Wish Me Luck.

Twelve-year-old Jamie Monaghan finds the war exciting until an incendiary bomb destroys his bedroom while he, his parents, and the neighbors are huddled in their makeshift bomb shelter. Now his parents no longer simply talk about sending him to safety away from Liverpool; his father makes arrangements for him to sail to Canada on the City of Benares. Based on the historical account of a German U-boat sinking that passenger liner, which was carrying 100 children from war-torn England, the story will provide middle-graders with another perspective on World War II. Heneghan subtly exposes the courage, trust, and utter desperation so many Europeans felt as they sought any safe place for their children, as well as the anger, confusion, fear, and courage of the children themselves. Universal yet ancillary issues of child abuse, poverty, and adolescent cruelty add contemporary authenticity to this historical novel. The sinking of the Benares comes late in the story, and the Liverpool dialect is prevalent; however, readers will find plenty of action, awe, and premonition to carry them to the exciting climax. Although other fiction for younger YAs, such as Michelle Magorian's Good Night, Mr. Tom (1982), addresses the deporting of English children to safety, this story humanizes what is otherwise just an interesting footnote to the history of World War II.