4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Time Travel Made Easy, 14 Sep 2004
By Lynn - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Secret Shelter (Paperback)
Well researched, The Secret Shelter provides insight into the lives of those who struggled through the Blitz. I especially liked the time travel concept and how the three modern-day kids had to learn to deal with the bombs, scarcity of food, and blackouts.
This book would be a great introduction to some of the realities of WWII. And it's was much easier to digest this information while being entertained by likeable main characters. I learned about barrage balloons (who knew?), air raid shelters and how the women and kids in a close knit community in South London coped with unimaginable burdens.
I believe The Secret Shelter would be a great read for teens as well as those a bit younger. It's a part of history that shouldn't be forgotten.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
child's eyeview of the Battle of Britain, 29 Aug 2005
By Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Secret Shelter (Paperback)
Rebeccasreads highly recommends THE SECRET SHELTER as an engaging & authentic recreation of a child's eyeview of a desperate time when ordinary people did extraordinary deeds, love shone like the Sun through the clouds of war, & danger fell from the sky.
When Sophie, Marina & Quigs thought of digging down through 60 years of earth to open the WWII air-raid shelter outside their school, Mr. Martin, the janitor, had warned them not to meddle with things past. Undeterred the classmates & their teacher find the door & open the dark, dank space. Once inside, Mr. Martin disappears & Mr. Schmidt falls through the rotted staircase & hurts his head.
Frantic, the friends drag their teacher out into the fresh air... except it's not the same place or time they'd just left. Now their school is painted a disgusting brown with all the windows covered with brown paper. Then the air starts humming, a hair-raising siren starts wailing & hordes of airplanes come rumbling overhead.
That's when it dawns on them they have traveled back in time to 1940.
Without homes, families or identities, carrying only the fake ration books Mr. Schmidt had made as samples for their class project, Sophie, Marina, & Quigs must avoid the dangers of the nightly bombardment by the Luftwaffe, suspicious classmates & the authorities on the lookout for German spies. Will they survive long enough to find out how to get back to the 21st century?
Moved me to tears & because I've been there & done that, brought up many memories. Outstanding, & perfect for (great)grandparents to tell (great)grandchildren what it was like.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Time-Travel Tale, 25 Sep 2004
By a reader - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Secret Shelter (Paperback)
The Secret Shelter is an amazing book that takes you right back to London in the bombing raids in the World War. I couldn't put the book down till I got to the very end. It's very exciting.