KS: Lower KS2
Year Group: Year 4, Year 5
Literary Theme: Lessons From History, Taking Courage
Author(s): Emma Carroll
This is an 18-session Literary Leaf for Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll in which children begin by using a supplementary text (if available) called 'How Does a Lighthouse Work?' by Roman Belyaev to extract some facts before delving into the text and making inferences and comparisons about characters.
We chose this book for a Literary Leaf as it links beautifully to World War 2 work in schools.
It’s World War 2 in London. Olive and her brother Cliff are watching watching a film at the picture house. Sukie – their older sister - disappears not long after they had settled in their seats to watch that week’s feature, asking that the siblings wait for her in the foyer after the film has finished. Except the air-raid siren sounds and the cinema is evacuated. They wait for Sukie as long as is safe but are then herded out to the air-raid shelter but disaster strikes and Olive is hit and has to go to hospital to recover.
The decision is made that Olive and Cliff be evacuated to the Devonshire Coast and this is where the adventure of daring and espionage begins. Initially, the children are billeted to Queenie’s in the post office. But Olive is suspicious about the activities of the locals. After a falling out with another evacuee Cliff and Olive are sent to live at Ephraim’s – the lighthouse keeper, who is a closed, solitary character. Olive unravels a trail of secrets through a message that she finds in the lining of her mother’s coat pocket. But Olive’s attempts at solving this next stage in the mystery are thwarted when Cliff falls dangerously ill…
World War Two, WW2, evacuees, evacuation, the Blitz
