This week's novel is The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle, by Janet Fox.
During the Blitz, Kat and her two siblings are sent from London to Rookskill Castle, where a distant relation of theirs has set up a boarding school. Strange things immediately start to happen, when kids start disappearing, children who aren't part of the school wander the castle, acting strangely, and all the teachers and staff are confused or forgetful. Practical Kat doesn't believe it's magic, but the evidence is starting to add up.
I liked how much Kat and her siblings missed their parents when they were sent away, and how they felt resentment that their parents were sending them away and guilt that they couldn't help the war effort. They showed more fear and sadness and anger than usually shows up in books with this setting. Maybe it's that I haven't read a lot of these books since I've been an adult and didn't pick up on it when I was a child, but I remember these stories being more about exciting, magical adventures in the countryside when no parents are around. Then again, maybe it's that books written closer to World War II, wanted to sugarcoat it to protect the children reading the books. "No! You'll have a great time with Uncle Albert on the moors! We'll just be doing boring grown-up stuff here. Have a great time!" This is all speculation and I haven't looked into it at all.
I also really enjoyed that the kids acted like kids. Kat is twelve and trying to act mature, to be strong for her siblings and make her parents and her country proud. Her brother wants to play with the swords on display in the castle so that he can help fight the Germans. They all think Kat is bossy, and Kat bursts into tears a couple times because she's trying so hard and doesn't know what to do. They act like kids, and that's pretty cool.
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Next week, Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: Twenty Chilling Tales from the Wilderness by Hal Johnson.
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