Cuckoo Summer

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Given that Earle wrote WHEN THE SKY FALLS, one of my favourite wartime stories, as well as the more recently published WHILE THE STORM RAGES, which I also thoroughly enjoyed, my expectations were high. Tulloch's use of the dialects spoken by Tommy and Sally is fascinating (particularly the numbers used for counting sheep) and the novel is full of beautiful descriptions of nature, including the eponymous cuckoo.

This one would work well in city schools because it shows a life completely different from the city and the many traditions which still occur - such as the sheep shearing. Your words, like your reviews, bring books to life and give them a voice before the front cover is even turned. Cuckoo Summer tells the story of local boy Tommy whose family have been farmers on the fells for generations.Tommy’s learned some of her Geordie speech patterns, enough to know that the German gadgie she’s discovered in the woods is the airman who’s parachuted out of the plane crashed in Woundale woods.

Then a German plane is brought down over the village and the navigator is not there and must have bailed out.Initially, the plot appears straightforward, but it is the relationship between Tommy and Sally which holds the magic to this story. Part of Sally's appeal as a character is her dialogue - a young Liverpudlian, Tulloch captures her immense energy for life and fierce integrity through her dialogue, rich with her northern accent. His father is missing in action, and his best friend, Sally, is a mischievous and fearless evacuee from Tyneside.

Despite the remoteness of the place, war has touched them is several ways and Tommy's dad is missing in action. Inspired by the stories the author heard about his mother’s childhood on a Lakeland farm and wartime events in the area Cuckoo Summer has an authenticity and a sense of time and place that ensures this historical fiction is credible. It transported me back to the thrill of childhood reading and childhood adventures (although none of mine were anything like so exciting!Ideal class read for y5/6/7 to compliment or introduce a study of WWII but any keen young reader will enjoy this story. Tommy and Sally’s friendship, Sally’s story, Tommy’s concerns and then their secret, build a truly absorbing story that we recommend highly to our readers. A great addition to the genre, carefully crafted, and bringing great gusts of Lakeland hill farming with it .