Edward Bloor

Seventh-grader Martin Conway believes that his life is monotonous and dull until the night the antique radio he uses as a night-light transports him to the bombing of London in 1940.

London Calling

Seventh-grader Martin Conway believes that his life is monotonous and dull until the night the antique radio he uses as a night-light transports him to the bombing of London in 1940. Reprint.

Ryann Rodkey

Hope Brockway

Um, so this book is just a jumble. 

I thought this book was about time travel and Big Band music and the Blitz, but it turned out to be a father/son relationship story with some time travel thrown in. And this story of this depressed 7-20 year old (I literally could not tell how old this child was) who lived in the basement and became fascinated with old radios. And the story of how sometimes the heroes we look up to turn out to be really messed up people. *shrugs* So a LOT more than I thought it would be. 

But let's bring up Martin's age cause I was conFUSED the ENTIRE time. Sometimes he acted like a 20 year old which I guess makes sense cause this book was written sort of like a memoir. But sometimes he talked like a 7 year old. Especially when he was in London. 

Jimmy: Oi, govnah, don't you know them Germans are bombin' us?? (I swear this child had a Cockney accent.) 
Martin (aka Johnny): Germans?? Who are they?? World War II?? What's that? 

Okay, maybe I'm laying it on a little thick, but really. Have you not seen The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?? I mean, I guess not everyone is this huge history geek who knows all these random facts about the Blitz cause she was obsessed with WWII Britain in 10th grade but still. This child's school talks about WWII literally all the time. Why doesn't he know more about it??? 

Anyway, maybe I'm being too harsh. 

This book was really a heartfelt father/son story with some dope time travel thrown in. It was really sweet. 

Also, I really liked how this book showed the grittier side of WWII that we don't get in a lot of fiction. Like I felt that I was really there, walking the streets of London. The descriptions of bombed out London, with the balloons and miserable looking people with only a glimmer of hope, kinda broke my heart. And this book showed the grief and hardships of the time. Like how they had to do it all ALONE cause Europe had pretty much been taken over by the Nazis and the US was nowhere in sight. It made me mad how we joined two years later and were like "We're here! The party don't start till we walk in!" But anyway *shrugs* 

All in all, this book did have a few sexual references, cuss words, and violence (mainly wreckage of London descriptions), but it was pretty good. There were a few weird rabbit holes but they tied up nicely in the end (kinda). Totes recommend if you want a father/son story with some time travel.

London Calling

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