London Calling by Edward Bloor

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London Calling
by Edward Bloor
(Audio)

I chose this book off the YA Audiobook shelves at the library I volunteer at because I needed something quick & fun to read. So I started at the beginning of the alphabet and selected the first thing that jumped out at me. I'd just read Tangerine by the same author and this had London and time travel in it... so I couldn't resist it.

It's the story of a boy named Martin who goes to a school he doesn't fit in at. He's only got a couple of friends (because they don't fit in either) and he's not rich like the rest of the kids at the private Catholic school. But when he inherits an old radio from his grandmother and, through it, is able to see & talk with a boy from the past, his life becomes infinitely more interesting. Soon he's falling back through time repeatedly whenever he falls asleep with the radio on, tuned in-between stations. He experiences first-hand the terror and chaos of the London Blitz. And he is over and over again pressed by the boy, Johnny, to do his bit to help.

What is that bit? Martin finds out soon enough, and it changes the way he--and those around him--see the world. Themes of truth and redemption, of religion and duty, of kindness and human nature all jumble up into an interesting adventure. Martin is brave and makes a lot of hard decisions. I wasn't amazed by the book, but I was really quite pleased with the way everything tied together in the end.