The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr

Like many other children during World War II, Jimmy and his brother Ronnie are sent away from London - in this case to a remote village in Wales. Jimmy is desperate to return home. He wants to protect his brother and he has great difficulty accepting the kindness offered by Gwen and Alun Thomas. Luckily they stay very patient with him even though he is rude and surly. Wandering on his own he climbs a tree on the outskirts of the village and he finds a human skull. Jimmy has a wild imagination and he is sure there must be a murderer on the loose in Llanbryn. 

One of the other evacuated children is a girl named Florence. Back in London Florence was shunned for her poor family and ragged clothes but her foster family in this little village also show her wonderful kindness and like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon Florence emerges as a very different girl to the one Jimmy previously knew and shunned. Thank goodness Jimmy is able to accept Florence as a new friend because she is a very smart girl and she helps Jimmy solve the mystery of the skull and she also shows him that it is important to be kind - to his brother and to Mr and Mrs Thomas.

Teacher-Librarians will cheer when Florence takes Jimmy and Ronnie to the library so they can research human bones and the time it takes for a body to decay - all of this information is crucial as they edge closer to a solution to this mystery. 

Author blurb: When Jimmy is evacuated to a small village in Wales, it couldn't be more different from London. Green, quiet and full of strangers, he instantly feels out of place. But then he finds a skull hidden in a tree, and suddenly the valley is more frightening than the war. Who can Jimmy trust? His brother is too little; his best friend has changed. Finding an ally in someone he never expects, they set out together to uncover the secrets that lie with the skull. What they discover will change Jimmy - and the village - forever.

Read more plot details in each of these reviews:

This is a well-constructed mystery, with a most enjoyable and interesting storyline that contains lots of diverting paths that join up beautifully. Kids' Book Review

Many topics are addressed as Jimmy’s story is revealed, such as: bullying, bigotry, anxiety, loss, the burden of secrets kept, and changing friendships. All are sensitively explored as the adventure unfolds. The totally credible characters capture reader empathy as the issues are explored honestly, but ultimately the book leaves the reader with understanding as prejudices are overcome, lies are uncovered and the mystery of a death that has shadowed a life for years is explained and resolved. Historical Novel Society

Overall, this is a thrilling and touching story about change, family, and friendship, and also about giving people the chance – to support you, and surprise you. Setting the “mystery” storyline aside briefly, I feel that the story is a good look at the evacuee experience, showing both positives and negatives from both sides.  Libraries 4 Schools

I have a Pinterest collection of Middle Grade Novels set during World War II - here is the section about evacuees. 

I spied this book at a recent charity book sale. I recognised the name Lesley Parr and I now discover that this is her first book. I previously read:

Last year I visited Wales and I made a collage of all the books I have read that are set in Wales:

Wren by Lucy Hope

Wren has the perfect name - she really wants to fly like a bird. Wren does not have a perfect life. Her mother has died from her own attempt to fly. Wren lives with her angry and distant father, cruel younger brother and an aunt who is confined to a coal powered wheel chair because, while Aunty Afa survived the flight with Wren's mother, she was badly injured. 

Wren secretly begins to build her own flying machine using plans from France, but strange things are happening to their ancient home. There are weird noises, huge cracks in the walls and the whole place seems to shudder from time to time but when Wren tries to ask questions about this she is told it is all just her imagination. 

If you look at my labels for this post you will get an idea about the cause of this disturbance. 

Nosy Crow blurb: A dark, Gothic adventure set on the island of Anglesey in North Wales and featuring a very fantastical beast… Wren lives in an ancient castle in the mountains near the sea. The wind whistles through it and the walls sing to her. Wren is busy inventing things, and her father is busy disapproving. But the castle contains a mystery and as Wren is drawn further into it, she realises the answer lies in the very foundations of her home, foundations that are being shaken to their core…

If your young reading companion (age 10+) has good reading stamina then they are sure to enjoy the final scenes in Wren but the journey to reach these moments is quite a long one although I did enjoy "watching" Wren construct her amazing flying machine using her Aunt's dresses, her own small coracle, and hundreds of bird feathers.

Warning Spoiler Alert: I knew/know nothing about Welsh mythology and especially about the famous Mabinogion stories but I have now read one story from this famous collection contains two dragons - one red and one white and a character named Emrys. In Wren, a strange reclusive man called Emrys is mysteriously connected with the dragon. And a boy named Medwyn also knows the story of the dragon under the castle and he helps Wren with her plans for flight and for saving the trapped dragon so I will say if you can find a simple version of this story written for children it might enrich your enjoyment of Wren. Medwyn is a character from Lloyd Alexander's book series The Chronicles of Prydain which are also based on parts of the Mabinogion. 

Here is an interview with Lucy Hope where she talks about the inspiration for her book. Read this review and you will also find some comprehensive teaching notes. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance copy of Wren which was published in October, 2022. 

Companion read:

Sky Chasers

Wren also made me think of an older Gothic title (which has continued to haunt me):

The Lost Children

King of the Sky by Nicola Davies illustrated by Laura Carlin

"King of the sky would go to Rome by train, then race back a thousand miles and more!"

Blurb: Starting a new life in a new country, a young boy feels lost and alone - until he makes friends with an old many who keeps racing pigeons. Together they pin their hopes on a race across Europe and the special bird they believe can win it: King of the Sky (Re Del Cielo).

June 13th is Pigeon Appreciation Day and my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has been gathering books from her extensive and rich library collection ready for a display. Take a look at this Pinterest collection of pigeon books. 

King of the Sky was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2018. 

This touching, quiet tale about a boy who is a long way from home is full of the atmosphere of a dusty, rainy ex-coal-mining town, lit with accents of yellow hope. Davies considers the strangeness of new places, especially their smells, and the simple acts that can make us feel part of a new community. Book Trust

This book is outstanding in every way. Deeply emotive hand-lettered text, joins with delicate soft-coloured fine illustrations by multi-award winning Laura Carlin, to make this a highly collectable children’s book. Filled with beauty and strong messages, there is nothing to fault here. It’s one of those books that draw a sigh of utter satisfaction from the reader as it is pressed to their chest. Kids' Book Review

Carlin’s smudgy, near-transparent mixed-media illustrations, depicting soot and sun and shadow, capture the essences of the old and new homelands, and a number of wordless spreads emphasize the differences, and distances, between them. Quiet, tender, and profound, this window into immigration offers an intimate understanding of just what it means to come home. Horn Book

With a group of older students you could compare the way Laura Carlin depicts the coal mining town in this book with the work of Sydney Smith in his book Town is by the Sea. 

The word choices in this book are truly special:

"Little houses huddled on the humpbacked hills. Chimneys smoked and metal towers clanked."

"Mr Evans' face was crumpled and he could hardly walk but when his birds flew he smile like springtime."

"Its head was whiter than a splash of milk, its eye blazed fire."

Last week I talked about The Remarkable Pigeon by Dorien Brouwers and in that post I mentioned King of the Sky which I had read many years ago in the wonderful city library in Austin Texas so I was pleased to be able to borrow this from a library this week. Here are some varies of pigeons:

When you look inside this book the end papers are sure to make you gasp! They echo the chart above and are filled with pigeons of every colour.