Wish Me Luck (Laurel-Leaf Books) [Mass Market Paperback]

James Heneghan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Laurel-Leaf Books | Publication Date: October 13, 1998

Thirteen-year-old Tom, an unhappy foster child in Liverpool, falls into a massive open grave and is transported to Ireland in 1847 in the middle of the deadly potato famine.

Thirteen-year-old Tom Mullen has always been alone, moving about from one disastrous foster home situation to another. He has never known the true meaning of family love. When he hears that a mass grave has been unearthed on his school grounds, he feels drawn to the grave, pulled toward it, but can’t explain why.

I sucked in a deep breath to try and calm my bursting chest. The smell from the open grave wasn’t bad the way you’d expect from so many dead people. . . . But it wasn’t the smell that got to me, it was the feeling that something in the black pit was calling and reaching out to me, pulling me, that same urge again, the one I’d been getting for the past couple of days, but stronger now and more powerful. It terrified me, if you really want to know the truth.

The truth is Tom’s life is about to change forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This historical novel, based on the sinking of the City of Benares during WWII, is "eye-opening and utterly gripping," said PW's starred review. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Jamie Monaghan finds the war exciting until an incendiary bomb destroys his bedroom while he, his parents, and the neighbors are huddled in their makeshift bomb shelter. Now his parents no longer simply talk about sending him to safety away from Liverpool; his father makes arrangements for him to sail to Canada on the City of Benares. Based on the historical account of a German U-boat sinking that passenger liner, which was carrying 100 children from war-torn England, the story will provide middle-graders with another perspective on World War II. Heneghan subtly exposes the courage, trust, and utter desperation so many Europeans felt as they sought any safe place for their children, as well as the anger, confusion, fear, and courage of the children themselves. Universal yet ancillary issues of child abuse, poverty, and adolescent cruelty add contemporary authenticity to this historical novel. The sinking of the Benares comes late in the story, and the Liverpool dialect is prevalent; however, readers will find plenty of action, awe, and premonition to carry them to the exciting climax. Although other fiction for younger YAs, such as Michelle Magorian's Good Night, Mr. Tom (1982), addresses the deporting of English children to safety, this story humanizes what is otherwise just an interesting footnote to the history of World War II. Frances Bradburn --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf (October 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044022764X
• ISBN-13: 978-0440227649
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great adventure novel with lots of suspense!!, April 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wish Me Luck (Hardcover)

This book was a real eye opener as to what the second world war actually was like. The book is slow at times but when it gets exciting it really gets exciting. My suggestion would be not to stop reading when it gets slow because it will pick up the pace very soon. Overal I would say that this is a very worthwhile book if your interested in World War II.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wish Me Luck, November 27, 2001

By 

Michael Avitabile (Middleburgh, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wish Me Luck (Laurel-Leaf Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

Reviewer: Middleschool student
Wish Me Luck by James Heneghan.
Jamie lives in Liverpool during World War 2. During the first year of the war there were no air-raids or nothing, so kids and adults started ignoring the war, until one night when the war struck to close to home. Jamies parents decided to send him to Canada on a boat along with the new kid, Beeker.
On the boat a Navy escort for protection followed them from the U-boats. When the Navy Escort left, Jamie and Bleeker knew they were in danger. That night the boat was bombed, and Jamie and Bleeker were in for the most horrible night of their lives.
Exciting and suspenseful. James Heneghans creative writing makes you feel like your there. I recommend this book to eight graders and up because its a little hard to understand sometimes and has bad language.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping novel about children evaucuated from WWII England., May 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wish Me Luck (Hardcover)

My twelve-year-old sixth grade boy and I just finished this wonderful novel. I am a children's librarian, but my son is a picky reader. Our favorite book to date is The True Confession of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, which won a Newbery Medal. Wish Me Luck has many of the same elements that make Charlotte Doyle so terrific: thoughtful, original characters, adventure and excitement. Kids who enjoyed the movie Titanic and like to read will enjoy this book. It has bombings, fires, lurking submarines and finally, a shipwreck. Any book that will induce your child to hide under the covers witha flashlight and read a chaper ahead, I consider a winner.