All the Children Were Sent Away

by Sheila Garrigue

An eight-year-old British girl experiences loneliness and fear when she and many other children are evacuated to Canada during World War II.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Friendship, World War II

171 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long time ago, a young girl spied a book on her sixth-grade teacher’s bookshelf whose title caught her interest. “ All the Children Were Sent Away”, was the title; sent away where?, wondered the girl. From the first page, the girl was absolutely hooked. She went on to read many, many more books about children being evacuated during the London Blitz, over the years, and that became a life-long interest. But the girl returned to re-reading this one, countless times, and it has never failed to touch her heart, each time…

[Andrea Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many times as a child. It remains one of my all time favorites.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is the summer of 1940 and the war has finally found its way to the home front. Air raids in London are becoming more and more frequent and bombs are beginning to fall. And so when her uncle in Vancouver, BC writes to her parents in London and suggests that they send 9 year old daughter Sara Warren to Canada for the duration, they also think this would be a good idea.

They decide to place Sara in the care of Lady Drume, who is making the same trip for war related reasons. Sara has some reservations about meeting Lady Drume, but her mother reassures that it will be fine, though she does admit that Lady Drume is a funny old thing.

And that turns out to be an understatement. Lady Drume immediately begins to order Sara around, before Mrs. Warren has even said good-bye, and once on the ship, she demands “implicit obedience” from Sara. This means staying in their cabin and never wandering around the ship alone. But when the friendly old sailor Wilfrid Horace Mickleby a/k/a/ Sparky invites up on deck to watch the ship weigh anchor, Sara commits her first infraction of Lady Drume many rules.

Luckily, Sara sits next to the friendly ship doctor for meals, who later takes her to the lounge to meet the other children being evacuated from the East End of London, including siblings Ernie and Maggie. Sara immediately likes them, but Lady Drume tells her she may not hang out with “guttersnipes” while under her care.

Lady Drume is, to say the least, a dictatorial snob. Not only does Lady Drume avoid all the other people on the ship except the Captain, she refuses to attend the lifeboat drills should the ship be attacked and decides that she doesn’t need to wear her life jacket even though it is mandatory.

When the ship is attacked and sustains damage, it is "guttersnipe" Ernie who leads Lady Drume and Sara to safety. Sara hopes that now maybe things will change.
Yet, nothing really changes. The day after the attack, Sara is told to fetch a book for Lady Drume, and she decides to bring an apple to the doctor on her way. Sara gets delayed helping out in sick bay, and once again, finds herself in trouble. Lady Drume had focused on Sara’s hair from the beginning. Sara had been desperately trying to grow her fine limp hair so she could wear braids like all the other girls she knew. In a rage over forgetting her book, Lady Drume commits the unthinkable, Sara doesn’t think she will ever be able to forgive her. But Lady Drume isn’t done with Sara yet and there is still so much traveling time left.

Sheila Garrigue was evacuated to Canada at 7 years old, and it is clear much of her shipboard experience in the U-boat infested Atlantic Ocean during the war made its way into this novel. This was a somewhat unique adventure since overseas evacuations didn’t last long when ships, like the one here, were hit by torpedoes and sunk, killing some of the evacuees.

This novel is not really wonderful, though. The characters fall a little short of being authentic, and often feel very stereotypical. Lady Drume’s refusal to acknowledge the war and its dangers seemed odd given that she was going to Canada to organize a war relief drive and than back to England because “my country needs me.” Sara, for all she didn’t like Lady Drume, continued to inadvertently get into trouble and then allowed herself to become a timid victim. Neither character ever seems to learn how to operate in the situation in which she finds herself.

Oh, and as for the end of the story - let’s just say not very likely!
This book is recommended for readers age 10 and up.
This book was purchased for my personal library.

[Bev Walkling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This relatively short novel tells the story of a nine year old girl traveling from England to Canada to escape the risks of bombing at home. It is written at a level suitable for younger readers telling to story without dwelling too much on the horrific aspects of war. It is also a story of friendship and the social views of the time. Looking at it from a modern perspective there is much to judge but the author accurately represents the time period.

This was a good bit of escapism reading for me in a time of pandemic.

[Veronica-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an old-fashioned little gem of a book that I loved. Set in a time of war when children were sent away to safer destinations, this story is told from the perspective of a nine year girl. Beautifully written with lots of heart. Recommended.

[Lianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have loved this book since my childhood over 40 years ago

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based loosely on the author’s childhood experience of the evacuation of children from Britain to the Common Wealth countries. A fast paced story which includes a U-boat attack on the ship the children are on. Sara is under the care of an overbearing woman, Lady Drume, who is taking her to stay with her Aunt and Uncle in BC. Some of the children on the ship contract measles presenting an opportunity to discuss the advances in medicine and the life-saving benefits of immunizations. Sara’s journey could be plotted on a map as the locations are included.

There is an interesting discussion to be had regarding the relationship between Sara and Lady Drume. The question should be raised as to whether Sara’s mother would approve of the way Sara is being treated and if Sara should seek help from other adults she trusts. In a fit of rage Lady Drume has Sara’s hair hacked off. The situation in the book borders upon abuse in my opinion, due to the spirit it was done in. This raises the discussion of the difference between discipline and nastiness. The spirit behind a punishment is as significant as the form the punishment takes. When as adults we punish children in anger we run the risk of conveying to them that acting out in anger is acceptable. We also make poor decisions and over react. Children need to understand this concept as they are of an age they may be babysitting others, they need to ensure they never respond to a small child in their care with anger. Teens have an incredibly strong sense of justice. They need to understand their parents have their well being in mind when they are being disciplined. Proper discipline comes from a loving heart, sometimes that means deferring punishment until it can be calmly administered. Discussing these things with our teens helps to facilitate a more respectful relationship between us and our children.
A child could be asked to recreate the chapter 11 rewriting it to have Lady Drume respond in an appropriate way.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book I really loved as a kid, but upon re-reading it as an adult, it wasn't so good. I think I probably chose it (from a Scholastic book catalog in the late 70s/early 80s I'm sure) because our fourth grade teacher had read aloud Escape From Warsaw and Searching for Shona, both World War II stories, and I probably wanted to read another one. I don't know about Searching for Shona (I haven't read it in 35 years) but Escape From Warsaw (also known as The Silver Sword is a much, much better book (I re-read it every few years or so). This book is a mere supplement, I think.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

English evacuee sent to Canada in 1940. Most of the action takes place on the boat trip. Interesting class differences between the main character, I think a middle-class girl, and the other children on board, who are Cockneys.

A pretty good book--I hadn't read it in a long time, and I liked it better when I was a kid. I think the story is probably pretty autobiographical, and could have stood some more plotting, or something. You spend the book very much in the main character's head--but her character is well- and clearly-written.

[Toni Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written story of a young girl, Sara, who must make the journey by sea to Canada during World War II. The woman charged with her keep is at times infuriating. Sara meets two friends in Ernie and Maggie, a brother and sister also bound for Canada. Ms. Garrigue writes from a genuine perspective. In fact, I don't think anyone could have written Sara's story as well. Ms. Garrigue was an evacuee during World War II. Later in life, she was administrative assistant to Edward R. Murrow. I would recommend this read to any middle school reader. It is a true lesson in history.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs more action.

It seemed as if many of the incidents that happened could have been developed more. Just as I was getting into them, they ended.