Goodnight Mister Tom (1981) by Michelle Magorian

💙 When England was on the brink of Second World War, many children from London were evacuated to the countryside. Tom Oakley, a widower in his sixties, who lived in a farming little village called Little Weirwold, found himself the receiver end of a little spindly and terrified evacuee called William, or Willie. His mother wanted little eight year old Willie to be placed in a house of church person or lives near a church. Tom's was the latter.

💙 Tom soon found sore and bruises all over William's body. That, and the way William flinched, terrified, when Tom took a poker to rake the fire (thinking that Tom would brand him), showed Tom how William had been abused at home, by his over religious and mentally unstable mother. William thought himself full of sin, terrified of doing anything boys used to do, and that made him bullied at school, and was called a sissy. His condition moved Tom deeply; and he, a recluse and cantankerous man ever since his wife and son died, treated William with kindness and affection. The first night of William's sleeping at his own attic bedroom, was undoubtedly the turning point of his brighter future. His "Goodnight, Mister Tom" that night before sleep, was a token of gratefulness and affection - two things William had never felt before.

💙 Soon the two, together with Sammy, Tom's dog, were inseparable. He soon went to school and befriended some children: George, the twins Carrie and Ginnie. But his best friend was another evacuee, a cheerful Jewish boy called Zach. William learned to read and write, but they found out soon that he had a special talent of painting and acting. As William gradually emerged from the timid sickly boy he had been when he first arrived, so was Tom, emerged from his "cocoon". But things were not always bright and happy for William; he would experience dark moments, coloured with violence and death. I have prayed during the second part of the book that Tom would adopt William; that he didn't have to return to his abusive mother.

💙 On the whole, it was a delightful novel, though in some part it became too dark for children, I believe. But other than that, the daily lives of the children, and Tom's affection to William, are all warm and satisfying. It was satisfying indeed when William became happy after all the abuses he had been treated. Above all, this book reminds us that we might never be immune to sorrow or loss, but as long as there's love in us, time would heal our wounds, and make us even stronger.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (2005) by Michael Morpurgo #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20Booksof Summer2025

🐈 Lily Tregenze is a girl of about 13 years old, who lives in 1943 with her family in Slapton, a seaside village in England, during the World War II. Her father is away, but apart from her missing him, she's quite contend to live with her beloved cat, an adventurous one, called Tips. Everything seems generally good, and the war has not touched their village. Until one day it was announced that the villagers must evacuate, living their house - the lock-stock-and barrel situation - because the Allied troops will use it for practices, before invading France.

🐈 Just when they were about to move to Uncle George's house in nearby village, Tips - the cat - is missing. Lily and the family, helped by two young American soldiers whom Lily had befriended, searched for it without avail. The area around the farm would be barbed-wired, and nobody could enter it after that. But Lily couldn't leave Tips alone, she must find her. Her American soldier friends - Addie (short of Adolphus) and Harry, had promised her that they would keep looking for Tips, and that one day the cat would surely come home. They also warned the danger of being near the vicinity of the practice. But Lily must find Tips, so she made plans to cross the wire, into the danger zone. Would she find Tips - alive? And what would happen next?

🐈 It was a wonderful story of courage, resilience, love, and friendship during the war, which was written in the form of diary - Lily's diary. Sixty years after the war, Lily wrote a letter to her grandson, following her re-marriage and move to a new place. The diary was included in the letter. It told him of her extraordinary life, and how an adventurous cat named Tips had become the key that changed her life - during the war, and even sixty years later. 

🐈 I've actually expected this to be a story from a cat's point of view. Or perhaps a story about the cat's adventures during the war - the kind which tells you the horrible things brought by war but seen from a cat's view, so that it becomes less horrifying, and even comes as cute and sweet. But this one is different. Surprisingly, Tips, the cat, isn't the center of the story. It is an amazing story, but not of Tips - which was implied by the title - although the story wouldn't even exist without Tips. So, the cat here has a very important role. The ending is unexpected, and threw the whole story to another level - made it much more memorable than just an adventure of a cat.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (1971) by Judith Kerr: An Audiobook

🐰 Anna was a Jewish 9 year-old girl lived in Berlin. The titular pink rabbit is her favorite stuffed toy. Did Hitler really steal it? Of course not! But he stole what the pink rabbit represents of Anna - her innocent happy childhood. Told from Anna's POV, this is a semi autobiographical story, derived from Kerr's own experience of fleeing from her home at the start of the Second World War.

🐰 Anna is the younger child of a prominent Jewish journalist who often wrote against the Nazis. Approaching the election, her father fled from Germany, as his name had been publicly targeted by Hitler once he's elected. Anna and her older brother didn't realize the upscale political tension in their country, they just saw Hitler's face glared out at them from street posters.

🐰 I love how Anna's parents hid the real dangerous situation from the children in order to avoid any distress and fear. When the mother took Anna and her brother by train to Switzerland, she made the journey just like a exciting, albeit secretly, one to meet their father. Though Anna witnessed how her mother had tightly clutched her bag during ticket inspection, but seemed more relaxed after passing the border, Anna didn't have any inkling how scared her mother had been, and what was the cause.

🐰 When Anna and her brother heard that Hitler has likely confiscated their house, they imagined how Hitler's playing with their board game and Anna's pink rabbit. They knew that Hitler was an evil guy, but never realized how evil he was.

🐰 After a brief stay in Switzerland, the family moved to France and started a new life in a Paris small apartment. They became poorer because Anna's father was struggling to get a decent writing job. Amidst the struggles in adapting to the new school and learning new language, not mentioning the money restraint, Anna felt happy enough because they live there together as family. It reminds me of my own feeling. My life was always wholesome because we lived it together as family, where there's always love and care. No matter what came our way, we could face it as we had each other.

🐰 This book isn't a childish reminiscent of one of the darkest times in our history; it is a story about resilience, about the power of love and family. It is also about hope and courage in navigating changes. It's a sweet and poignant testimony of humanity during dark moments. I am so grateful of having read this at this time of my life, for I wouldn't have appreciated as much had I read it as a child. I loved also the narrator of the audiobook I listened to; Tacy Kneale did a great job of bringing this classic into life!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Blitzcat (1989) by Robert Westall #ReadingtheMeow2024 #20booksofsummer24

🐈 Lord Gort is not the ordinary sort of a lord. In fact he's not even a human being. Lord Gort is a black ordinary pet cat, and he's actually a 'she'. At the start of WW2, her beloved human, a British wing-commander in the RAF left home to fight the Germans. Unable to cope with her mistress (whom she don't really like)and the noisy new baby at home, Lord Gort set out on a journey to track down her human.

🐈 Of course Lord Gort didn't really know where Geoffrey Wensley, her human, really was. She only used her instinct. She felt that he was moving away to the north, fir instance, then she would direct her way there. Her human kept moving to different directions all the time, and she'd always turn diligently the same way. Along the way, she met with many adventures, touched many people's lives, and experienced many degrees of the war. In short, through her eyes, we are brought to witness people's struggles as well as resilience against the war.

🐈 Lord Gort, by the way, was named after a British commander whose troops were trapped in Dunkirk, when she's a kitten. Her humans foolishly thought she's a tomcat. Her name caused a funny incident that opens the story nicely, a clever way to plunge us into the middle of war in a lighter way than it could have been.

🐈 As a domestic cat, Lord Gort depended on kind people to get food and shelter. So, for a time, she would stay with someone who cared for her. But when she sensed that her human was moving further away, she would just leave her current temporary person, to continue her journey. Unintentionally, the cat often brought luck or salvation to the people she had stayed with. Her acute sense of danger saved one woman from bombing, and inadvertently forced the other to get up from her fear.

🐈 When Lord Gort was staying with a rear-gunner in the RAF station, the gunner named Tommy believed that the black cat brought him luck, so that he always brought her whenever they flew away to shoot any German's airplane. I found it quite funny at first, because here in Indonesia, especially in Java island where I live, black cat is superstitiously believed to bring bad luck. I didn't realized that in some other Western countries, it's the opposite. Superstitious aside, I think Lord Gort the black cat is just an ordinary cat. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time when people need hope and distraction during the darkest times of war. I loved her nonchalant way of just leaving behind her temporary persons, and focusing to her one and only purpose.

🐈 On the whole, it's a wholesome read for me. It's not too bleak for a war story, as it's sprinkled with chuckle-worthy scenes here and there. And it's not overly sappy for a cat-themed story, for there's deeper emotion of human struggles and triumphs in it too. It's just the kind of cat story that I love and enjoy very much!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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War Horse (1982) by Michael Morpurgo #20Booksofsummer24

🐴 I remember watching the movie War Horse years ago, but I might not have been interested in reading the book if I hadn't stumbled upon this audiobook! It's performed by Dan Stevens, and I've been wanting to listen to him narrating a book I haven't read yet. So, I picked this up instantly, and it's proved to be very satisfying. It's marked as an abridged version, though. I wonder, is the unabridged very long, then?

🐴 War Horse is about Joey, a rather remarkable beauty of a horse with chestnut color, four perfectly equal white socks, and a white cross on its forehead. He was procured by a drunken farmer who was supposed to buy a ploughing horse. But his son Albert loved the horse, and the two bound a deep, affectionate friendship that lasted through the war - the WW2.

🐴 When England entered the war, Albert's father sold Joey, much to Albert's dismay, to a Captain Nicholls. Albert wanted to join the army to not be separated with Joey, but he was one year too young. The Colonel, who was a kind man, promised Albert that he will take a very good care of Joey, which he delivered.

🐴 Joey got a good companion during his short career in the cavalry service, a horse called Topthorn, who comforted and taught him to do his job. Much like his old friend Zoey, back in the farm taught him to plough. Yes, Joey was a sensitive horse, he needed to be treated with affection. But during war time, things could change swiftly, and often, drastically. So it was with Joey, he went through many struggles and sorrows, and sometimes, comfort too. And all those times, he remembered always his dear human, Albert. Could Joey get through the war alive and reunite with Albert again?|

🐴 As you can imagine, this is an emotional, heartwarming story during the war, told from the perspective of Joey, the war horse. Dan Stevens did a great job of bringing it to life with his performance; it would have been different had I read it (instead of listening to it).

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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