Good Night, Mr. Tom

A Story About Family 2010-03-04

Reviewer: Cassandra H. Harris

Beautiful, touching, heart wrenching, warm, spirited....not enough words to describe this amazing tale of just who family really is. I laughed and cried reading this book and even dreamed about it. It is a book that you can't help thinking about even after it's done. I'm glad I own it so I can enjoy it again and again.

One of the best "first books" I've ever read. 2010-01-10

Reviewer: J. Clark

I had not heard of the book, Good Night, Mr. Tom, by Michelle Magorian (copyright 1981) until my mother-in-law mentioned it several years ago. She had been evacuated during World War II and recommended it highly. Reading this book was like stepping back into pre-World War II rural England, complete with thatched cottages, heavy country accents, and hard-working, thrifty villagers. (Perhaps I've seen too many episodes of the Vicar of Dibley on PBS, but the characters in this story seem very vivid and realistic.)

Good Night, Mr. Tom is about a young boy named William Beech who is evacuated from London at the beginning of the war to a safer rural village called Little Weirwold. Nine-year-old Willie is the only child of an abusive, over-religious single mother. We learn that his mother will not allow him to be evacuated unless he can stay with someone "who is religious or who lives near a church."

Tom Oakley, 60-some-year-old caretaker of the local village church and cemetary, is a cranky, embittered old man who ends up with Willie. It soon becomes clear to old Tom that Willy's life in London was very different. Like many children from poor London neighborhoods, Willie is suddenly exposed to a whole new life in Little Weirwold. He has never seen a cow before, nor picked blackberries, nor slept in a real bed. He knows nothing about fresh milk, squirrels, garden dirt, horses, riding a bicycle, swimming, or even petting a dog. Timid Willie has no friends and cannot read.

We learn through the course of the book about Tom's life as a young man and the tragedy of his beloved wife Rachel. His gruffness begins to fall away as he and his little dog Sammmy help Willie learn to read and to heal. Willie begins to live life as a normal boy with Tom's kindness and his newfound friend, Zack, a fellow evacuee who is Jewish. Willie makes friends, and his talent for drawing and painting begins to blossom. He becomes a part of life in Little Weirwold. It's a happy life, in spite of the outbreak of war.

The reader begins to forget that Willie is an evacuee. He has gradually become a happy, healthy, pink-cheeked little boy--not Willie any longer, but the "William" that Tom has helped him to be. William and Zack, such opposites, are the best of friends (or, as Zack says, they're "jolly, jolly fine!")

Then comes a message that William's mother is ill. She wants him back in London. William must leave his life in Little Weirwold to reunite with his mother. Tom waits for three weeks, but there is no word from William. Fear drives Tom to board the train to London to seek out the boy he was begun to love as his own. . .

American readers will learn a great deal about English life during the 1930-40's: Terms like "blackout curtains," "Anderson shelter," "balaclava," billeting," "cuppa" "drapers" and "Mackintosh." Various British accents of the characters mingle to create a realistic portrayal of the island: Tom's thick country accent, Zack's "posh BBC" kind of London accent, Glad's toothless lisp, and even the young Scottish soldier's speech on the train. Most of all, it is a rich story about realistic characters that unfolds gradually and naturally--or as Tom says, "Everythin' in its own time."

Although we meet Willie's mother only once in the book, fairly late, she remains the unseen force that controls William's life. Willie has been abused, but the abuse is not the focus of the plot. It is the relationships between Willie, Tom, and Zack, which give the story its heart. Ultimately, it is the mother who determines what happens for William and Tom.

Good Night, Mr. Tom, is truly a heartwarming story, bittersweet, at times a bit raw, but never contrived. Michelle Magoria received the 1982 IRA Children's Book Award as a new author. I would strongly recommend this for readers ages 11 and up who enjoy history and are looking for a quality reading experience.

The best book ever 2009-09-23

Reviewer: Ann Kirihara

I read this book a few years ago and it touched me so deeply that I ordered several copies for my friends to read. This book takes place during WW2 in England, and it has everything in it. It's filled with tears and laughter. I wanted to meet these people and be friends with them. I was so excited to see this author has a new book coming out. After reading Goodnight Mr. Tom, I bought all her books. She has a gift for telling a story. Have I mentioned how much I love this book?

And a God bless you to all rescuers! 2009-05-18

Reviewer: Judy K. Polhemus

"Good Night, Mr. Tom" by Michelle Magorian

Winner, 1982 International Reading Association Children's Book Award
Notable Children's Books of 1982 (ALA)
1982 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1983 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
1982 Young Adult Editors' Choices (BL)
1983 Teachers' Choices (NCTE)
Notable 1982 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1988 Choices (Association of Booksellers for Children)
Children's Books of 1982 (Library of Congress)

It's not often that a book receives so many honors from so many different groups, making "Good Night, Mr. Tom" very special. The story is set during early World War II when London and coastal cities in England were being bombed. Children in these areas were evacuated to the country where willing families took them in for unspecified lengths of service. (If you recall The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the book or film, then you understand this evacuation.)

Pale, thin, and small for his age, William Beech (Willie, he is called) is placed with Tom Oakley, a gruff man in his 60's and resident of Wierwold, a tiny village north of London. What Tom discovers is a multitude of bruises and sores from repeated beatings with Willie's big belt and buckle that hold up his pants.

It's with this discovery that Tom rises up outside himself to become not only a caretaker for the duration, but eventually a father figure. As a young man, Tom lost his beloved wife and baby son in childbirth and became the town's recluse. We don't know his occupation, but I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't been a weaver, much like that one in Raveloe, who also was reclaimed by a foundling, that ol' Silas Marner.

Like Silas, Tom has not had much to do with other villagers until now. Caring for an abused boy brings him out of himself and into the world to assume the care--quite capably and generously--for this bedraggled boy.

In the six months or so that Tom has the boy, Willie grows out of his fear into love and friendship. Even at 10 he cannot read, but Tom teaches him. Willie slowly joins a world he didn't know existed. Also, he becomes very best friends with Zach, another evacuee (his first friend at that).

All good things come to an end. Tom receives a telegram from the mother, requesting Willie return home. She is ill and needs him. Willie can barely remember this creature he calls his mother and fears this trip.

"Good Night, Mr. Tom" is truly a heartwarming book. Watching not only Will learn to love, but also Tom is a reading experience to savor. Fearing for Will as he returns to the viper's nest is painful.

The first half of the book is about the opening of hearts and the
welcoming of love and relationships. The second half is about family love.
This is truly a book well worth the reading!

Good Night, Mr. Tom 2009-02-14

Reviewer: Maureen H. Smith

It was a good book. I just didn't realize it would be so depressing.