Great insight into Canada's war, the plight of evacuees and the beauties of Saskatchewan. The characters are very real, the writing is delightful. I learned a lot about the difficulties in leaving Britain that I hadn't known before. This is the author's own story and it is wonderful how she follows up in the end. Thank you to Harper Collins for sharing an advanced copy with me in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I was lucky to receive an ARC from a Book Expo America promotion and really enjoyed reading this story. Based on the author's own experiences as a child, this is the story of Londoner Lindy, her mother, and her cousin Cameron who are sent off to Canada in 1940 to escape the war. It is written as a chapter book and I think the reading level would be middle school - although I'm not sure how many American kids will appreciate this British/Canadian story. I do think it would be a great fit for a history lesson to learn what WWII was like for those who were uprooted and sent abroad. (And, it would make a lovely, family friendly movie, I think!)

Lindy and her family often have to rely on the kindness of others during their journey to and life in a foreign land, which is a sweet reminder of how nice people can be - even those who have very little of their own to share. As nice as many of the adults are, the kids have to deal with new schools where their language and accent is not the same. Some of the terms they marvel at surprised me. They also visit America and New York City at one point and wonder at Americans' general lack of interest in the war before we were involved.

My mother also read this and liked it as well. I think it's a great story for all ages and would even make an interesting book club read for tweens, teens and adults (what adult doesn't like a nice easy YA read from time to time?) . Young people may be amazed that the family spends summer vacation at a cabin by a lake with no electricity and I can see this as a nice multi-generational read with grandparents sharing their memories of that time period. ( )