36. Lizzie and the Lost Baby - Cheryl Blackford

Book from Amelia Givin Library
2016 HMH Books for Young Readers
181 pgs.
Middle Grade Historical Fiction
Finished 6/18/16
Goodreads rating: 3.94 (90 ratings)
My rating:1/I had some definite problems with this book, and I can't even say it was okay...
Setting: WWII Yorkshire countryside

First line/s:  "Every window on the train had been painted black, blocking any possible view of the passing scenery."

My comments:  I hate to have to rate a book - any book -  less than a four, it makes me feel really bad. But I try to give my honest opinions in these reviews, even if sometimes I can't put my feelings into understandable words.  But I had some definite problems with this book.  Lots of stereotyping.  Lots of really bad adults.  Immoral, unethical ones.  What are we teaching kids?  I think a story about a brave girl is a great idea -- but even though there may have been huge amounts of unethical people in WWII Britain, I dislike the way the book portrayed the members of this community, including the police, as selfish, hateful idiots.  A whole community came together to house kids from the city, kids they didn't even know, to keep them safe, and then the individuals we come upon in the story itself have low ethics and morals? Kidnappers, liars, bigots...  Ridiculous.  Although this has some great information about WWII, safety issues, gypsies, etc., I won't be sharing it with any of my students or grandkids.

Goodreads synopsis:Cheryl Blackford's debut novel is set in England during World War II and told from the dual perspectives of ten-year-old Lizzie, a homesick girl evacuated from bomb-blitzed Hull to the remote Yorkshire valley, and Elijah, a local gypsy boy. When Lizzie discovers an abandoned baby, her dangerous friendship with Elijah is put to the test. Will Lizzie be able to find the baby's parents? And if she does, can she and Elijah remain friends in a world clouded by prejudice and fear
?

MOVIE - The Railway Man

R (1:56)

Limited Release 4-11-14

Viewed at Carlisle Theater (reminds me so much of the Criterion, except it doesn't smell old and musty) Wed. 6-11-14

RT Critic: 66 Audience: 70

Cag: 4/Liked it a lot (I had to....It was Colin Firth....)

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky

The Weinstein Company

Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, and a young man named Jeremy Irvine, who played the young Firth beautifully

My comments: I always love stories that are based on a true story, but always wonder how much is close to the truth and how much is fictionalized.  I really enjoy the way this one was told; overlapping present and past, reality and memory to piece everything together. I usually refuse to go to war movies, but this one (probably because of Firth) tempted me too much not to go.  What happened to the British prisoners, especially the protagonist, Eric Lomax, was more-than-horrible-and-horrifying, but it's good to get a good dose or reality once in awhile.  It's too bad that this is the reality, though....

I am NOT fond of Nicole Kidman at all.  This role didn't help me like her any more, although I guess she did an acceptable job.  I'm not even sure why I dislike her....just never liked any of the roles I've seen her do, I guess.....

Rotten Tomato Summary: Based on the remarkable bestselling autobiography, THE RAILWAY MAN tells the extraordinary and epic true story of Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), a British Army officer who is tormented as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II. Decades later, Lomax and his beautiful love interest Patti (Nicole Kidman) discover that the Japanese interpreter responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and set out to confront him, and his haunting past, in this powerful and inspiring tale of heroism, humanity and the redeeming power of love.