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The Skylarks' War #1
Love to Everyone
A Boston Globe Best Book of 2018
A Horn Book Best Book of 2018
“Vivid, hilarious, and heartbreaking.” —Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity
“The best children’s book I’ve read this year.” —Katherine Rundell, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award–winning author of Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms
“A near-miraculous balance of light and joyous touch with sometimes serious and even heartbreaking material.” — BCCB (starred review)
From award-winning author Hilary McKay comes a “wholly satisfying” ( Booklist , starred review) story full of wit, heartbreak, and hope as a girl fights for her independence during World War I.
Clarry Penrose finds the good in everyone. Even in her father, who isn’t fond of children, and especially girls. He doesn’t worry about her education, because he knows she won’t need it. It’s the early twentieth century, and the only thing girls are expected to do is behave.
But Clarry longs for a life of her own. She wants to dive off cliffs and go swimming with her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. And more than anything, she wants an education. She helps Peter with his homework all the time, so why can’t she manage it by herself? When war breaks out, Clarry is shocked to find that Rupert has enlisted. Then he is declared missing, and Clarry is devastated. Now she must take a momentous step into the wide world—for if she misses this chance, she may never make it.
This is an inspirational, funny, and heartwarming story about a girl who dares to open doors that the world would rather keep closed.
A Horn Book Best Book of 2018
“Vivid, hilarious, and heartbreaking.” —Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity
“The best children’s book I’ve read this year.” —Katherine Rundell, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award–winning author of Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms
“A near-miraculous balance of light and joyous touch with sometimes serious and even heartbreaking material.” — BCCB (starred review)
From award-winning author Hilary McKay comes a “wholly satisfying” ( Booklist , starred review) story full of wit, heartbreak, and hope as a girl fights for her independence during World War I.
Clarry Penrose finds the good in everyone. Even in her father, who isn’t fond of children, and especially girls. He doesn’t worry about her education, because he knows she won’t need it. It’s the early twentieth century, and the only thing girls are expected to do is behave.
But Clarry longs for a life of her own. She wants to dive off cliffs and go swimming with her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. And more than anything, she wants an education. She helps Peter with his homework all the time, so why can’t she manage it by herself? When war breaks out, Clarry is shocked to find that Rupert has enlisted. Then he is declared missing, and Clarry is devastated. Now she must take a momentous step into the wide world—for if she misses this chance, she may never make it.
This is an inspirational, funny, and heartwarming story about a girl who dares to open doors that the world would rather keep closed.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 3, 2018
135 people are currently reading
3142 people want to read
About the author
Hilary McKay
136 books387 followersHilary McKay was born in Boston, Lincolnshire and is the eldest of four girls. From a very early age she read voraciously and grew up in a household of readers. Hilary says of herself as a child "I anaesthetised myself against the big bad world with large doses of literature. The local library was as familiar to me as my own home."
After reading Botany and Zoology at St. Andrew's University Hilary then went on to work as a biochemist in an Analysis Department. Hilary enjoyed the work but at the same time had a burning desire to write. After the birth of her two children, Hilary wanted to devote more time to bringing up her children and writing so decided to leave her job.
One of the best things about being a writer, says Hilary, is receiving letters from children. She wishes that she had written to authors as a child, but it never occurred to her to contact them
Hilary now lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her family. When not writing Hilary loves walking, reading, and having friends to stay.
After reading Botany and Zoology at St. Andrew's University Hilary then went on to work as a biochemist in an Analysis Department. Hilary enjoyed the work but at the same time had a burning desire to write. After the birth of her two children, Hilary wanted to devote more time to bringing up her children and writing so decided to leave her job.
One of the best things about being a writer, says Hilary, is receiving letters from children. She wishes that she had written to authors as a child, but it never occurred to her to contact them
Hilary now lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her family. When not writing Hilary loves walking, reading, and having friends to stay.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 562 reviews
May 20, 2022
2,5-2,75/5
December 7, 2022
Then she knew her guess had been right, because he smiled, and it was the smile she'd seen in the picture.
Looking for a touching and telling book about WW I? This is it! Don't just hand this one to your child or grandchild. Read it together. And don't forget to have your tissues handy. You will laugh and cry while reading about Peter, Clarry, Vanessa, Simon the Bony One, Rupert, Odysseus, Mrs. Morgan, Violet, Miss Vane, and Mr. King--the rag-and-bone man. Hilary McKay paints a picture that, for me, was a bit like reading "Little Women." And I can't leave out Lucy, the pony, who narrowly escapes being sent to France. The relationships are real and they are so frustrating at times. The details of the war are heartbreaking, but also uplifting. Through it all, Clarry grows and perseveres with the help of our supporting cast. Such a beautiful story. If you loved War Horse, you must pick this one up.
Just finished reading The Swallows' Flight and wanted to repost this review from when I read the companion novel. Highly recommend these two titles!
Looking for a touching and telling book about WW I? This is it! Don't just hand this one to your child or grandchild. Read it together. And don't forget to have your tissues handy. You will laugh and cry while reading about Peter, Clarry, Vanessa, Simon the Bony One, Rupert, Odysseus, Mrs. Morgan, Violet, Miss Vane, and Mr. King--the rag-and-bone man. Hilary McKay paints a picture that, for me, was a bit like reading "Little Women." And I can't leave out Lucy, the pony, who narrowly escapes being sent to France. The relationships are real and they are so frustrating at times. The details of the war are heartbreaking, but also uplifting. Through it all, Clarry grows and perseveres with the help of our supporting cast. Such a beautiful story. If you loved War Horse, you must pick this one up.
Just finished reading The Swallows' Flight and wanted to repost this review from when I read the companion novel. Highly recommend these two titles!
April 11, 2019
This story engaged us from the start, in fact the first part of this book that covers the characters childhood was perfect. We started with the birth of Clarry and then with the loss of one parent and the other three not being interested the three children are pretty much on their own. Such real characters, wonderful descriptions, happiness, sadness and such humour. We loved the descriptions of the perfect summers enjoyed by Rupert and his cousins Peter and Clarry with grandparents who also didn't really want them but gave them the freedom to play outdoors and make their own decisions.
The story moves on with the lives of the Penrose cousins. They attend school, make friends and with the onset of WWI we get to see the horrors of life in the trenches and life for those at home. The memories of those perfect summers are dear to the cousins and something that will stay with them.
The characters in this book were brilliant, details such as how their daily Mrs Morgan
This was an emotional read and I found the last few chapters hard to read aloud, but the story ends with hope. These are characters that will stay with us.
The story moves on with the lives of the Penrose cousins. They attend school, make friends and with the onset of WWI we get to see the horrors of life in the trenches and life for those at home. The memories of those perfect summers are dear to the cousins and something that will stay with them.
The characters in this book were brilliant, details such as how their daily Mrs Morgan
This was an emotional read and I found the last few chapters hard to read aloud, but the story ends with hope. These are characters that will stay with us.
February 18, 2019
What an amazing and moving story. My wife read it first and couldn’t put it down. She kindly passed it on to me and I read it in a day. I am a history teacher and often have issues with books set in the World Wars as the writers tend to make obvious errors but this was beautifully written and I felt captured the mood of the war years.
I was moved almost to tears in places. It reminded me of so many amazing books like; War Horse, the Railway Children and maybe Swallows and Amazons. With All quiet on the Western Front in there too. For a children’s novel it was quite brutally honest about how hard and dark the Western Front could be.
Dare I say a modern classic? I am going to recommend this for the school library and my students. What a lovely story.
I was moved almost to tears in places. It reminded me of so many amazing books like; War Horse, the Railway Children and maybe Swallows and Amazons. With All quiet on the Western Front in there too. For a children’s novel it was quite brutally honest about how hard and dark the Western Front could be.
Dare I say a modern classic? I am going to recommend this for the school library and my students. What a lovely story.
November 22, 2021
This book is written for 9-12 year olds but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it! It has won so many awards I really wanted to see what it was all about. I knew I’d love it for the Cornwall references alone, but it is also a beautifully written account of a young family who all become teenagers during the war & who are torn apart in various ways, not just the obvious ones. Many of the issues are pretty deep & would soar over the heads of the average 9 year old but written in such a way that it won’t offend or upset younger readers. I adore Hilary Mckay’s way of explaining the unexplainable, particularly when it comes to war:
The armies are made up of...”Perfectly reasonable people, the sort who in their previous lives let wasps out of windows; read story books to children, doing all the proper voices; flinched at flat notes; and hardly ever shouted, got drunk or forgot their mother’s birthdays-absolutely ordinary people- made considerable efforts to kill other absolutely ordinary people whom they had never met.’
The armies are made up of...”Perfectly reasonable people, the sort who in their previous lives let wasps out of windows; read story books to children, doing all the proper voices; flinched at flat notes; and hardly ever shouted, got drunk or forgot their mother’s birthdays-absolutely ordinary people- made considerable efforts to kill other absolutely ordinary people whom they had never met.’
November 18, 2021
These are the kids from Binny in Secret, right? I’m not making that up?
Anyway, this is a short book, but it FEELS big. It also feels old school, the way it follows Clarry from childhood to adulthood. I miss books like that.
It also doesn’t pull it’s WWI punches, wow.
I recommend it.
Re-Read November 2021
Had to re-read this after reading The Swallows’ Flight. It's goooood.
Anyway, this is a short book, but it FEELS big. It also feels old school, the way it follows Clarry from childhood to adulthood. I miss books like that.
It also doesn’t pull it’s WWI punches, wow.
I recommend it.
Re-Read November 2021
Had to re-read this after reading The Swallows’ Flight. It's goooood.
July 13, 2021
I've just reread this in anticipation of the sequel, and liked it better on a second reading, and would now rate it 4.5 if I could. My only quibble is that I found the book a bit rushed. I usually enjoy Hilary McKay's sort of breathless way of advancing a story and developing character through amusing and revealing dialogue, but perhaps this style doesn't work so well in a book that covers several years. I'm eager to start the next book, which apparently is about the next generation of the family, taking place in WWII. .
March 19, 2021
Very much a deserved winner of any book award. Slow and steady in pace, Skylark's War gently promenades us through the early years of our protagonist, Clarry as she spends her youth between her insular and deeply self-centred father (I realise there is more here than McKay lets on) and her grandparents on the coast. As we peer at this world over Clarry's innocent and ignorant shoulder, we see it change and darken with the advent of war and the loss of those that she loves. Relationships change and are challenged and Clarry must make a choice between embracing that transition into adulthood or remaining within the comforting shadow of servitude to her father.
I understand why many write about how they wanted to be friends with the entire cast - much of this is down to McKay's excellent prose and careful planning but it was Clarry all the way for me. A delight from start to finish. Never too ignorant and strong of mind and heart. This is, to an extent, a Goldengrovefor a younger generation and I welcome it.
I understand why many write about how they wanted to be friends with the entire cast - much of this is down to McKay's excellent prose and careful planning but it was Clarry all the way for me. A delight from start to finish. Never too ignorant and strong of mind and heart. This is, to an extent, a Goldengrovefor a younger generation and I welcome it.
October 21, 2018
This is so meticulously plotted that I don't quite know how to untangle what didn't work for me from what absolutely did.
I'll start by saying that, as a war book, this isn't as successful to me as The Road Home or Rilla of Ingleside. It's too contemporary for that. Something about it screams "historical fiction" instead of "product of its time." Part of that might be Clarry, who's oblivious for a good chunk of the book, which blunts its impact. Part of that is the way the book tries to be everything at once: a family story (more McKay absent parenting!) and a found-family story and an empowerment story and a war book. It's small-scale and large-scale at once, and so ambitious that it becomes unbalanced.
It has incredible high moments:
I think it's because Clarry has to compete with this, whereas Harriet is her story:
I think it would work better as a Noel Streatfeild book, with the focus on the home front; lines like "'For those in peril on the sea!' sang the girls, and of course the seas were perilous, that was well known from poetry" feel very Streatfeildian in tone. (Perhaps that's another thing that makes the book feel too contemporary: Streatfeild, after all, didn't write about WWI.)
And the ending is entirely Traveling Shoes (which is fantastic, don't get me wrong).
I'm just not sure that the ending's extremely selective focus on Rupert - his lack of resolution, that arc that goes from golden boy to traumatized by war, and then stops there, while the rest of them get pages' worth of excellent resolution - fits this story.
This is compelling. There's a chance it's more compelling as a story-within-a-story (I'm going to reread Binny in Secret, just to be sure) but it is good. But it's not as good as it could be, and the story kept presenting me with examples of that, over and over.
I'll start by saying that, as a war book, this isn't as successful to me as The Road Home or Rilla of Ingleside. It's too contemporary for that. Something about it screams "historical fiction" instead of "product of its time." Part of that might be Clarry, who's oblivious for a good chunk of the book, which blunts its impact. Part of that is the way the book tries to be everything at once: a family story (more McKay absent parenting!) and a found-family story and an empowerment story and a war book. It's small-scale and large-scale at once, and so ambitious that it becomes unbalanced.
It has incredible high moments:
Clarry had had private worlds before, but they had all been in her head. She had never had a private world with real live people in it. Now she had. At the new school she was not Peter's nuisance sister, Rupert's little cousin, her grandparents' youngest grandchild, Mrs. Morgan's kitchen helper, Miss Vane's Good Deed, and her father's personal destruction.I love the story of Clarry's education - how she gets herself into high school, and then into Oxford - and yet that's something that tripped me up, too: she doesn't fit as a compatriot of Harriet Vane. Is it fair to hold McKay to the standards of Dorothy Sayers? Clarry is great, but Harriet lives.
At school she was Clarry Penrose.
People noticed her smile and her too-long skirt, her quietness, her chopped-off hair, and the speed with which she could climb a rope in the gym. She became a person who walked miles to school, could be asked about math, honestly loved Latin, would remove unwanted spiders, and never had any money. A bit of an oddity, but so were many others. It was a good school, and accepted oddities as long as they had brains.
I think it's because Clarry has to compete with this, whereas Harriet is her story:
The line was the shape of a long, lopsided smile. A ravenous, expectant smile. A greedy, unreasonable smile, considering how very, very well it was fed.And all this point-of-view shifting away from Clarry's story gets tangled up with the desire of the boys on the front to spare the people at home generally - everyone's desire to spare Clarry specifically - Peter's rage that Rupert distracts Clarry from her work - and so this book almost feels unsure of what its focus should be.
On either side of the line were the armies. Neither was winning, although not because they didn't try. [...] Absolutely ordinary people made considerable efforts to kill other absolutely ordinary people whom they had never even met.
Things didn't get better; they got worse.
I think it would work better as a Noel Streatfeild book, with the focus on the home front; lines like "'For those in peril on the sea!' sang the girls, and of course the seas were perilous, that was well known from poetry" feel very Streatfeildian in tone. (Perhaps that's another thing that makes the book feel too contemporary: Streatfeild, after all, didn't write about WWI.)
And the ending is entirely Traveling Shoes (which is fantastic, don't get me wrong).
I'm just not sure that the ending's extremely selective focus on Rupert - his lack of resolution, that arc that goes from golden boy to traumatized by war, and then stops there, while the rest of them get pages' worth of excellent resolution - fits this story.
This is compelling. There's a chance it's more compelling as a story-within-a-story (I'm going to reread Binny in Secret, just to be sure) but it is good. But it's not as good as it could be, and the story kept presenting me with examples of that, over and over.
July 28, 2018
'Clarry was 3 days old when her mother died.'
The Skylarks' War is a poignant narrative following the lives of Clarissa ( Clarry), her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. Growing up at a time when the world outside was amidst turmoil, the three and their friends build happy memories together that are at stake during the world war. The 'pity of war' that Owen once wrote about has been brought out once again from the perspective of a kids growing into adults. Although the book does get a bit draggy owing to the monotonous writing style, the plot has been executed brilliantly.
Hilary McKay lists a long bibliography and the book is pretty well researched as well, which is a plus point for any book that is set against the backdrop of the world war. I have been reading War Poets like Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg lately and this book was indeed a great way to share an alternate perspective.
The Skylarks' War is a poignant narrative following the lives of Clarissa ( Clarry), her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. Growing up at a time when the world outside was amidst turmoil, the three and their friends build happy memories together that are at stake during the world war. The 'pity of war' that Owen once wrote about has been brought out once again from the perspective of a kids growing into adults. Although the book does get a bit draggy owing to the monotonous writing style, the plot has been executed brilliantly.
Hilary McKay lists a long bibliography and the book is pretty well researched as well, which is a plus point for any book that is set against the backdrop of the world war. I have been reading War Poets like Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg lately and this book was indeed a great way to share an alternate perspective.
August 20, 2018
Occasionally, very occasionally, you read a book that slips so perfectly into the canon that it seems as if it was always there. That you read it as a child, reread it over and over, until it forms part of you along with Anne Shirley and Jo March, the Fossil sisters, Jo Bettany and Veronica Weston and Nicola Marlowe... the Skylarks' War is such a book.
Clarry's birth coincides with her mother's death, and her father, who only misses out on tyranny through indifference, thinks it's a shame she didn't depart along with the wife he's too selfish to mourn. Somehow Clarry holds on and, along with her brother Peter, is half-brought up by a series of well meaning neighbours, housekeepers and, in the summer, they head to Cornwall and her grandparents and adored older cousin, Rupert. Peter at least is given an education - although the threat of boarding school hangs heavily over him - but Clarry is sent instead to two elderly women who barely teach her to sew let alone think. Not that she lets that stop her...
There is so much packed into the book it feels like it should be a whole series. We follow Clarry from birth to womanhood and yet no part of her life feels hurried through. Like any book that starts in the early 1900s there's a sense of inevitability, a knowledge of the upheaval about to hit the children as they reach adulthood and yet when the war comes it's as shocking to us as it is for them.
This is a wonderful book filled with unforgettable characters, the kind of characters that seem to exist outside the pages. Clarry and Peter, Rupert, their friends Vanessa and Simon, Miss Vane and Mrs Morgan and Mr King. The Streatfield comparisons are deserved, more Vicarage Family Streatfield (my favourite kind) than Ballet Shoes although the Fossils would have found a kindred spirit in Clarry.
The Skylarks' War deserves to win every award going but more than that it deserves to be read, to be on every bookshelf of every bookworm throughout the land. It's not a modern day classic. It's a classic.
Clarry's birth coincides with her mother's death, and her father, who only misses out on tyranny through indifference, thinks it's a shame she didn't depart along with the wife he's too selfish to mourn. Somehow Clarry holds on and, along with her brother Peter, is half-brought up by a series of well meaning neighbours, housekeepers and, in the summer, they head to Cornwall and her grandparents and adored older cousin, Rupert. Peter at least is given an education - although the threat of boarding school hangs heavily over him - but Clarry is sent instead to two elderly women who barely teach her to sew let alone think. Not that she lets that stop her...
There is so much packed into the book it feels like it should be a whole series. We follow Clarry from birth to womanhood and yet no part of her life feels hurried through. Like any book that starts in the early 1900s there's a sense of inevitability, a knowledge of the upheaval about to hit the children as they reach adulthood and yet when the war comes it's as shocking to us as it is for them.
This is a wonderful book filled with unforgettable characters, the kind of characters that seem to exist outside the pages. Clarry and Peter, Rupert, their friends Vanessa and Simon, Miss Vane and Mrs Morgan and Mr King. The Streatfield comparisons are deserved, more Vicarage Family Streatfield (my favourite kind) than Ballet Shoes although the Fossils would have found a kindred spirit in Clarry.
The Skylarks' War deserves to win every award going but more than that it deserves to be read, to be on every bookshelf of every bookworm throughout the land. It's not a modern day classic. It's a classic.
June 18, 2020
It's probably a very good thing I don't have children, as I would immediately have been like, "Here, child of mine, I REQUIRE you to immediately read this excellent book absolutely brimming with parental neglect, self-inflicted injuries, the horrors of the Great War, tragic unrequited love and all the pains and joys of growing up too soon and looking out for each other because you cannot trust the grown-ups to do it - yes, yes, don't worry, it's billed as a children's book and it has wonderful friendships and adventures in it in addition to the liquefied trench corpses, and also a pony. Go on, read it now and report all your thoughts to me tomorrow!"
(actually, I would totally have adored this as a kid, lol)
Anyway, this was by turns casually devastating and utterly delightful, at all times a joy to read, and it's going straight to the favourites shelf. Wonderful characters, great pace, bit of Flambards, bit of All Quiet on the Western Front, bit of Frances Hardinge, maybe? (Trust me, it makes sense.) Must go forth and hunt down all this author's other books immediately.
(actually, I would totally have adored this as a kid, lol)
Anyway, this was by turns casually devastating and utterly delightful, at all times a joy to read, and it's going straight to the favourites shelf. Wonderful characters, great pace, bit of Flambards, bit of All Quiet on the Western Front, bit of Frances Hardinge, maybe? (Trust me, it makes sense.) Must go forth and hunt down all this author's other books immediately.
March 20, 2019
...I quickly realised why this book had won The Costa and was amazed it hadn't won more - yet.
Clarry, Peter and their older cousin Rupert are characters to take into your heart forever. Told through the innocent childhood eyes of Clarry, McKay is able to tackle some heavy issues. Family dysfunction, bullying, sexism and feminist issues, homosexuality and the hardships of war are all in this book. McKay hints at stuff, leads us up to a point, but she never tells us or explains. She leaves us to work it out and make the connections ourselves, as all the best stories do.
The Skylarks' War will make you laugh and cry. I found myself hugging it to my chest several times and wondering how many people I could make read this book asap.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/...
Clarry, Peter and their older cousin Rupert are characters to take into your heart forever. Told through the innocent childhood eyes of Clarry, McKay is able to tackle some heavy issues. Family dysfunction, bullying, sexism and feminist issues, homosexuality and the hardships of war are all in this book. McKay hints at stuff, leads us up to a point, but she never tells us or explains. She leaves us to work it out and make the connections ourselves, as all the best stories do.
The Skylarks' War will make you laugh and cry. I found myself hugging it to my chest several times and wondering how many people I could make read this book asap.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/...
February 22, 2021
THE SKYLARKS' WAR 🕊️
"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." C.S. Lewis
🕊️"Clarry 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 comes to an end as the shadow of a terrible war looms - and when Rupert goes off to fight at the Front, Clarry feels their skylarks summers are finally slipping away from them. Can their family survive this fearful war?" (Blurb)
🕊️As a lover of historical fiction, I was both delighted and slightly apprehensive when I discovered this book. I was also a little unsure about reading another children's book on the trot. But I had no reason to be worried because here was a story with no hair out of place! With her beautiful writing, McKay navigates through the WW1 setting perfectly and I did not once feel like it had a contemporary voice.
🕊️Clarry and Peter Penrose grow up without a mother, and with a neglectful and disinterested father. Fending for themselves, with the help of hard work,humour, brains and the kindness of others, they grow up strong and independent. At the centre of their story is the friendship with cousin Rupert, and with Peter's school friend Simon and his sister Vanessa. 🕊️- Tell me, how is darling school? Do they miss me? Have I been mentioned in Those in Our Thoughts Today? - Of course. Let us hold in our thoughts today, Vanessa Bonnington. Loud and vulgar but very much missed.🕊️
🕊️The Skylarks' War won the Costa Book Awards for children's literature in 2018 and it was thoroughly deserved. It doesn't shy away from being honest about life and the war both in Britain and at the Front. I don't want to give away too much, and will just say - Buy it, read it!
"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." C.S. Lewis
🕊️"Clarry 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 comes to an end as the shadow of a terrible war looms - and when Rupert goes off to fight at the Front, Clarry feels their skylarks summers are finally slipping away from them. Can their family survive this fearful war?" (Blurb)
🕊️As a lover of historical fiction, I was both delighted and slightly apprehensive when I discovered this book. I was also a little unsure about reading another children's book on the trot. But I had no reason to be worried because here was a story with no hair out of place! With her beautiful writing, McKay navigates through the WW1 setting perfectly and I did not once feel like it had a contemporary voice.
🕊️Clarry and Peter Penrose grow up without a mother, and with a neglectful and disinterested father. Fending for themselves, with the help of hard work,humour, brains and the kindness of others, they grow up strong and independent. At the centre of their story is the friendship with cousin Rupert, and with Peter's school friend Simon and his sister Vanessa. 🕊️- Tell me, how is darling school? Do they miss me? Have I been mentioned in Those in Our Thoughts Today? - Of course. Let us hold in our thoughts today, Vanessa Bonnington. Loud and vulgar but very much missed.🕊️
🕊️The Skylarks' War won the Costa Book Awards for children's literature in 2018 and it was thoroughly deserved. It doesn't shy away from being honest about life and the war both in Britain and at the Front. I don't want to give away too much, and will just say - Buy it, read it!
January 7, 2019
Hilary McKay's storytelling is so very lovely; the structure of her sentences so supple and clear; her characters so utterly real. You don't have to want to be there with them, you are. This is called Love to Everyone in the US; but I like the British title better.
March 12, 2022
2.5 ⭐️
This is not a children’s book.
I do not like “children’s books” where the parent(s) are the bad guys.
I do not especially like literary fiction with an agenda.
Even so, it was beautifully written.
This is not a children’s book.
I do not like “children’s books” where the parent(s) are the bad guys.
I do not especially like literary fiction with an agenda.
Even so, it was beautifully written.
April 29, 2019
This is what a children's book ought to look like.
April 14, 2022
Recensione completa su Scheggia tra le pagine
I ragazzi hanno bisogno di libri così.
È un peccato che questa storia sia passata in sordina, dimenticata dall’editore che avrebbe potuto spingere per far conoscere qualcosa di davvero bello.
È innegabile: La guerra delle farfalle è un bellissimo libro, che a tratti ricorda un po’ il primo volume di Anna dai capelli rossi e che sa parlare della guerra come pochi sanno fare.
È facile sbagliarsi con libri così; si pensa alla solita storia di ragazzini che combinano guai, che vanno all’avventura senza particolari conseguenze. Sarebbe stata comunque una storia bella, ma questa è una spanna in più.
Questa non è la classica storia con i bambini orfani, ma è la storia di una famiglia dove i bambini sono protagonisti; bambini che poi crescono e che si scontreranno con qualcosa di grande e mai visto prima: la grande guerra.
Trovare libri sulla seconda guerra mondiale è molto più facile, anche perché essendo stata combattuta anche nelle città, forse è più facile parlarne.
I libri sulla grande guerra – la prima – sono più difficili da trovare, o forse meno pubblicizzati e nella Guerra delle farfalle si ha un ottimo riassunto della condizione dei soldati nelle trincee (senza però rendere pesante il racconto), della situazione psicologica e c’è molta attenzione verso coloro che non hanno combattuto al fronte e che tuttavia hanno contribuito allo sforzo bellico, come il lavoro delle donne, non solo negli ospedali.
La narrazione inizia ai primi del ‘900, con la nascita di Clarry e il suo ingresso destabilizzante in famiglia, infatti pochi giorni dopo muore la madre, facendo sprofondare tutti nel buio.
I ragazzi hanno bisogno di libri così.
È un peccato che questa storia sia passata in sordina, dimenticata dall’editore che avrebbe potuto spingere per far conoscere qualcosa di davvero bello.
È innegabile: La guerra delle farfalle è un bellissimo libro, che a tratti ricorda un po’ il primo volume di Anna dai capelli rossi e che sa parlare della guerra come pochi sanno fare.
È facile sbagliarsi con libri così; si pensa alla solita storia di ragazzini che combinano guai, che vanno all’avventura senza particolari conseguenze. Sarebbe stata comunque una storia bella, ma questa è una spanna in più.
Questa non è la classica storia con i bambini orfani, ma è la storia di una famiglia dove i bambini sono protagonisti; bambini che poi crescono e che si scontreranno con qualcosa di grande e mai visto prima: la grande guerra.
Trovare libri sulla seconda guerra mondiale è molto più facile, anche perché essendo stata combattuta anche nelle città, forse è più facile parlarne.
I libri sulla grande guerra – la prima – sono più difficili da trovare, o forse meno pubblicizzati e nella Guerra delle farfalle si ha un ottimo riassunto della condizione dei soldati nelle trincee (senza però rendere pesante il racconto), della situazione psicologica e c’è molta attenzione verso coloro che non hanno combattuto al fronte e che tuttavia hanno contribuito allo sforzo bellico, come il lavoro delle donne, non solo negli ospedali.
La narrazione inizia ai primi del ‘900, con la nascita di Clarry e il suo ingresso destabilizzante in famiglia, infatti pochi giorni dopo muore la madre, facendo sprofondare tutti nel buio.
January 4, 2019
Whoa. Okay. This book.
The Skylarks’ War is a beautiful children’s novel, the latter half of which is set against the backdrop of WWII. We follow Clarry Penrose, her beloved brother Peter and favourite cousin Rupert, from childhood to adulthood while World War II is raging.
Where to begin with unpicking this book? First of all, the prose is absolutely, gloriously beautiful. From the descriptions of Clarry's 'Skylark summers' in Cornwall to the gutting depictions of the front lines. One particular line I loved was the description of the line as a 'well fed' 'long lopsided smile.' A terrifying visual! Although the book is targeted towards a younger demographic, the writing feels raw and hard hitting, and I'd honestly recommend this book to anyone, no matter their age.
The characters are heartbreakingly lovable. The gaggle of schoolboys, Simon, Peter and Rupert, who go from childish antics at boarding school to growing up to fight a war. Rupert, who for Clarry, epitomises Summer. The boys are unfailingly, unflinchingly /kind/ despite their boyhood, and you can feel how much Clarry loves them. Clarry herself is especially lovable, with her determination and stubbornness to not only be as kind as humanly possible, but to get an education and prove that "girls can do anything!" Vanessa, too, is brash and loud and ballsy, but ultimately determined to keep everyone's spirits up during wartime.
I was just planning on picking up a light read to start my year, I didn't expect to be so moved, but I was. And I'll be keeping an eye out for more of Hilary McKay's work from now on.
The Skylarks’ War is a beautiful children’s novel, the latter half of which is set against the backdrop of WWII. We follow Clarry Penrose, her beloved brother Peter and favourite cousin Rupert, from childhood to adulthood while World War II is raging.
Where to begin with unpicking this book? First of all, the prose is absolutely, gloriously beautiful. From the descriptions of Clarry's 'Skylark summers' in Cornwall to the gutting depictions of the front lines. One particular line I loved was the description of the line as a 'well fed' 'long lopsided smile.' A terrifying visual! Although the book is targeted towards a younger demographic, the writing feels raw and hard hitting, and I'd honestly recommend this book to anyone, no matter their age.
The characters are heartbreakingly lovable. The gaggle of schoolboys, Simon, Peter and Rupert, who go from childish antics at boarding school to growing up to fight a war. Rupert, who for Clarry, epitomises Summer. The boys are unfailingly, unflinchingly /kind/ despite their boyhood, and you can feel how much Clarry loves them. Clarry herself is especially lovable, with her determination and stubbornness to not only be as kind as humanly possible, but to get an education and prove that "girls can do anything!" Vanessa, too, is brash and loud and ballsy, but ultimately determined to keep everyone's spirits up during wartime.
I was just planning on picking up a light read to start my year, I didn't expect to be so moved, but I was. And I'll be keeping an eye out for more of Hilary McKay's work from now on.
May 1, 2020
This is a difficult one because I have two friend who love and adore this book, even to the point where they cried over certain scenes and swear it is the best thing since slice bread, so for me to admit that I did not like it at all is probably going to get me killed. When you do come with your pitchforks, please be gentle with me...
I think the fact that I went into this with such high expectations didn’t help either. I’d been hearing great things, only for my excitement to die down the more I continued to read. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, or anything I hated outright. It was just too slow paced and I didn’t feel like much was happening to keep me invested, not even in the characters we spent so much time with. When the emotional moments came, I felt like I should be cheering or crying with them when in reality I just wanted to get to the end and skim read to it.
It didn’t work for me, but looks like I have a stone heart. If you’re looking for character driven historical fiction, then this is the one for you.
I think the fact that I went into this with such high expectations didn’t help either. I’d been hearing great things, only for my excitement to die down the more I continued to read. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, or anything I hated outright. It was just too slow paced and I didn’t feel like much was happening to keep me invested, not even in the characters we spent so much time with. When the emotional moments came, I felt like I should be cheering or crying with them when in reality I just wanted to get to the end and skim read to it.
It didn’t work for me, but looks like I have a stone heart. If you’re looking for character driven historical fiction, then this is the one for you.
January 21, 2019
Darn you, Hilary McKay! You made me cry.
First, I love McKay's writing and will follow her anywhere. When her Binny books first wove in a historical thread, I was completely surprised and intrigued. Now here is the story of the Penrose cousins, front and center, which answers all the questions first posed in "Binny in Secret." Hilarious, touching, tragic, and hopeful: it's all there. McKay's trademarks are there, too: dysfunctional parents (for which she makes no excuses), kids with a full range of real emotions, and truthful (if sometimes painful) storytelling. She pulls no punches. She respects her young audience. I'm in awe.
First, I love McKay's writing and will follow her anywhere. When her Binny books first wove in a historical thread, I was completely surprised and intrigued. Now here is the story of the Penrose cousins, front and center, which answers all the questions first posed in "Binny in Secret." Hilarious, touching, tragic, and hopeful: it's all there. McKay's trademarks are there, too: dysfunctional parents (for which she makes no excuses), kids with a full range of real emotions, and truthful (if sometimes painful) storytelling. She pulls no punches. She respects her young audience. I'm in awe.
July 13, 2022
For my full review, visit me at https://mrsbrownsbooks.wordpress.com/...
Aimed at children and young adults, this read follows the lives of three children who grow up through the First World War. I went into this book with high expectations and sadly these were not fulfilled.
Aimed at children and young adults, this read follows the lives of three children who grow up through the First World War. I went into this book with high expectations and sadly these were not fulfilled.
May 30, 2021
This was so beautiful, sad, and gah! Everything about it was sooooo good. (that was SO cringy)
Not only were the story and writing beautiful, but that COVER!! <3
This story was just so amazing and inspiring?
But middle-grades are such nice breaks and I LOVE reading them every so often
this was a fast-paced and quick read; HIGHLY recommend
if you enjoyed
or
, read this and vice versa
Not only were the story and writing beautiful, but that COVER!! <3
This story was just so amazing and inspiring?
But middle-grades are such nice breaks and I LOVE reading them every so often
this was a fast-paced and quick read; HIGHLY recommend
if you enjoyed
or
, read this and vice versa
December 30, 2018
I feel like each book of Hilary McKay’s is a gift to the twelve-year-old I wish I'd been. (I actually don't think I would have had the sophistication at that age to appreciate her stories adequately.) She gives us a cast of earnest, messy characters, often caught in difficult family situations, who seem to thrive on their shared devotion of each other.
I believe this is her first historical fiction, and while we got more than a glimpse of horrors of the Western Front during the Great War, it was softened by our Clarry's drive to improve her lot in life, as she also beetles about keeping everyone in her hemisphere safe.
I believe this is her first historical fiction, and while we got more than a glimpse of horrors of the Western Front during the Great War, it was softened by our Clarry's drive to improve her lot in life, as she also beetles about keeping everyone in her hemisphere safe.
September 22, 2020
Skřivánci ve válce je naprosto nádherná kniha. Trošku mi připomínala Jako zabít ptáčka, možná proto, že vypráví příběh Klárky, která svět vnímá podobně nevinně jako Čipera. Klárku a její rodinu sledujeme od narození až do dospělosti. Jedná se o knihu z válečného prostředí, ovšem tady je to 1. světová válka. Autorka se navíc stihla věnovat spoustě dalších témat jako je například feminismus nebo homosexualita. I přesto bych řekla, že kniha je určena pro menší čtenáře, i přesto, že by si ji měli přečíst i dospělí. Celý příběh je kouzelný, úžasná napsaný, emotivní a rozhodně stojí za to.
June 5, 2021
Bałam się tej książki, bo część akcji rozgrywa się w czasie I wojny światowej, ale jest naprawdę przepiękna i napisana z wyczuciem.
August 18, 2024
8/18: ah yes me losing my mind over a middle grade wwi story at 1am. there are five library books I should read and I pick this up instead for the third!!! time
I kind of wish the US ed was also called The Skylarks' War but Love to Everyone fits so thematically so. Oh well. It is kind of astounding how much love there actually is in this book I didn't even clock half the stuff in here in 2019/2020 (chat this is why we reread books). Not sure if I can properly express it but it really is just everyone balancing out Mr. Penrose (who takes the cake for worst father ye gads) for Clarry even just Peter and Rupert for Simon. I don't think we often get a bunch of boys way older than the MC actually showing sm love to her (and each other) yk! And Vanessa sorry. Shoutout to Vanessa and Violet btw. I'm mildly puzzled by the pacing, still; it do be wilding but ig it makes sense in context of the story McKay's telling. Even tho this is Clarry's story (girlpower W) it's v much a WWI story (I'd just be reading along and a Rupert POV would hit and I would have to go lie down on the floor for a minute. every time!! Good LORD ow. I did NOT remember those bits) and I'm convinced this is just as much Rupert's story as it is hers he's just. The most prominent feature for everyone.
The writing style is kind of. What is the word. It's surface-light and very unique and honestly pretty offputting at times (it's not my favorite lol) but then you just think about it and it's like oh okay there's a lot said here not in the text I think this is one of those books you give a kid to read then explain through after cause there do be a crazy amount going on in here (girls schooling wwi simon you catch my drift). It's also not a book I'd give to just anyone? Also I was so real and true for the exclamation marks thing this is very much a ! book why was every other piece of dialogue punctuated by an ! (probably just a mg book thing idk lol)
the foreshadowing w Peter & Simon RAHHHH Clarry's name meaning clear & bright and that one bit with Rupert SCREAM? ok anyway
Chapter 38 is fantastic btw
also I really like how I was like yea I'll write a review the first time I read this then. Just never finished it. This is why I don't write real reviews LMAO. what am I doing
--
8.2.20 - WHY ARE THERE SO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!! also this was a wild trip but just.. <3
--
March 2019:
I have a weird habit of sometimes just going into Barnes & Noble or my library and scanning the children's shelves (aka ages 8-12) for books. I find some real gems from there, and I guess this is one of them.
First of, yes I love war fiction and non-fiction. As soon as I saw the synopsis of this, I immediately knew I had to read it. (Watch this be an italics-filled review cough Rilla of Ingleside cough)
This was published as The Skylarks' War in the UK, I believe, but here we have it as Love to Everyone - and both make sense in the book. Imo, the Skylark title/cover is more fitting, but that's just an opinion.
If there's a song that describes this book, it's Sleeping at Last's "Mars" (from Atlas: Space). - We laid our names to rest/Along the dotted line . . . We were amateurs at war,/Strangers to suffering./We made our families proud/But scared at the same time./We promised we’d be safe,/Another lie from the front lines.
This book also had a heavy Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane vibe, especially with the whole Oxford thing and the fact there's a character named Miss Vane...
Starting with the basics -
Characters:
* Clarissa "Clarry" Penrose
* Peter Penrose
* Penrose parents [Janey (†) and (unnamed)]
* [grandparents]
* Rupert Penrose
* Miss Vane
* Mrs. Morgan
* Simon Bonnington
* Vanessa Bonnington
* Bonnington parents [Beatrice and "Odysseus"]
* Violet (?)
My favorite character, flat-out, is Vanessa. She was such a personality, and a strong support throughout - and
My least favorite was easily the father. Look, I get we're supposed to, what, pity him? but he was such a caricature throughout, the epitome of indifference.
There isn't much of a real "plot" throughout - it's mostly following headstrong Clarry as she secures her own education through some rather unorthodox methods involving Peter, and then the trouble of the actual war and the complications that arise from Rupert enlisting and some other things ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). This book covers many years, approx. from 1902-1924 (twenty-two years!). I think it was sort of a stretch to cover so many years in this 324 page novel, especially with the awkward pacing (slow and steady in the beginning, and then suddenly sped up wildly).
[rest of review to come smh @ self]
I kind of wish the US ed was also called The Skylarks' War but Love to Everyone fits so thematically so. Oh well. It is kind of astounding how much love there actually is in this book I didn't even clock half the stuff in here in 2019/2020 (chat this is why we reread books). Not sure if I can properly express it but it really is just everyone balancing out Mr. Penrose (who takes the cake for worst father ye gads) for Clarry even just Peter and Rupert for Simon. I don't think we often get a bunch of boys way older than the MC actually showing sm love to her (and each other) yk! And Vanessa sorry. Shoutout to Vanessa and Violet btw. I'm mildly puzzled by the pacing, still; it do be wilding but ig it makes sense in context of the story McKay's telling. Even tho this is Clarry's story (girlpower W) it's v much a WWI story (I'd just be reading along and a Rupert POV would hit and I would have to go lie down on the floor for a minute. every time!! Good LORD ow. I did NOT remember those bits) and I'm convinced this is just as much Rupert's story as it is hers he's just. The most prominent feature for everyone.
The writing style is kind of. What is the word. It's surface-light and very unique and honestly pretty offputting at times (it's not my favorite lol) but then you just think about it and it's like oh okay there's a lot said here not in the text I think this is one of those books you give a kid to read then explain through after cause there do be a crazy amount going on in here (girls schooling wwi simon you catch my drift). It's also not a book I'd give to just anyone? Also I was so real and true for the exclamation marks thing this is very much a ! book why was every other piece of dialogue punctuated by an ! (probably just a mg book thing idk lol)
the foreshadowing w Peter & Simon RAHHHH Clarry's name meaning clear & bright and that one bit with Rupert SCREAM? ok anyway
Chapter 38 is fantastic btw
also I really like how I was like yea I'll write a review the first time I read this then. Just never finished it. This is why I don't write real reviews LMAO. what am I doing
--
8.2.20 - WHY ARE THERE SO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!! also this was a wild trip but just.. <3
--
March 2019:
I have a weird habit of sometimes just going into Barnes & Noble or my library and scanning the children's shelves (aka ages 8-12) for books. I find some real gems from there, and I guess this is one of them.
First of, yes I love war fiction and non-fiction. As soon as I saw the synopsis of this, I immediately knew I had to read it. (Watch this be an italics-filled review cough Rilla of Ingleside cough)
This was published as The Skylarks' War in the UK, I believe, but here we have it as Love to Everyone - and both make sense in the book. Imo, the Skylark title/cover is more fitting, but that's just an opinion.
If there's a song that describes this book, it's Sleeping at Last's "Mars" (from Atlas: Space). - We laid our names to rest/Along the dotted line . . . We were amateurs at war,/Strangers to suffering./We made our families proud/But scared at the same time./We promised we’d be safe,/Another lie from the front lines.
This book also had a heavy Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane vibe, especially with the whole Oxford thing and the fact there's a character named Miss Vane...
Starting with the basics -
Characters:
* Clarissa "Clarry" Penrose
* Peter Penrose
* Penrose parents [Janey (†) and (unnamed)]
* [grandparents]
* Rupert Penrose
* Miss Vane
* Mrs. Morgan
* Simon Bonnington
* Vanessa Bonnington
* Bonnington parents [Beatrice and "Odysseus"]
* Violet (?)
My favorite character, flat-out, is Vanessa. She was such a personality, and a strong support throughout - and
My least favorite was easily the father. Look, I get we're supposed to, what, pity him? but he was such a caricature throughout, the epitome of indifference.
There isn't much of a real "plot" throughout - it's mostly following headstrong Clarry as she secures her own education through some rather unorthodox methods involving Peter, and then the trouble of the actual war and the complications that arise from Rupert enlisting and some other things ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). This book covers many years, approx. from 1902-1924 (twenty-two years!). I think it was sort of a stretch to cover so many years in this 324 page novel, especially with the awkward pacing (slow and steady in the beginning, and then suddenly sped up wildly).
[rest of review to come smh @ self]
August 12, 2020
Čtu to po několikáté a stejně jsem si zas (nejen) na konci pobrečela...
January 24, 2019
Two words...Absolutely. Marvellous!
January 11, 2019
Endlessly beautiful, in that way that only Hilary McKay can be, The Skylarks War is perfect. I thought it might be on page ninety-seven, and then when I finished it and let out a great gasping sob at that ending, I knew it was. This is rich, wild and lovely storytelling, and reading it is like reading something you have known your entire life. I wonder sometimes at how McKay can do this, and then I realise that I don't need to wonder. I simply need to be glad that she can, and does, and that books like this are in the world.
It's a big book as well, this, it doesn't shy away from some hard and precise horrors in the world whether they are familial, and of individuals who do not know how to love their children or indeed, whether they can, or bigger, made of people fighting and dying in landscapes far away from home. This is World War One, and McKay does not shy away from its great and dark horrors. Some of her writing here is some of her best, I think, encompassing a curious mixture of numbness and truth and sadness and fear and honesty that makes the pages feel almost like a primary source. That they're written from that time, from that space, from that darkness.
I am concious that I've not told you much about the book itself, and in a way I'm not sorry. I want you to feel the texture of it, that great depth that gives you so much in a single sentence, and does so in a way that only McKay can do. This is deep storying, and it is done in such an unafraid and simple and matter-of-fact way that makes it something else. It is a coming of age story. It is a story of family. It is a story about growing up and figuring out who you are in the world. It is a story about figuring out what the world will let you be.
But most of all, I think this is a story about love. Love for family, love for friends, love for each other, and a love of those summers where nothing is impossible. Love that brings pain and love that brings strength, love that brings hope and understanding and heartbreak and joy. Love that is love and love that is given freely, hopefully, tenderly, painfully. Love, love, love. Always love.
It's a big book as well, this, it doesn't shy away from some hard and precise horrors in the world whether they are familial, and of individuals who do not know how to love their children or indeed, whether they can, or bigger, made of people fighting and dying in landscapes far away from home. This is World War One, and McKay does not shy away from its great and dark horrors. Some of her writing here is some of her best, I think, encompassing a curious mixture of numbness and truth and sadness and fear and honesty that makes the pages feel almost like a primary source. That they're written from that time, from that space, from that darkness.
I am concious that I've not told you much about the book itself, and in a way I'm not sorry. I want you to feel the texture of it, that great depth that gives you so much in a single sentence, and does so in a way that only McKay can do. This is deep storying, and it is done in such an unafraid and simple and matter-of-fact way that makes it something else. It is a coming of age story. It is a story of family. It is a story about growing up and figuring out who you are in the world. It is a story about figuring out what the world will let you be.
But most of all, I think this is a story about love. Love for family, love for friends, love for each other, and a love of those summers where nothing is impossible. Love that brings pain and love that brings strength, love that brings hope and understanding and heartbreak and joy. Love that is love and love that is given freely, hopefully, tenderly, painfully. Love, love, love. Always love.
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