My second book with Summer in the title was a children's book - Cuckoo Summer by Jonathan Tulloch. This popped up when I searched for 'Summer' in the library catalogue. As it's set in WWII, I was keen to read it as it's the sort of adventure story I would have loved as a child.
It is summer 1940 and life is about to change for two children living in the Lake District. Sally is a mysterious evacuee living on one of the two farms in Woundale valley in the Lake District. Her best friend is Tommy, living on the other farm with his three aunties. Tommy's mother is dead and his soldier father has been reported missing in action in France.
One day a German plane crashes in the village but one of the airmen is missing and when Sally finds him alive but injured and hanging in a tree in the woods - his parachute caught in the branches - she races off to tell Tommy. Tommy wants to report him to the police but Sally wants to keep him hidden, especially after Farmer Starcross, who she is billeted with, heads off with his gun to find and shoot the man. She knows how nasty he is as he keeps her short of food, makes her sleep in the barn and she's watched him drown a litter of kittens.
Keeping the airman secret and hidden starts a summer adventure and a chain of events that reveals Sally's past, and changes several lives for the better.
Looks like a good read. Children's book are often worth a (re-)read. Maguy
ReplyDeleteGood little read for my seasonal 'challenge
DeleteDoesn't sound a suitable read for children to me!
ReplyDeleteFor what reason do you say this?
DeleteThat book reminds me of something I read when I was a child…or perhaps a movie. I think maybe the latter.
ReplyDeleteI think Jabblogs comment below is correct about the Hayley Mills film which I'd not thought of
DeleteI’m thinking I’m going to do my seasonal reads whenever I find them. (Readable) Autumn and Winter titles are low in number whereas I’m discovering lots of Spring & Summer ones I’m interested and will read are plentiful.
ReplyDeleteDid you find Cuckoo Summer believable or do you think couldn’t have happened
Some evacuees were treated badly like Sally ,other details are just to make it an adventure story
DeleteI loved those adventure children's books. I once experienced the drowning of kittens in a bucket on a Welsh farm. Very sad but there wasn't a handy vet around for neutering.
ReplyDeleteIt was the usual way to deal with unwanted kittens in the past - especially farm cats.
DeleteChildren's book or not, sounds good enough a plot to me so I've downloaded a copy to my Kindle. I'm sure many a kitten turned sailor back then, it was the way things were dealt with. Sad and cruel, but it was a different world.
ReplyDeleteIt's a quick read but a good one for my summer 'challenge'
DeleteThe kindness of children, how do we lose it?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it - didn't take long to read
DeleteSo many books from when we were kids are classics now aren't they - Treasure Island, The Secret Garden, What Katy Did. I wonder if children's books written now will become similarly loved classics in the future?
ReplyDeleteI missed out on reading most classics from way back, it was all Enid Blyton when I was young.
DeleteSounds like a good story for any age, Sue! I wish my library had it.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, sorry it hasn't got to your library
DeleteIt reminds me of 'Whistle Down the Wind' - I think that's what it was called, a film with Hayley Mills, aeons ago.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about that, but yes you are right
DeleteThat storyline sounds intriguing :)
ReplyDeletePretty sure I would have loved that story as a child.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
That's a different kind of story line, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAs a child I enjoyed adventure stories of all sorts and even today I sometimes will read a book from my childhood and still enjoy it probably just as much.
ReplyDeleteSounds like quite the adventure! It sounds familiar. I wonder if I've read it or something like it
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to read a 'children's book' every now and then isn't it. I think we can understand and appreciate them all the more in our wise old years.
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