When the Sky Falls

In 1941 Britain, following his father’s conscription and the effects of his own explosive anger, 12-year-old Joseph Palmer is sent from Yorkshire to bombed-out London to live with gruff Mrs. F, caretaker of her family’s deteriorating zoo. Capable Mrs. F struggles to keep the remaining animals alive, particularly “the pride of the zoo”—a silverback gorilla named Adonis, to whom, after a disastrous first meeting, Joseph takes an immediate dislike. Despite his burgeoning friendship with a classmate who assists at the zoo, school represents difficulties for Joseph, as he navigates bullies, a cruel schoolmaster, and severe dyslexia in addition to exhausting, almost nightly air raids. Solace from this unrelentingly bleak existence appears in an unlikely form, as the child slowly gains the gorilla’s trust and it becomes clear that Joseph is not the only one battling the pain of loss. Equal parts gripping and emotionally devastating, Earle’s (The Bubble Wrap Boy) detail-rich novel explores the healing power of hard-won interspecies friendship amid a harrowing depiction of wartime grief and resilience. Characters cue as white. Ages 9–11. Agent: Jodie Hodges, United Agents (U.K.). (Apr.)