Goodnight Mister Tom

Nearly three hundred pages of pure sentiment about an evacuee who is extremely withdrawn as a result of horrendous treatment by his Mum. He's put with old Tom Oakley, grumpy and unsociable since his wife's death forty years earlier. Guess the rest. It's episodic and simply written in the main so could perhaps be read to top juniors. The length, slowish start and nostalgic cover probably limit individual appeal to book fiends over ten who don't mind an old-fashioned novel. Or to adults (like the Guardian prize judges) who enjoy a weepie with gentle humour and larger-than-life characters.