Back Home

I thought this is a great book as it is REALLY realitstic and you can realate with Virginia (Rusty) very easily. The story line is about a girl who has lived in America for 5 years (after being evaccutated there for safety during the Second World War) and what happens to her when she arrives back in England. I won't go on otherwise there will be no point you reading the book!! I recommend this for 11-15 year olds.IT IS BRILLIANT!

I really loved this book! Apart from the good use of language and feeling, the theme of the story is one that I can relate to. I moved to America from Britain when I was four years old and returned when I was eleven. All the complicated emotions that Rusty experiences (sadness, alienation, depression, despair) are ones that I also had to face. In the end, I also ,like Rusty, managed to come to terms with living in Britain. I recommend this book to anyone who feels like an outsider, or is interested in the time period during and after the second world war.It is really descriptive, and the words paint a very realistic picture of life in the 1940's. I just couldn't put this book down. If you enjoyed "Back Home", you should check out "Goodnight Mister Tom" which is also by Michelle Magorian.

Rusty (Virginia) Dickenson, a spirited 12 year old girl, was sent to America five years ago to be sheltered from World War Two. The war has since ceased, and when Rusty returns to England, nothing seems quite right: her mother enforces loathsome disciplinary regulations, and the starchy manner that Rusty is expected to behave in seems impossible for her charismatic nature. The poverty of post-war England reflects nothing back home in America where Rusty always felt accepted. Rusty is shipped off to an all-girl traditional boarding school where she struggles to hold her faith in the goodness of the human spirit. That is, until she meets a boy her age who was also shielded from WWII in America. Their platonic friendship and a Cabin in the Woods is about to change every prejudice Rusty has of England.

Back Home is about a girl called Virginia Dickinson (Rusty) and she was evacuated to America when she was 5 and so she adapted to the American way of life as she stayed there until she was 12. She came home to a war torn country and a totally new way of life. She has to blend in with her family and make new friends but she finds this very difficult. She cannot stop thinking about her American family and thinks of them closer than her real family. Her Grandmother and Father then come into the picture and want her sent off to boarding school and to lose that 'awful' accent and become the sophisticated child she used to be before her vacation. (Rusty is her nickname because of her hair) Rusty does not fit in and so she has no friends only enemys and everyone in the school is against her. Her only friend is Lance a 'Boy' from another school. Her life goes on like this and it really gets her down but she cannot tell anyone this except Lance........ To find out what happens read this 'superb book' I am sure you will love it Miss it Miss out!

This book was fabulous! It's about a girl who returns to England after the war. She doesn't fit in with the other girls at the boarding school, everything she does annoys her mother at first, and when her father comes home it's even worse! I can't go on, or I'll give away the ending, but READ THIS BOOK! 1