The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson - Reviewed by Lucas Sezlik

Author Kit Pearson tells the story of a book called The Sky is Falling.

The Sky is Falling is about a ten-year-old girl named Norah and her five-year-old brother named Gavin who are forced to move to Canada, like thousands of other evacuated children, to be kept safe from the reality of war. Norah leaves behind her mother, father, grandfather and her group of friends that are part of a lookout club called the Skywatchers. When they arrive in Toronto, all of the war guests stay at a university to get examined and wait to be picked up by their hosting families. The Ogilvie’s, the family that Norah and Gavin end up with, only wanted a young boy but are forced to take Norah as well.

On the first day of school, Norah does not make any friends. One day, Norah decides to play truant and skip school. She rides the streetcars and goes to the town library. In the library, she becomes best friends with Bernard, a boy in her school that gets picked on and left out. Norah, Gavin and the Ogilvie’s spend Thanksgiving in Gairloch, their cottage home located on an island hours from their home. When they return, Aunt Florence wants Norah to make friends, so she arranges a playdate with the Worsley family. Norah becomes best friends with the oldest daughter, Paige. Norah, Paige and Bernard become a trio who hang out every day after school and on the weekends. On Halloween night, the trio dresses up as tramps and go trick or treating together. Once they have collected enough candy for themselves and enough money for the war effort, they decide to burn an old doll in the ravine to commemorate Guy Fawkes Day. The fire grows out of control and they have to call the fire department to put it out. Norah, who gets scolded by Aunt Florence and who is afraid that she will be sent to live with another family, packs her backpack and decides to run away. After she leaves, she remembers that she has left Gavin behind and goes into the house to sneak him out.

At the train station, Norah realizes that they will not be able to get back to Britain without an adult so they go back to the Ogilvie’s home. Aunt Florence feels terrible for how she has treated Norah, apologizes to her, and they both agree to try harder to get along with each other. When Christmastime arrives, Norah meets the entire Ogilvie family and looks forward to spending the following summer with all of them at Gairloch. That night, safe in Canada and away from the war, “All that fell out of the sky was soft white snow” (264). 

The Sky is Falling is a great book for people that like reading adventure books. This novel is very interesting and is educational since it is based on true events that took place during the World War II. The characters are fictional, but the issues concerning the war are all true (the story ). Many children were evacuated during the war to countries like Canada. If readers enjoy reading this novel as much as I did, there are two more books in the series that add to the story and follow Norah and Gavin as they continue their adventures in Canada such as when they are at Gairloch and also during Halloween.