Hettie and the London Blitz: A World War II Survival Story

Girls Survive

by Jenni L. Walsh

London schoolgirl Hettie hears the whispers and sees the worry creeping across her parents' faces. She watches as the windows in her home are blacked out. She helps her dad build a bomb shelter. She learns how to wear a gas mask. War, led by Adolf Hitler, is stomping its feet at Great Britain's doorstep, and Hettie knows only one thing for certain: When the bombs come, it will take all the courage she has to be brave and survive.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Survival, World War II, Middle Grade, Family, Fiction, Historical

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Jenni L. Walsh is the USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen books for adults and children, spending her days knee deep in words in Philadelphia’s suburbia. Beyond words, Jenni is a mama (of a soulful eleven-year-old, a soccer-loving nine-year-old, and six needy furbabies), a wife, a Philly and 'Nova sports fan.

But where did it all begin? Jenni spent her early years dabbling in various forms of writing and with her nose in a book. Her writing chops first began to develop through one-page stories. Never fail, the storyline followed the same progression: girl meets boy, girl marries boy, girl and boy have baby. That's it.

Now Jenni has moved on to stories with a bit more depth and, for the mamas, Side by Side is a historical women's fiction story of America’s most infamous crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde told in the raw and honest voice of the woman who lived it, Bonnie Parker. In Becoming Bonnie, a prequel set in the Roaring Twenties, a picture of Bonnie's earlier life, before and while she meets Clyde, is brought to life. Jenni's third historical women's fiction book A Betting Woman takes us to the California gold rush, featuring a little known woman from history, Eleanor Dumont, but who is largely remembered by the moniker Madame Moustache. In The Call of the Wrens, Jenni introduces readers to the Women's Royal Naval Service (the Wrens), who carried wartime secrets on their shoulders as motorcycle dispatch riders during both world wars. Unsinkable ​is Jenni's first bestselling novel, hitting the USA Today bestsellers list, and is about two resilient women, one of which is the real-life Violet Jessop who survived the Titanic and two additional maritime disasters. Jenni's next historical novel Ace, Marvel, Spy features Alice Marble, who was the world's number one women's tennis player, an editor for the Wonder Woman comics, and a spy during the Second World War. Up next from Jenni, in October 2025, is Sonora, a historical novel about performer Sonora Carver, one of the first women to dive from a forty-five foot tower on the back of a horse and who inspired the film Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.

For the kiddos, Jenni's debut middle grade books, She Dared, features true stories from women who, at a young age, accomplished daring feats of perseverance and bravery. She is also the author of I Am Defiance, inspired by a real-life resistance group, known as the White Rose. Jenni has contributed Hettie and the London Blitz: A World War II Survival Story to the Girl's Survive series. Revolutionary War hero Sybil Ludington, who is often known as the "female Paul Revere," is brought to life in By the Light of Fireflies, Jenni's first historical novel with a touch of magical realism. Over and Out is a thrilling and fast-paced espionage and escape story that is inspired by real stories of life in East Berlin during the Cold War. Operation: Happy, set during the attack on Pearl Harbor, tells the story of a real-life survivor and includes the POV of her dog, Happy, to soften the events of one of America's most notable moments in history. In May 2025, Jenni is excited to be releasing her first contemporary novel, a mystery/adventure story called The Bug Bandits, which is inspired by a real heist and the shenanigans of Home Alone.

Reviews

[TL *Humaning the Best She Can* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and well done read 📚:)

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a lovely story of what children went through during the battle of Britain. As the children were moved into the country, it was interesting to listen to how it affected them from the children’s perspective.

I enjoyed it and recommend it.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been fascinated with reading about the London Blitz since watching “Journey for Margaret” as a child. The author does a masterful job of re-creating that dark time for readers; nights spent in bomb shelters during the relentless bombings, the shock of seeing familiar places just disappear, the agonizing decisions that parents had to make about whether or not to evacuate their children, and then having them return as young men and women, not kids anymore…
This is a great historical fiction series for middle-grade readers, guaranteed to spark their interest in history!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are so good!

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the span of six years in just over a hundred pages, and it makes the book feel very rushed. The story provides solid historical information about the London Blitz and long-term evacuation efforts from that time, but it never went deep enough into the characters' experiences to satisfy me, since the author had to keep moving on to cover the passage of time.

My biggest critique of this book, however, isn't the pacing. I can accept the pacing issues as necessary for telling this story to a young audience, but I was disappointed by how sanitized this story is in comparison to others from the same series. I couldn't help negatively comparing this to Ruth and the Night of Broken Glass: A World War II Survival Story, which is powerful, immediate, intense, and honest about the sheer amount of trauma involved.

This book deals with the trauma of family separation and has some scenes of peril related to bombings, but it feels sanitized overall. Everyone in this girl's family survives, and their house is still standing at the end of the war. Her hosts' two sons both survive the war, and everyone in her best friend's family survives as well. The ending felt rushed and overly happy, and it didn't feel authentic enough to the time period.

This level of good fortune within Hettie's family and inner circle is statistically possible, but it seemed like the author just wanted to tie a bow on things and make it seem like everything was fine, when a lot of people were NOT fine. I would have been more satisfied if the author had opted for a happy ending for Hettie's family while representing heavier losses beyond them. However, on the positive side, this book is a lighter read for sensitive children. If a child wants to read this series, but isn't sure that they can handle some of the heavier content, this would be a good title to start with.

[Melissa Lawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my 9 1/2 yo daughter. We both agree that we like these books about survival over the I Survived series. This author does a better job at character development and by the end you feel like you know the character better through the situation instead of just following a chain of events the characters go through like in the I Survived stories.

[The Marvelous Ms. Kaia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read to relax the brain. It’s meant for 1-3 graders, so if you’re stressed, these are a bit of a calming force.

[Bella Starr · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

This book seemed weirdly placed over time. I didn't like the time gaps and how short the book was, but I still enjoyed the story overall. I learned a bit about WWII.

[Labyrns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good kid's introduction of children's lives .during the London Blitz.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read. It would be a good introduction to the Blitz to children who knew nothing about it previously.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hettie is a tween girl in London as rumors of war rumble into her happy home. Her mother doesn't want to send her three children to the country, so Hettie and her two brothers stay. For the first year, things are fine but when the Nazis start bombing London and the family has a close call, the kids get sent to the countryside where to Hettie's horror they are split up. Hettie and Oliver stay with an older couple so they can help with the chores, but their little brother George is too small to do chores so he is sent to stay with another couple. Thankfully, none of their living situations is horrible, but Hettie is so worried about keeping her brothers close and connected to her parents that she frets much of the war.

This is a pretty quiet exploration of the Blitz. Hettie knows that bad things can happen, and hears other kids talk about things like the zoo putting down all the poisonous animals and what happens when bombs hit the graveyard, but she only experiences close calls and all her loved ones are ok throughout the war. In that aspect, it is a nice intro book to the time period, especially for more sensitive readers. It is a "safer" WWII story. It also covers a lot of the basics of WWII life and doesn't assume kids know anything about the time period. The book stands out from WWII lit in its focus on how young children evacuated who had loving caretakers through the war often had a hard time going back to families they didn't remember well. This was a very real issue for many kids and parents of the time period that isn't talked about much in kid lit (usually either their real parents are horrible or their evacuee caretakers are horrible in books). This book definitely helps you imagine how hard the transition back to "normal" was for these kids and parents. A nice addition to the Girls Survive series, though it focuses more on WWII evacuation than the Blitz.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. As mentioned above, killing of animals, and disruptions of graveyards (which is a bit gross) are talked about. Some bombs hit, but the worst injury that results is solved with a little bandaid. The kids talk about a boy they know who lost all his family to a bomb, but no description.

[Joey Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The London Blitz is a piece of history that many know about now, it was such a devastating piece of history and the story shows so many areas of what the people living in London went through. Sharing from the early whispers of it to all the treacherous bombings that constantly occurred in London, and to the splitting up of the families as children were sent away for safety until the war was officially over.

Hettie was an interesting protagonist, she was always reminding herself from the start to be brave and not show how scared she was, she cared for her siblings as much as she possibly could even after she got split up from her youngest brother, she helped in so many areas of the war to the best of her abilities. Dealing with everything going on wasn’t easy for Hettie but she handled it all so well, she didn’t want to leave all she knew and loved no matter how scary or horrifying the events were.

I did find that the story felt short in the respect that we had so many time hops, skipping months, and mostly years in time, leaving so much time in between missed, I really wished we didn’t have to have skipped so much or that more could have been added to some of these points in time. Though it was a very wonderfully written story depicting such a devastating time in history.

I really liked the illustrations throughout the pages of the book, showing you glimpses into what was happening, with an included authors note which gives you more information into this piece of history being told. This was a very realistically written story of the London Blitz that I enjoyed reading very much, it was so heartbreaking and very scary, but very well written.

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

12 year old Hettie (at least at the beginning of the book) is full of anxiety regarding WWII. She lives in London with her family, is bombed in the blitz, and evacuated to the countryside for much of the war. Packs a lot into a short book. Hettie is hard to like at first, given her many fears, but she finds a way to keep her family connected over distance and time by writing down and sharing her memories. Does a great job of conveying just how long some of those evacuation placements lasted, and the impact on younger children, who didn't necessarily remember their original family well. What an unimaginable time of displacement and upheaval.

[Morgan (youarethelibrarian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a long period of time without being jolting, even though it’s a short book. Does a good job showing what children would have gone through during the London Blitz, and what it is like for older children versus younger children during tragedies. Hettie never adjusted to life in the countryside, but her younger brother started to forget memories from home. Hettie felt like she had to remind him so that he’d be prepared to return home, whenever that would be.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's book about a girl who adjusts to life in London as the threat of WWII changes her life.
When she and her younger brothers are sent to the countryside as the bombings begin to hit near home, she tries hard to keep the family connected through letters and stories.

[Jessica F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps because this one covered such a large amount of time (six years?) in so few pages, the pacing felt off and I enjoyed it less than other titles in this series.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book about WWII for younger readers. The focus is on the evacuation of children from London during the Blitz. I did not realize some were away from their families for 5 years!!!

[Mary T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out about the London Blitz from an Alan Gratz book and wanted to learn more. I read this aloud to my 11yo son. Crazy what they endured!

[Bookish Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to access historical fiction novel about British Relocation during WWII.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favorite of the Girls Survive series so far. A lot of interesting dynamics and I’m glad it covered beyond the initial outbreak of the Blitz.