life in London takes on a new pattern. School is worse than ever but after school Joseph and a young orphan girl Syd help care for the remaining zoo animals cleaning their cages and scrounging food. Each evening when the bomb raid siren sounds, Mrs F heads to her zoo. Joseph is so distressed to discover she goes there to shoot Adonis. At first Adonis terrifies Joseph but over the weeks he comes to form a very special bond with this huge creature. Mrs F holds a gun during the bombing because she knows if the zoo is bombed and Adonis is set free everyone will be in danger. She does not want to shoot this noble creature but she might be forced to do this terrible thing.
The young boy in this book is at times so astute about the emotions and motivations of others but he also totally misunderstands at crucial times and worse he never stops to think about his own reaction to events and others. I have never read a book filled with so much anger. I knew I was in safe hands or I hoped I was in safe hands with Phil Earle and that all of this would be resolved but the anger is so unrelenting in this story that at times I just had to put this book down. I think I almost held my breath for 257 pages of the 302 desperate for Joseph to open up to Mrs F. Desperate for Joseph to understand and accept the kindness of others. Hoping Joseph could rid himself of his terrible guilt and sense of worthlessness.
Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:
"He had no idea why this woman had volunteered to take him in, or of the link that existed between them, but she clearly knew he had no mother; he saw it in her eyes. And her knowing bothered him."
"He didn't want to be here; in this room, this house, this city, but like everything in life, it seemed he had no choice in how it played out. At the same time, deep in his gut, he knew he was to blame."
"He didn't like the way she spoke, as if she knew exactly what was going on up there. And he certainly didn't like her talking about her dad. She didn't know him, about how Joseph missed him every day, not how angry he was that he hadn't been there when he really did need him."
"Today was different, for as Joseph crouched on his haunches facing Adonis, he felt the ape's fingers brush his. Joseph swallowed a gasp as a jolt of electricity ripped through him. It was thrilling."
"Joseph's heart rattled like a snare drum, then threatened to explode as Adonis patted his head gently, not with one hand, but with both. He felt tears spring into his eyes at the gentleness of the act, then fall down is cheeks as Adonis lifted his chin, resting Joseph's forehead against his own."
"Mrs F had no idea how to tell him, what words to use, or even how to think about calming him afterwards. How do you hold a boy together, when he was already broken? There were already too many pieces to manage, without dropping and damaging even more."
You can hear Phil Earle talking about his book. The publisher lists this book for 9+ but I think this is a book for an older reader 11+. Here is the US cover:
An unusual, moving war story with excellent writing and compelling characters. Kirkus
The deep anger and tense emotions in this book reminded me of The Night Bus hero.
No comments:
Post a Comment