Cuckoo Summer

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What’s more, it seems the airman is injured and needs more than Sally’s stolen food and first aid kit.

Rebecca is a committee member of the National Association of Advisers in English (NAAE) and a member of the Academic Advisory Board for Bookmark (volunteer reading charity). At one point, the children’s unkind teacher, Miss Gently rattles through the timetables, beating her long ruler like ‘an auctioneer watching farmers at a cattle sale. Part of Sally's appeal as a character is her dialogue - a young Liverpudlian, Tulloch captures her immense energy for life and fierce integrity through her dialogue, rich with her northern accent. Tommy’s Dad is missing while on active service in the war and Tommy lives on the family farm with his Aunties. So when Sally tells Tommy about the wounded Nazi airman in the woods Tommy is persuaded not to report it but to help Sally keep him hidden.

Tommy knows that Sally’s a bit wild and her stories of her past rather unreliable, but what is she hiding? The story starts in 1940, when Tommy and Sally have a life changing encounter with a wounded soldier - an airmen - hiding in the woods. The story centres on two children, one resident farmer, being brought up by three aunts while the men are away fighting, and one evacuee, who turns out to be a runaway.

I would thoroughly recommend it to children in Years 4 to 6 who enjoy a darn good story - it's perfect for fans of Phil Earle, Emma Carroll and Helen Peters - and I'll be looking out for more books by Jonathan Tulloch. Cuckoo Summer is one of those books that you know is going to find a natural place alongside books like Goodnight Mr Tom (Michelle Magorian) and The Valley Of Lost Secrets (Lesley Parr); there is so much to recommend about it. It is the summer of 1940, and Tommy lives with his three Aunts and young niece on a farm in Woundale in the Lake District. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.The cast of characters include Tom’s Auntie Annie whose stoical but caring attitude is in sharp contrast to the bitter, anger displayed by Mr Scarcross.

You guys were so fab and Dawn was such a lovely presence in the schools - I will absolutely be in touch next time I'm in your neck of the woods. Cuckoo Summer is pacy and carefully plotted so that everything fits satisfyingly into place by the end and the first person narrative rings true.The place is almost a character in its own right, with an immersive understanding of farming at that time. The characters and setting stayed with me long after I'd finished reading the book and I know a lot of people are going to be talking about it.