Reread: Twenty years later I still love this book

When my nephews moved to a new province with their parents (my brother and his wife) I knew it would be a hard adjustment. My oldest nephew is 11 and had spent his entire life in a small town 30 minutes from a big city. He was very very happy (as children should be) and devastated to be moved not only to a whole new province but also a very large city. I wanted to try and give him something hopeful to read about going to a place that felt foreign and other worldly. I remembered ‘The Sky is Falling’ in vague terms and decided to reread it before sending it along.

The Sky is Falling is a lovely little book in a trilogy called ‘the guests of war’ by Kit Pearson. It documents the journey some British children made by coming to Canada during WW2 to escape the bombings and war . This trilogy in particular is about a brother and sister, Norah and her little brother Gavin. Norah is smart, adventurous and is devastated to be sent away. Her little brother Gavin is not happy to be leaving his family but much more ambivalent about the journey in general. Norah and Gavin are placed with a very wealthy Toronto family and the book is mainly about their adjustment to Canada, the family, acceptance of the war and its dangers, socioeconomic issues of the war, as well as looking out for each other.

I loved rereading this book. Yes, it was written for tweens and so it was a very quick read for me. But I found it to be the perfect book to send to my nephew (whether he reads it or not is up to him, but I really hope he does.). Kit Pearson is a wonderful writer who manages to write engaging fully developed characters that you can root for while also shaking your head at. She doesn’t try to make any character (adult or child) too perfect or too stereotypical. It is engaging to read even as an adult and I highly recommend this book to adult who is seeking a comfortable story or youth looking to find a story that reads like a comfy tv show.

I plan on getting the other two books in the series and catching up with those too. If I remember correctly there is a rather dishy older cousin in one of the books who I would like to refamiliarize myself with.