Letters from the Lighthouse: ‘THE QUEEN OF HISTORICAL FICTION’ Guardian: 1

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We meet three siblings during an air raid in London and follow Olive and her brother Cliff on the hunt for the truth to their sister going missing. From the queen of historical fiction, Letters From the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll is a stunningly evocative wartime drama, and sure to keep you breathlessly reading to its very last page. We have been learning about the war at school so it made sense to me but it might have some things that are hard to follow for younger children. The historical information I have learnt from this book is that Jews were not given permission to evacuate to any country.

The story is set in WW2, February 1941, about a young girl named Olive and her brother(Cliff) whose big sister gets lost and are evacuated to Devonshire to live in a light house on Devon's edge with a mysterious lighthouse keeper. The book begins with a young girl, Molly, and her family being evacuated from their London home during World War II.It tells the reader about all the difficult times that people faced during the war, such as Kindertransport, Hitler and deciding whether to evacuate your children. Although she is sometimes scared, Molly is determined to protect Pearl and discovers that the lighthouse holds a long-buried secret that could change her life forever. There have been many books written about the fate of child evacuees during World War 2, but this one stands head and shoulders above the rest, with great care given to character and relationship development. Writing: English year 6: Pupils should be taught to describe settings, characters and atmosphere, integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action. I'm not sure if the history in the book was realistic as I think that Britain did allow refugees to come into the country in the second world war.

A coded note links the disappearance of their sister Sukie to Devon, and Olive is determined to unravel the mystery. This resource accompanies the video clip above and it introduces your class to the largest Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, located in southern Poland. After months of air raid bombings in London, Olive and Cliff are evacuated to the Devon coast for their safety. Emma Carroll explains all of the characters in great depth and each character is unique in some sort of way. We were the going to be beaten by hate" is a message that transcends the period setting, speaking straight to a contemporary audience.By providing a contextual explanation rather than just a standard definition, we can better help children understand the stories we are sharing with them and widen their vocabulary. The descriptive passages are completely unlaboured, but take the reader to the time and place with ease and believability.