Wave Me Goodbye

Jacqueline Wilson's Wave Me Goodbye is a wartime story for 9 year olds about a bookworm sent away from London with a suitcase full of books she wasn't supposed to pack.

What happens

Shirley is ten. One morning her mum wakes her with breakfast in bed and talk of a little holiday. Shirley has never been on a train, so she's thrilled. But Mum is being strangely nice, and Shirley knows something's up.

It turns out the "holiday" is evacuation. War is about to be declared, Dad has already joined the army and Shirley is going to the countryside without either of them.

She's allowed one toy and one book. So she smuggles her whole shelf into Dad's old brush-sample case, including Ballet Shoes and Mary Poppins. (Any bookworm will understand. How could you possibly choose?)

Mum is a brilliant character. She's sharp-tongued and snobbish and rarely hugs, and then she tears the school name off Shirley's label so she can sit with the posh convent girls. You can see how much she loves her even when she can't say it.

The train journey is the best bit. The convent girls are horrible to Shirley, and she gets her own back with a crafty kick. A girl from her class is sick, so Shirley helps her clean up, and then gets ignored for it. Ouch.

Then she meets Jessica, the quiet girl with glasses who also adores Ballet Shoes. Who doesn't remember the joy of finding someone who loves your favourite book?

It's told by Shirley, and you're right there with her worries and her big imagination. She's very funny about it all, even when she's crying into her jumper.

In these early chapters the war is mostly a worry. Shirley frets about bombs falling on her mum back home, which some children may want to talk through.

A reader who'd rather pack books than clothes will probably want Shirley as a best friend.

What to read next

For evacuation from another family's side, try Megan Rix's The Great Escape. Robert and Lucy are evacuated too, but their pets are left behind in London, and they're not about to stay put.