Awards
Winner, Publishers Weekly Best Book
Winner, School Library Journal Best Book
Winner, Child Magazine Best Book
Winner, Bank Street College of Education Best Book
“In Lawrence’s previous works — his high seas trilogy (The Wreckers, The Smugglers and The Buccaneers, all adventure stories involving shipwrecks, pirates and other washbuckling) and Ghost Boy, about a runaway albino boy who joins a circus — he has merged historical oddities with classic story elements. Here he combines history with archetypal fiction to offer a type of redemption. To accept the power of Johnny’s hope is to help bring that hope into being.”
— The New York Times Book Review Read
“War idealistic, brutal, awe inspiring, numbing, jingoistic and ultimately heartbreaking is the central theme of this thoughtful and thought-provoking novel.” *Starred Review*
— Publishers Weekly
“Using vivid language, Lawrence writes poignantly of war and the devastation that England and its people suffered. Because of the first-person voice, readers travel the heights and depths with Johnny’s emotions and feel present in the story. Readers who enjoyed Michelle Magorian’s Good Night, Mr. Tom (HarperCollins, 1982), set during World War II, will find a kindred story here.” *Starred Review*
— School Library Journal
“The poignant, believable tale told with the sure touch of someone who shapes his craft with the same precision, imagination and intensity as Johnny’s ingenious father.”
— The Horn Book Magazine