BOOK CLUB; GOODNIGHT MR TOM BY MICHELLE MAGORIAN.
WARNING:
THE
BANDERSNATCH BLOG MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION AND OPINIONS THAT THE
PUBLIC MIGHT FIND OFFENSIVE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL INFORMATION WILL BE
CHECKED AND OPINIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MAIN BLOGGER
HERSELF.
Hey there
Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend
an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky
and wondrous. I'm Mama Ogre and I have no idea what I'm doing.
Book blog
day boo yah. As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we
talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's
blog is on Goodnight Mr Tom By Michelle Magorian.
In
September 1939, as Britain stands on the brink of the war, many young
children from the cities are evacuated tot he countryside to escape
an imminent German bombardment. Willie Beech, a boy from Deptford who
is physically and emotionally abused by his mother, arrives at the
home of Tom Oakley, a widower in his sixties who lives in the village
of Little Weirwold. The boy is thinly clad, underfed and covered with
painful bruises, and believes he is full of sin, a result of his
upbringing by his mother, a domineering, insane, God-fearing widow.
"Mister
Tom", as William christens his new guardian, is reclusive and
bad-tempered, and as such is avoided by the community. Willie lives
with him as his Mother wants him to live with someone who is either
religious or lives next to a church. Though initially distant, he is
touched after discovering William's home-life and treats him with
kindness and understanding, helping to educate him. Under his care,
William begins to thrive, forming a small circle of friends at school
among his classmates including fellow-evacuee Zach. He also becomes
proficient in drawing and dramatics. As William is changed by Tom, so
is Tom transformed by William's presence in his home. It is revealed
that Tom lost his wife and baby son to Scarlatina some 40 years
previously, and he has become reclusive because of this.
The
growing bond between William and Tom is threatened when William's
mother requests that the boy returns to her in the city, telling him
she is sick. At first, William thinks this will be a good thing, as
he can be helpful to his mother. However, his mother is not pleased
to learn the details of his time with Tom, feeling that he has not
been disciplined properly. While William has been away, she has
become pregnant and had a girl, but is neglecting the baby. After a
bad reunion, where his mother becomes furious upon learning the
details of her son's life with Tom, abhorring his association with
the Jewish Zach among other things, she hits William and puts him in
the under-stairs cupboard, chains him to the piping. William regains
consciousness briefly to find himself in the cupboard – he has been
stripped of his clothes, minus his underwear, and his ankle is
twisted. He quietly sobs for Tom, before he falls asleep.
Back
in Little Weirwold, Tom has a premonition that something is not right
with William. Although he has never travelled beyond his immediate
locality, he ventures into London and eventually locates William's
neighbourhood of Deptford and his home. He persuades a local
policeman to break down the door of the apparently empty home, to be
greeted with a vile stench. They find William in the closet with the
baby, who had also been locked under the stairs by William's mother
and has now died. William is malnourished and badly bruised as he had
been locked under the stairs for a number of days. William is
hospitalised, but whilst there suffers horrific nightmares and is
drugged simply to prevent his screams from disturbing other children.
Tom is warned that it is likely that William will be taken to a
children's home, and, unable to observe William's distress any
longer, kidnaps him from the hospital and takes him back to Little
Weirwold.
Back
with Mister Tom, William is much damaged by his ordeal and is also
blaming himself for the death of his sister as he had not been able
to provide enough milk to feed her whilst locked away, and becomes
very depressed. Later, when his favourite teacher Annie Hartridge has
a baby, William is shocked to learn from Zach that a woman cannot
conceive a child on her own, and realises that his mother was having
a relationship with a man, even though she had previously told him
that it was wrong for unmarried couples to live together or have
children together (something which society in general had regarded as
unacceptable at this time). Tom is traced by the authorities, who
have come to tell William that his mother is dead, having committed
suicide. They also offer him a place in a children's home, as they've
been unable to trace any other relatives who may have been able to
take care of him. Luckily the authorities realise that William has
already found a good home and allow Tom to adopt him.
Tom,
William and Zach then enjoy a holiday at the seaside village of
Salmouth, where they stay in the house of a widow whose sons have
been sent out to war. Zach then receives news that his father has
been injured by a German bomb in London and he hurries home on the
next train saying farewell to all his friends. Unfortunately this is
the last time they see him. William later learns that Zach has been
killed and is grief-stricken for some time, but his grief is later
healed by another recluse, Geoffery Sanderton. Geoffery, a young man
who had lost a leg during the war and takes William for private art
lessons,recognises the signs of grief and gives William a pipe to
paint along with a picture of two smiling young men. One of the men
is Geoffery and he tells William about the loss of his own best
friend, the other man in the picture and the owner of the pipe. This
is when William starts to come to terms with Zach's death. Adding to
this, Doctor Little, the village doctor, who was Zach's guardian
while he was evacuated, is surprised but pleased when William asks to
have Zach's bike. Through learning to ride it, William realises that
Zach lives on inside him and he will never forget his wonderful
companion that Zach was.
In
the months following, William grows closer to Carrie, one of his
friends. One night, on returning home to Tom (whom he now calls
"Dad"), he thinks back on how much he has changed since
arriving in Little Weirwold and realises that he is growing.
- Goodnight Mr Tom Wiki.
Goodnight
Mr Tom was published by Kestrel in 1981 and later on in that same
year in the US by Harper and Row. The book won Author Michelle
Magorian the annual Guardian Children's fiction prize. Magorian was
also a runner up for the Carnegie Medal. The book has been adapted as
a Movie, a play and a musical. The most recent theatrical adaption
won the Laurence Olivier award for Best Entertainment.
I came
across the book when I was 10/11 years old. I needed the book for
English at primary school, since we needed to read the book and
complete a series of assignments for our teacher. I have in the
subsequent years read and re-read the book. The book is rather good
and I recommand it for children from the ages of 9/10 upwards. The
book is a good representation of what happened during WW2 in a
fictional setting. And William and Mr Tom healing each other from
what they both experienced (Tom loosing family to Scarlatina and
William being abused by his mother). I give the book an 8/10.
Michelle
Magorian was born November 6th 1947 in Portsmouth
Hampshire and form a young age spent a lot of time around theatres
and wanting to be an actress. Whilst working in the theatre in her
early twenties Michelle started writing and the book which came out
of that was Goodnight Mr Tom. The book was published and set her on
the path to being a recognised as an award winning author. My opinion
of Michelle Magorian is that she is a dedicated hard worker both as
an actress and as a writer.
WEBSITE
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
And there
you have it a decent set of books for all the ages. So we'll be
leaving this here for today please leave a comment, share with others
if you want or not Friday is random blog day and remember keep it
sensible in the comments all abuse will be tracked and reported to
the appropriate people.
THIS IS
THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY,
STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
Comments
Post a Comment