Title: London CallingAuthor: Edward Bloor
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published Date: September 26th 2006
Genre: Historical Fiction, MG, Time Travel
Page Count:304
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★.5
Goodreads Summary:
In the summer after 7th grade Martin meets a boy in a dream who will change his life forever. Where did this boy come from? Is he a dream? But how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real? Recommended for ages 11-15.
Martin Conway comes from a family filled with heroes and disgraces. His grandfather was a statesman who worked at the US Embassy in London during WWII. His father is an alcoholic who left his family. His sister is an overachieving Ivy League graduate. And Martin? Martin is stuck in between--floundering.
But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?
Where did this boy come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?
The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.
This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help?
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My Review
London Calling was one of those books that I wasn't sure would be good or not. Time travel is something that can be tricky. But Bloor did an amazing job. The switch back and forth between present day and the past were seamless and I loved each of them.
Martin is in middle school and isn't really loving it, and in fact, is trying to find a way to switch back to his old school. But instead, his mother insists on sending him to this Catholic school that seems a little shady at times with how it handles a situation that John and his friends get into when three bullies decide to pick on them.
While away from school Martin moves to the basement and basically sleeps all the time, and IM's his friends occasionally. He also starts getting strange calls from his grandma asking him questions and wanting him to help someone. When Martin inherits an old radio that his grandma loved strange things start happening and he travels through time and meets someone named Jimmy who his grandma had told him about. Add in the strangeness of him somehow needing to help Jimmy even though he's in the past, and learning some things about his grandfather, that no one had known about. Martin learns a lot in a very short amount of time.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Not only did I like Martin's character, but I adored his sister and how she was willing to help him and actually cared for him. She also didn't make him explain things to her about what was going on, and instead just rolled with it and used her job to help him get the info she needed. The family dynamic that Martin has was interesting as well, with his dad being an alcoholic and having been kicked out. Mom was still present and hadn't checked out and instead tried to encourage her children, and brought their father around for big things, and didn't seem to hate him or bad mouth him either. (yes she had a problem with his drinking, but they all did, and they realized it was just apart of him sadly.) I loved Jimmy's character and how the 1940's were described and we got to see the everyday child and his father, instead of just the officials or the rich. One other important thing that was mentioned in this book, is how it talked about the winners getting to choose how history is remembered. I highly recommend this book if you love time travel and the 1940's London.
"The heroes, clearly, were the people of London, who took a beating and yet wouldn't surrender."
London Calling was one of those books that I wasn't sure would be good or not. Time travel is something that can be tricky. But Bloor did an amazing job. The switch back and forth between present day and the past were seamless and I loved each of them.
"Sometimes our paths cross the paths of others at crucial points. This is where thins can get uncontrollable, weird, and unexplainable."
Martin is in middle school and isn't really loving it, and in fact, is trying to find a way to switch back to his old school. But instead, his mother insists on sending him to this Catholic school that seems a little shady at times with how it handles a situation that John and his friends get into when three bullies decide to pick on them.
"I'm just saying that... Life is complicated. You don't only have two simple choices: drunk or teetotaler; saint or sinner. It's more complicated than that."
While away from school Martin moves to the basement and basically sleeps all the time, and IM's his friends occasionally. He also starts getting strange calls from his grandma asking him questions and wanting him to help someone. When Martin inherits an old radio that his grandma loved strange things start happening and he travels through time and meets someone named Jimmy who his grandma had told him about. Add in the strangeness of him somehow needing to help Jimmy even though he's in the past, and learning some things about his grandfather, that no one had known about. Martin learns a lot in a very short amount of time.
"That's war. It's a bloody, horrible, endless thing. And the poor people of the world fight it, make no mistake about that. The rich people come on the radio and make the speeches."
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Not only did I like Martin's character, but I adored his sister and how she was willing to help him and actually cared for him. She also didn't make him explain things to her about what was going on, and instead just rolled with it and used her job to help him get the info she needed. The family dynamic that Martin has was interesting as well, with his dad being an alcoholic and having been kicked out. Mom was still present and hadn't checked out and instead tried to encourage her children, and brought their father around for big things, and didn't seem to hate him or bad mouth him either. (yes she had a problem with his drinking, but they all did, and they realized it was just apart of him sadly.) I loved Jimmy's character and how the 1940's were described and we got to see the everyday child and his father, instead of just the officials or the rich. One other important thing that was mentioned in this book, is how it talked about the winners getting to choose how history is remembered. I highly recommend this book if you love time travel and the 1940's London.
"The question is What did you do to help? And he didn't do anything to help. He had to answer for all he had done to hurt people. If there's a hell he's in it."
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