Amazing book! It's written with so much skill,and it's so apealing I can't explain you! I think it's a perfect book for children and adults too.

A truly heartwarming book where the unlikely heroine has to learn many of life's lessons the hard way. She is not particularly sympathetic but you do feel sorry that she has been given such a strange view of the world and we cheer when she begins to understand the realities around her. Set in the Second World War this combines themes that are both personal and yet international.

Sam Angus is one of those authors I’d heard of, but never read. All the Michael Morpurgo comparisons sort of put me off because War Horse had such a big impact on me as a child, I couldn’t see how another author could compare.

I was wrong. So wrong. And although I can see where the Morpurgo comparisons came from, this book filled me with all the best Eva Ibbotson feelings – and that is an excellent thing.

Because this is an excellent book, fun at times, absurd at others and utterly, utterly heartbreaking. In some ways I think there’s a hint of Toy Story 3 about it, in that it might hit adults harder than children, simply because of nostalgia and memories and everything that gets bound up inside when you look back at school days from a distance.

Because unlike almost every other book about boarding school, Lyla struggles. Badly. She’s an unusual girl, barely educated, immature in some ways, rather too old in others. Her childhood thus far has been largely devoted to attending on her socialite mother, who doesn’t believe in schools or caring for her daughter or anything much except enjoying herself in London. But Lyla loves her. She is devoted to her mother, which makes it all the more painful when her father drags her off to Devon away from the dangers of war. Despite several escape attempts, Lyla gives into one of her impulsive moments and that’s how an entire school ends up on Great-Aunt Ada’s doorstep, invading everything.

There was so much to love about this book. Admittedly, Lyla herself is not entirely loveable. She’s rude, angry, self-absorbed and half-wild, at times, but I felt for her deeply because she so badly wants to fit in without knowing where to even start. And she is kind to Bucket, her ferret, and does regret her worst mistakes. Luckily for her, Great-Aunt Ada is wonderful. Everyone should have a great aunt like her. There’s also Solomon, the most unusual butler, and Cat, the greatest friend ever.

The story stretches out across the course of the Second World War, full of history, growing pains and the awful things girls can do to other girls. There were times when my heart hurt for Lyla, but then there were others where I couldn’t stop grinning. Ada is marvellous, and the letter planes were both wonderful and heartbreaking. The scene with Lyla in the tree really did feel as though it broke my heart, and yet I couldn’t stop laughing at the lesson in the kitchen.

And that’s the wonderful thing about this book. Even if, at the start, I didn’t like Lyla and wasn’t sure where this was going or how it would turn out, somehow it reached inside me and pulled out so many emotions. It’s a beautiful, heart breaking, joyful smile of a read and Sam Angus has a huge new fan in me.

5 stars for this enchanting, moving children’s book.

I selected this novel hoping for an enjoyable story set in a school. School for Skylarks delivers on this but also on so much more, making it an exceptionally rewarding read. World War II in all its ramifications is explored: the evacuation of children; commandeering of accommodation; the war effort including knitting, nursing and aid parcels; shortages and hardships; and soldiers’ experiences of warfare – all this is mentioned in the book, not in any text-book manner but as part of a rich, authentic story. Other themes include loneliness, friendship, divorce, growing up and growing old, and running away from and facing up to trouble.

Again, please don’t think that these themes are set out in a dry or formulaic fashion. It is part of the fabric of the wonderful story of Lyla Spence, whom we meet at the age of eleven when she is left at the home of her eccentric, superb Great-Aunt Ada. The wonderful household at Furlongs, including a butler with a wooden leg, a stuffed armadillo and a ferret called Bucket, are soon joined by Garden Hill School for Girls (thanks to Lyla’s backfiring machinations). The school scenes are beautifully drawn, with Lyla experiencing some of the common ups and downs of school life, including trying to make friends and being ostracised, and we also read magical scenes of how Violet the horse comes to live on the first floor of the house, and of how the girls are taught to mark their teachers for their enthusiasm and skills.

Lyla is a furious, infuriating, engaging character and I hope to meet her again. I will seek out more novels by Sam Angus, and I will recommend School for Skylarks to all.

I received this ebook free from NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Books.