Michelle Magorian - Just Henry

Reviewed by Babs Simpson April 2009
Just Henry is the winner of the 2008 Costa Book Awards for best children's book. This author also wrote the brilliant Goodnight Mister Tom, which is what drew me to her latest.
It is set in a seaside town in the 1940's just after the war has ended. Henry lives in fairly poor circumstances with his mother, his step-father and his paternal grandmother. His own father died in the war, a hero who saved another man from death by his courageous actions. Henry has a small step-sister, Molly, who is two years old.
Henry's gran is an evil woman, although he is too naive to realise. She spends her time trying to alienate him from his step-father and young sister as well as poisoning his mind with her bigotry about two of his school class mates, one of whose father is an alleged deserter from the Army and the other illegitimate.
However, an inspirational teacher turns Henry's preconceptions around by forcing him to work on a project with these two boys and he reluctantly comes to the conclusion that whatever their parents have done the boys do not deserve to be stigmatised.
Henry is a devotee of the cinema and goes several times a week to escape the unpleasant atmosphere at home generated by his gran. During one of these visits, while trying to get into an 'A' rated film (children can only see it if accompanied by an adult), he meets a lady, Mrs Beaumont, who shares his passion for films, introduces him to all sorts of interesting people and, most significantly, lends him a camera, which is the catalyst for the rest of the story.
I won't give anymore away apart from saying that everything gets turned on its head, his grandmother is exposed for the vicious bigot she is and Henry ends up in terrible danger.
It is a long book but a real page turner and gives a really good account of life just after the war - everything still on rations the difficulty of obtaining clothes or any other commodity, the bitterness and disgrace that single mothers faced in those days and above all, the terrible effect that one person can have on a family.
I am sure it will appeal to children and adults alike. Henry is a lovely character, very believable and resourceful, his gran is an absolute old cow and the other children in the book very entertaining. I also think it would make a marvellous series or film for tv, just like 'Goodnight Mr Tom' and I think Judi Dench would be brilliant as Mrs Beaumont!"