Pearson Kit : Looking at the Moon

While spending the summer of 1943 in a cottage in Muskoka, Canada, with her brother Gavin, Norah, a British war refugee, falls for her adoptive cousin, Andrew, a pacifist whose ideals threaten their relationship, in the sequel to The Sky Is Falling.

This novel--the continuing adventures of Norah, a prickly but engaging English girl--takes up nearly three years after the events chronicled in The Sky Is Falling. Norah and her younger brother Gavin continue to live in the home of wealthy Toronto matron Mrs. Ogilvie--with whom they are likely to remain until WW II comes to an end. Norah, now 13, is torn between wanting to grow up and wishing that she could remain a child; not even at Gairloch--the rambling summer dwelling shared by Mrs. Ogilvie's extended family--can Norah escape backwards into the unconflicted world of childhood. In fact, events at Gairloch push Norah even closer to adulthood: it is there that she first falls in love, with Mrs. Ogilvie's grand-nephew Andrew, 19. Narrated in language that is more sturdy than anything else, this coming-of-age story holds few surprises. With the exception of Norah, the characters are fairly wooden and one-dimensional. Pearson's real strength, however, lies in her ability to convey the texture of a specific time and place; Gairloch, in particular, is so vividly and lovingly evoked that it is almost possible to smell the pine trees. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The second in a trilogy (The Sky Is Falling, 1990)--about two English children sent to live in Canada during WW II--takes Norah (now 13) and little brother Gavin for a summer at the large lakeside establishment of the Drummond family, whose several generations come there also to join Norah's hostess, wealthy old Mrs. Ogilvie. The family's lifestyle (plus Pearson's depiction of it) is leisurely--boating, games, etc. Of the nine cousins in the youngest generation, the one of greatest interest to Norah is Andrew, 19, a would-be actor whose family is pushing him into engineering school or the army (as an officer, of course; class is taken for granted). Norah develops a fervent crush on Andrew, a kind boy who (after he notices) preserves his friendly demeanor with admirable tact; he even confides his horror of killing to Norah alone, so that his later decision to join up comes as a shock to her (cf. Hahn's Stepping on the Cracks, 1991, which probes much deeper into this issue). Pearson writes with restraint--the adults never do find out about the party the kids throw when they spend a night away; unmarried Aunt Mary decides not to wed the nice man she's been meeting secretly all summer--yet the undramatic outcomes are realistic; meanwhile, Norah continues to grow and adapt, and others are lightly but credibly sketched. A period piece, at its best in evoking those strangely peaceful days. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.