Costa Book Awards 2008 Judges' comment:"A gripping and masterful tale of the power of cinema, photography and friendship in one boy's life."
Warmhearted and full of period detail, Just Henry is a wonderful
story of growing up and seizing life’s opportunities. It’s post war
Britain and life should be getting better for all – and some things
are. But Henry finds an increasing number of unanswered questions about
his life and gradually, as he learns the answers, he finds his life is
rather different from how it had seemed. As ever, Michelle Magorian
gets to the emotional heart of issues.
Other titles shortlisted for the prestigious 2008 Costa Children's Book Award (formerly the Whitbread Award) are The Carbon Diaries, Ostrich Boys andBroken Soup. The winner of the award will be announced on Tuesday 6th January.
The Lovereading comment:
From the award winning author of Goodnight Mister Tom comes a brand new page turning tale. The story itself is very exciting,
rich with detail and has a very sympathetic main character. Henry is a
boy who’s lost his father in the war. He joins a film club of boys with
similar family problems and together they make an extraordinary
discovery that changes their lives forever. Michelle Magorian has
painted a spellbinding and shrewd picture of post-war Britain. Be sure
to check out A Spoonful of Jam, A Little Love Song, Cuckoo In The Nestby the same author.
From the award-winning author of "Goodnight Mister Tom"
comes "Just Henry": a gripping mystery-thriller and an insightful
snapshot of time, set in post-war Britain. It's 1949 and life is bleak
for Henry. He misses his father who died a war hero, and he escapes
from his annoying stepfather and stepsister whenever he can and goes to
the cinema - his passion.One day in the cinema queue he meets Mrs
Beaumont who also loves films, and lends Henry a camera for his school
project. Henry is disgusted that he's been put in a group with
Jeffries, the son of a man who went AWOL, and Pip, who was born
illegitimate; but he's about to learn that tolerance and friendship are
more important than social stigmas.Henry will need his new friends when
he processes the film and makes an alarming discovery.Like a bomb
waiting to explode, Henry's world is about to unravel.
Michelle Magorian is undoubtedly one of the pre-eminent children’s writers of historical family drama and of books set around the Second World War. She may not be a household name but that’s purely because she doesn’t write as frequently as those more obvious bestselling novelists. Just Henry is just published and is her seventh novel. Like all her previous ones it has been eagerly awaited and hugely acclaimed. Unlike some authors Magorian writes when the time is right having first undertaken considerable research, followed by a lot of thinking time before actually putting pen to paper and then there’s always the very important rewrites to polish the story. Magorian loves the research and the writing in equal measure but particularly loves writing dialogue.
Interestingly, Magorian’s first love when she was younger was to be an actress but she also loved writing and day dreaming – the perfect combination for a successful novelist.
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