The Storm Dog

The Storm Dog by Holly Webb is a wartime time-slip story for 7 year olds about a girl who falls asleep on a train and wakes up as an evacuee.

What happens

Tilly is off to Grandma's just before Christmas, on her own, which she's never done before. She's very nervous about the train (who wouldn't be?). So Great-Gran has posted her a parcel that mustn't be opened until she's on board.

Inside is an old glass decoration shaped like a little basket of roses. There's also a black and white photo of three children by a farm gate. One of them is Great-Gran as a girl, with her arm round a sheepdog who looks just like her dog Tarran.

Tilly has only just found out that Great-Gran was sent away to the country when the war started. She was ten then, the same age Tilly is now. And they share a name.

Then Tilly dozes off. When she wakes, the trees outside are full of late summer leaves. She's on a steam train in a pink cotton dress, and two little boys called Alfie and Eddie are teasing her for snoring. (She doesn't have any brothers.)

What comes next is hard not to feel with her. Tilly has promised Mum she'll keep the three of them together. But the grown-ups in the village hall only want one child each, and nobody wants a grubby girl with a crying five-year-old.

Then a tall, gruff farmer walks in with his black and white dog. The farmer only wants the boys. The dog has other ideas, and nudges Tilly right off her chair.

Holly Webb is so good at the small details. Porridge with golden syrup for children who've never had it. A blackout with no proper curtains yet. A patchwork quilt that feels like a royal cloak.

It does tug at the heartstrings. Tilly is the one nobody chose, and she's scared stiff of being split from her brothers. A photo in the farmer's room hints that he's lost a wife and daughter. A child who gets anxious away from home might want a cuddle at those bits. Most will love the dog far too much to mind.

What to read next

If they love the idea of stepping into a great-grandparent's childhood, try The Reindeer Girl. Lotta flies to Norway to meet her great-grandmother at last, just before her ninetieth birthday, and an old photo shows a cousin who looks just like her.