Book Guide

By May of 1940, in every British home people listened with sober faces to the evening radio news. The Nazi Juggernaut was rolling ever closer to British shores. But to Cicely and Alan Lyons, World War II was just a great big nuisance.

Trenches had been dug across the town park, spoiling the cricket field. Hallways were littered with sand pails for putting out fires from bomb strikes. In fact, the only exciting thing that had happened, Alan and Cicely though, was the coming of the dog Sireen.

Before the month was out, both children changed their minds about the war -- particularly Alan, who was caught up in the great adventure of Dunkirk.

From then on, each day held danger. Alan and Cicely showed the same unconscious courage that all the British people displayed throughout the long, savage bombing of England. And when the older Lyons boy, Peter, and all the other young fliers of the RAF proved they could take whatever the Nazis had to throw at them, and give it right back twofold, the terrible Battle of Britain finally came to an end.

From this truly thrilling account of what life was like in those stirring days, young readers will realize that they could have been Alan and Cicely Lyons, had they happened to be be British children in 1940.

From the dust jacket

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Katharine Sturges Knight

Katharine Sturges Knight

1891-1979
Katharine Sturges Knight was married to author/illustrator Clayton Knight and was the mother of Hilary Knight, who illustrated Eloise. Katherine St... See more
Clayton Knight

Clayton Knight

1891 - 1969
American
Clayton Knight was married to author/illustrator Katharine Sturges Knight and was the father of Hilary Knight, who illustrated Eloise. Clayton Knig... See more

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Reviews

Plumfield Moms

We Were There Books
Reviewed by Edward Garboczi
In the 1950s through the early 1960s, the publisher Grossett and Dunlap released a series of 36 well-written and accurate historical novels for children covering a broad range of mostly U.S. and some world history. This was called the We Were There series, since each title follows the pattern “We Were There With” a famous person from history or “On” or “At” some historical event. A fictional boy and sometimes girl are inserted into a specific time in history and meet famous people and experience famous events, making the people and events real to the late-elementary to middle-school reader. These books can also be read aloud to younger children. Our library contains about half the volumes in this series, with more to be acquired.

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