Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Macmillan Children's Books (2018), Edition: Main Market, 320 pages
Description
WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2018Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall, staying with their grandparents and running free with their charismatic cousin, Rupert. But normal life resumes each September - boarding school for Peter and Rupert, and a boring life for Clarry at home with her absent father, as the shadow of a terrible war looms ever closer. When Rupert goes off to fight at the front, Clarry feels their skylark summers are finally slipping away from them. Can their family survive this fearful war?The Skylarks' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War 1, from the award-winning Hilary McKay.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Oh, argh, stupid tearjerker WWI stories. Stupid British, with their endurance, and their core of sorrow that they carefully do not fuss about. It's not a fast paced book, but the characters are vivid and endearing, the war is quite amazingly portrayed -- both the disconnect of the home front and
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the unbearable situation in the trenches. It's both gorgeous and bleak, and Clarry is a rock to build the world on. Show Less
LibraryThing member Aquila
Such a delight* to see the Bury Your Gays trope alive and well in children's fiction in 2018.
*Not a delight, not a delight at all.
*Not a delight, not a delight at all.
LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
"The Skylarks' War"was okay, but not great. I am definitely going against the majority of readers who have reviewed this book, but I found it to be extremely slow and lacked excitement and suspense, especially considering it was set around World War I. Also, for a fairly short book (320 pages),
The writing felt young, but I don't think the story itself would be suitable for children, except for mature readers. There were sexual innuendos and quite graphic descriptions of injuries the soldiers endured when on the Western Front, so I am not sure who I would recommend this book to. I've certainly read much better books about this period of time.
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"The Skylarks' War" spanned several years, many of which were skimmed over. Clarry's family was certainly dysfunctional and I didn't really care for any of the characters except Rupert, Clarry's older cousin, and Clarry herself, who was an independent young woman.The writing felt young, but I don't think the story itself would be suitable for children, except for mature readers. There were sexual innuendos and quite graphic descriptions of injuries the soldiers endured when on the Western Front, so I am not sure who I would recommend this book to. I've certainly read much better books about this period of time.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
Clarry adores her older brother Peter and her cousin Rupert. Their idyllic summers with their grandparents in Cornwall are what keep her going through the rest of the year, living in a cold London house with her distant, disapproving father. However, it's the early 1900s, and the Great War is
McKay is a favorite of mine, but though I enjoyed this book, I didn't feel it was her strongest writing. It has some problematic elements, and I found it generally just a little unsatisfying. If you really love this author, it has all of the hallmarks of her writing, particularly where dialogue is concerned. And if you really want a World War I book for middle-grade readers, this might fit the bill. It doesn't shy away from the realities of war, so your sensitive readers may need some guidance if they attempt it.
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coming. When it does, it will change all of their lives forever.McKay is a favorite of mine, but though I enjoyed this book, I didn't feel it was her strongest writing. It has some problematic elements, and I found it generally just a little unsatisfying. If you really love this author, it has all of the hallmarks of her writing, particularly where dialogue is concerned. And if you really want a World War I book for middle-grade readers, this might fit the bill. It doesn't shy away from the realities of war, so your sensitive readers may need some guidance if they attempt it.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
I had already read -- and loved -- the sequel about Clarry’s goddaughters and WWII (amongst other things), The Swallows’ Flight, so it was interesting to read this and fill in some of the gaps. Clarry is the happy heart of what is often a sombre story. It begins in 1902 with her birth and her
Right from her youngest days, Clarry had understood that all the uncomfortable difficulties of their lives – Miss Vane and the itchy knitting, the uncertain cooking of Mrs Morgan and her kind, the remote unhappiness of her father, the increasing shabbiness of the house, the bread-and-milk
suppers and the desperate fierceness of Peter’s temper – were because she, Clarry, had been born and her mother had died. Nobody ever said it quite as plainly as that, but, if they had, Clarry would have bowed her head and agreed that it was true.
Nevertheless, she hummed when she was drawing. She skipped downstairs in long airy jumps, she stopped to speak to cats and horses, and she was never frightened by Peter’s moods.
McKay’s prose is evocative, effective -- she captures with the absolute horror of war without going into a whole lot of details. Even though I knew from The Swallows’ Flight how some things must turn out, I was still riveted.
(I also came away feeling bleak, but I’m not sure how much that was the book and how much that was me, still recovering from a cold and from the end of term.)
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mother’s death, and it follows her and her older brother Peter -- and, to a lesser extent, their cousin Rupert and a few friends -- through childhood and school and WWI.Right from her youngest days, Clarry had understood that all the uncomfortable difficulties of their lives – Miss Vane and the itchy knitting, the uncertain cooking of Mrs Morgan and her kind, the remote unhappiness of her father, the increasing shabbiness of the house, the bread-and-milk
suppers and the desperate fierceness of Peter’s temper – were because she, Clarry, had been born and her mother had died. Nobody ever said it quite as plainly as that, but, if they had, Clarry would have bowed her head and agreed that it was true.
Nevertheless, she hummed when she was drawing. She skipped downstairs in long airy jumps, she stopped to speak to cats and horses, and she was never frightened by Peter’s moods.
McKay’s prose is evocative, effective -- she captures with the absolute horror of war without going into a whole lot of details. Even though I knew from The Swallows’ Flight how some things must turn out, I was still riveted.
(I also came away feeling bleak, but I’m not sure how much that was the book and how much that was me, still recovering from a cold and from the end of term.)
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Awards
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (Fiction — 2018)
Costa Book Awards (Shortlist — Children's Book — 2018)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (Fiction — 2018)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2020)
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — Children's — 2019)
The British Book Industry Awards (Shortlist — Children's Fiction — 2019)
UKLA Book Award (Shortlist — 2020)
Young Quills Award for Historical Fiction (Shortlist — 2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-09-20
Physical description
320 p.; 5.59 inches
ISBN
1509894942 / 9781509894949