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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780375843631
ISBN number: 0375843639
Label: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: February 12, 2008
Publishing house: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Age index: Young Adult
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 652218
Studio: Knopf Books for Young Readers
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Martin Conway comes from a family filled with heroes and disgraces. His grandfather was a statesman who worked at the US Embassy in London during WWII. His father is an alcoholic who left his family. His sister is an overachieving Ivy League graduate. And Martin? Martin is stuck in between--floundering.
But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?
Where did this boy come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?
The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.
This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help?
From the Hardcover edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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I liked this book. I really did. But it is a very sad commentary on the state of education in today's world. This young man, Martin, a teenager, attends a fancy private school where he is supposedly getting a good education. But he knows NOTHING about history, or art, does not know that a 'seraphim' is an angel and so on. Did I know at 13 what a seraphim was? Yes. I read voraciously then and now. I knew. I am no genius but I knew.
But this is overall a very well written, extremely entertaining book. I truly enjoyed it and would like to read other works by this author.
Rated by buyers 
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Other reviewers observe that London Calling is part problem novel, part historical fiction, and part time-travel adventure. Despite the author's skill at creating vivid locations, as a whole, I think the story suffers from this mixture of stories more than it benefits.
Martin hates his school and his life, but the revenge he seeks against classmate Lowery, grandson of the WWII hero, seems small and unsatisfying. That's because the story morphs into that of the relationship between Martin and his alcoholic father. But that's somewhat underwhelming too, because the story also is about helping Jimmy, his time-travel friend from 1940, and Jimmy's father.
I had difficulty hanging in there long enough for Martin to get to the real issues in all three stories-- just past halfway in the book. I think I would have preferred a straight story of any one of the elements rather than all three weaved together. And of them, the story of Jimmy and his father has the most potential for development on its own.
Rated by buyers -
It never fails to surprise me how certain books will turn out. You start a book, and you think you have its number. You say, "Book, I know exactly who you are and where you are going." Many times, you are right. But therein lies the joy of discovering a book that adds to your life. Edward Bloor is one wacky guy. He comes up with original plots, but he is also a very good writer. In Story Time, his protagonists went to a private school where the students sat in windowless rooms, taking standardized tests, and drinking noxious shakes blended to keep the students chained in their educational prisons (Yes, down with standardized tests!). With many authors, they are good at only one aspect of writing (plots, characters, pacing). Bloor has all of these elements of writing nailed down, plus he creates characters that will touch your heart.
In London Calling, Bloor again shares his loathing of private schools. Our protagonist is Martin Conway, a bright, unhappy 12-year old with little drive. He is a self-proclaimed hermit. He lives in the basement, where his crazy uncle once lived, and his dad used to live before he set the place on fire. Martin's nuclear family consists of an alcoholic dad that works for an airport steakhouse chain, an unhappy mother who works as a secretary at the school so that Martin can attend (She thinks he will have better opportunities.), and a sister who is a genius and works at an encyclopedia company as a fact checker. See what I mean? You have to be pretty creative to make this stuff up.
Martin has only two friends at his private Catholic school, which appears to be run by the Lowery family. The Lowery family claims that their ancestor, Hollerin' Hank Lowery, was a World War II hero. They have some money, and so the school kowtows to that family.
The current reigning Lowery loves to pick on the weak, and he makes regular sport of picking on Martin and his friends. On one such occasion, Martin's friend, Manetti, takes a piece of concrete and chucks it at Lowery's head, causing Lowery to whine like a little girl. It also, unfortunately, breaks off a chunk from a statue the school is getting ready to unveil for the Hall of Heroes. The school, in a guise of a fair trial, rules that Martin and his friends are completely responsible, suspending Martin from school.
At the same time, Martin loses a family member. His Grandma Mehan, his mother's mom, passes away. Grandma Mehan is another wacky family member. She believes that she came back from the dead while in hospital. No one really takes her seriously. Martin, however, is quite fond of Grandma Mehan. When she passes away, she gives Martin a vintage radio from the 1940s.
This is where our story elements come together. Martin begs his mom and principal that he be allowed to remain on regular suspension. In lieu of attending school, he asks to do a home study about the radio his Grandma gave him. He gets permission, but Martin has a secret agenda. The radio is actually a time travel device. When he sets it to a frequency that receives static, Martin is transported back to 1940s London, where he meets a Jimmy Harker. Jimmy says Martin has something he needs to do, but he doesn't know what. Martin reluctantly follows Jimmy on several late night adventures, involving blackouts and Germans bombing London. Martin suspects he is going crazy, but this is where his sister comes in. As a fact checker at an encyclopedia, she can verify or deny the facts he records from his travels.
Martin discovers he does have a mission to fulfill, and it will impact not only the Harker family, but his own family as well. Martin is asked repeatedly, "What will you do to help, when the time comes?" Martin finds out that he, yes, even he, a 12-year old boy, can make a difference. He also learns to hope again, and his family receives some healing.
I just loved this book. Any book that causes me to shed a tear is usually a winner for me. There was also a lot of talk of a higher power; that we can't do things on our own without the help of a higher power. In addition, this story had so many elements. It was historical fiction, and it was also fantasy. It had the adventure and purpose that boys crave, and it had relationships that would appeal to girls.
I would recommend this to teens that love historical fiction. I would also give it a fantasy fan that has to read historical fiction.
Rated by buyers -
I picked this up because I loved Tangerine, by the same author. I decided my boys are all going to read Tangerine when they get a bit older because it is a great story and I loved how the main character takes on the bully in his life.
This book will also be on my list of reads for them, but for a different reason. It's also a great story and once again there is an obnoxious bully who needs someone to stand up to him. But there is also a message. I know, kids don't like message books, but it's really just a small part of the story and it's a good message. I think I read a similar sentiment in a Margaret Frazer book, where she wrote something like, "it will be asked how you spent the time you have been given." Here, it's "what did you do to help?" Either way it applies to the hero here. At the beginning he is spending his summer sleeping - he doesn't do anything. No interests, hobbies, nothing. He is very unenthused about life.
And then Martin's grandmother leaves him an old radio that transports him to 1940s London. The story gets sort of Sixth Sense-y, but it is a very satisfying story.
Rated by buyers -
Is time travel really possible? Many people wonder about that. That's also the question this book asks. As for the answer, you'll have to read this book to find out.
Martin Conway is confused. His grandmother has been calling him late at night, telling him he has to help "the boy". At first, he doesn't know what she's talking about. When she dies, however, and leaves him her old antique radio, he's transported to World War Two London, and the adventure begins.
Edward Bloor's fourth book really tells Martin's story in his own voice. This story is about redemption and courage. It's really interesting to see how the whole story comes together, and when it does, you're left with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Anyone who likes historical fiction will love this book. I know that I did. London Calling is a dramatic journey that you'll want to ride. Trust me.
-Paul Brandt
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