mystery

This book definitely makes me want to go to Malta. I read a book many years ago set in wartime (WW2) Malta and was intrigued. I know ancient monuments in Malta changed archaeological thinking as to when and how civilisations began. But I never really wanted to go there. The Information Officer brings fairly recent history to life, reminding us that people we know lived through incredible and unbearable situations. Mark Mills describes the island sympathetically and discreetly. Is it still the same? I want to know. Sixty plus years later things will have changed, but the island has such a long history. This book hints at this without labouring the fact.

I've read this book to children for the past ten years. It's not immediately accessible to less able young readers, but after the first two chapters all of my classes were completely hooked! It wasn't till a friend mentioned visiting the Scilly Isles that I realised how much I knew (or thought I did) about Bryher and Samson - and more to the point, how much I'd like to visit! Michael Morpurgo writes excellent children's stories. His love of the Isles of Scilly is evident without in any way overwhelming fundamental story lines.