Book Review: While the Storm Rages by Phil Earle

 

The third book by Earle about kids and animals in wartime I have read this year. Spoilers ahead.

Noah and his friend Clem live in pre-World War II London. Both of them have pets and soon they learn of the news that their beloved animal companions will have to be put down once the war starts. Seeing no other choice, the duo gathers some animals on Noah's father's boat, and they intend to sail to a safe zone for animals. Joining them is none other than Noah's bully, Col, and his pet snake. Will they reach their safe haven in time?

Overall yeah, I think this is a fine book. I think I liked this one the second best out of the three Earle books I've read so far, behind When the Sky Falls but before Until the Road Ends. This was an overall engaging book and the highlights here really were the perilous journey these kids go on, and the main three characters themselves. Noah, Clem and Big Col had all had believable and well-written relationships and developments. They don't always get along, heck, they often fight, but you can still tell that they can be a really good team if they put their differences aside. Their dynamic just felt really realistic.

Where I think the book didn't succeed as much is the relationships between the pets and their owners. It mostly boils down to the book telling us how much the kids love their pets, but I just don't feel the same chemistry between pet and kid as I do between the three kids themselves. Sure, the book keeps insisting Winn (Noah's dog) and Noah are the best of friends and inseparable, but I felt we didn't really get to explore their relationship enough. There was much more focus on the character development of the kids and the overall journey rather than the relationships between the kids and their pets. Which feels crucial for a book where the bond between pet and owner is so central.

I also wasn't hit as hard as the book clearly wanted me to be by some of the sadder scenes, such as character deaths. When the donkey dies a heroic death that sure is heroic, but aside from that we knew so little of the animal's personality or where he came from that it was very hard for me to get attached to him and feel sad when he died. When Frankie, Clem's old dachshund, dies, again I wasn't very sad because the death was predictable as hell. Frankie was having health issues and was already very old even before they started the journey, so it was pretty obvious he was not going to end up well by the end of the story. 

And, like I said before, since we didn't get a very good grasp of the relationship between these animals and the three kids (other than the basic "kids want to save them") it was just a bit hard to care for sometimes. I think that if the book really went out of its way just to show (not tell) how close these kids are to their pets, it would've left a much bigger emotional impact.

Just to reiterate, despite my criticisms this is not a bad book. The stuff that is good is really, really good. But since the kids and their animals are a central focus I'd just have liked a little more in that regard from the book.

Rating: 3.5/5