Plot
As Britain prepares for war with Germany, a group of London evacuees arrives in the quiet village of Little Weirwold. Scared, deprived and malnourished William is left with grumpy old widower, Tom. As Tom helps William recover from his abusive mother and gradually grow in confidence, Tom also comes to terms with his grief and becomes part of village life again. The two of them become very fond of each other and it looks like there will be happy ending but then William’s mother asks him to return home to London.
Author – Michelle Magorian
Interview about the stage version of Goodnight Mister Tom
Discover more about Michelle Magorian
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Themes – universal ideas
Community, Friendship, Grief, Love, Nature vs Nurture, Trauma
More to explore – motifs, symbols, context, setting
Art, Brahms, Cemeteries, Choirs, Churches, Comics, Nature, Seaside, Tap Dancing, Trees, World War II (air raids, ARP, evacuees, rationings, shelters).
Did you know?
Brahms
Military hospitals – Dalzell House
Further reading
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Several books are mentioned in Goodnight Mister Tom, including
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling which includes some rather strange explanations for why certain animals are the shape they are.
At the Back of the North Wind is a fabulous fairy tale by George MacDonald. Other fairy tale collections by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is a classic story of a boy who ran away rather than grow up. Other children’s books written at the same time were The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is the autobiography of a 19th century working horse.
If you’d like more books set during World War II, try some of these:
Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden is another story about evacuees, but Carrie and Nick find themselves in a very strict household.
The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson. Tally’s school goes on a trip where they meet Karil and help him escape when the German army invades.
Morris Gleitzman’s Once series tells the story of Felix, a Polish Jewish boy fighting to stay alive in Nazi occupied Europe.
Literacy and Language
Did you notice Will and Tom’s surnames? They are both named after trees: the beech and the oak. Does this suggest anything about their characters?
Numeracy
Health and Wellbeing
Rights Respecting Schools
Developing the Young Workforce
