London Calling 
asked by allnet on November 21, 2006 3:46 AM
Martin Conway comes from a family filled with heroes and disgraces. His grandfather was a statesman who worked at the US Embassy in London during WWII. His father is an alcoholic who left his family. His sister is an overachieving Ivy League graduate. And Martin? Martin is stuck in between--floundering.
But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?
Where did this boy come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?
The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.
This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help?
But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?
Where did this boy come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?
The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.
This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help?
Reviews
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LONDON CALLING opens with a fight at school between the rich boys and the scholarship boys. A stone hits one of the statues in the new walkway causing damage. The commotion from the fight catches the attention of the headmaster who decides that he will determine the punishment at the end of the summer vacation. Martin dreads going back for this meeting. He hates the school so much that he requests to have independent studies for the entire new school year.
His grandmother dies, leaving him this old radio from the 1940's. One night, Martin falls asleep listening to the sounds on the radio and is transported back to the 1940's in London during World War II. There he meets Jimmy, a young boy, who asks for his help.
England during the wartime scares Martin and he can't tell if he's dreaming or if he's really traveled through time. He begins writing down names of people he meets and events that he hears mentioned to research later. Digging deeper into the past, he begins to unravel historical differences between today's understanding of history and the actual events. Martin realizes how history changes--with the victor's side writing the accounts of the events. The deeper he digs, the more truths he uncovers, and the more the radio calls him to help Jimmy.
This fascinating book takes a look at how historical moments and figures are shaped by the outcome of an event. While this books starts off slowly, it quickly picks up, drawing the reader deeper into Martin's time-travel adventures. LONDON CALLING will be a thought-provoking book for classroom discussions.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel
His grandmother dies, leaving him this old radio from the 1940's. One night, Martin falls asleep listening to the sounds on the radio and is transported back to the 1940's in London during World War II. There he meets Jimmy, a young boy, who asks for his help.
England during the wartime scares Martin and he can't tell if he's dreaming or if he's really traveled through time. He begins writing down names of people he meets and events that he hears mentioned to research later. Digging deeper into the past, he begins to unravel historical differences between today's understanding of history and the actual events. Martin realizes how history changes--with the victor's side writing the accounts of the events. The deeper he digs, the more truths he uncovers, and the more the radio calls him to help Jimmy.
This fascinating book takes a look at how historical moments and figures are shaped by the outcome of an event. While this books starts off slowly, it quickly picks up, drawing the reader deeper into Martin's time-travel adventures. LONDON CALLING will be a thought-provoking book for classroom discussions.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel
reviewed by ibook on November 22, 2006 11:32 PM
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"London Calling" is one of the most emotionally wrenching YA books I've had the pleasure to read in the past year. The character of Martin (JMartinC is his IM username) is as real as any kid I've run into recently. Yes, there is time-travel of a sort. Martin is somehow transported to the past through the agency of an ancient Philco Radio, and Jimmy, his raggedy companion in World War II London, is a masterful, albeit tragic, character.
Martin, of course, would rather this whole thing be a dream, because the alternative seems to be insanity. But when his "dreams" start giving him historically accurate answers about things he's never heard of, then all bets are off.
"What did YOU do to help?" -- The question that reverberates through this marvelous is answered for Jimmy and Martin. Could it be answered for the reader?
Sorry for what seems like an excess of superlatives, but this is a superlative book.
Martin, of course, would rather this whole thing be a dream, because the alternative seems to be insanity. But when his "dreams" start giving him historically accurate answers about things he's never heard of, then all bets are off.
"What did YOU do to help?" -- The question that reverberates through this marvelous is answered for Jimmy and Martin. Could it be answered for the reader?
Sorry for what seems like an excess of superlatives, but this is a superlative book.
reviewed by redapple on November 25, 2006 7:34 PM