Jimmy's Stars

Mary Ann Rodman

Apr 2015 · Usborne Publishing Ltd

About this ebook

Ellie counted the days on the kitchen calendar. October 2nd was a Saturday. Twenty-one days until Jimmy had to go. That was a long time. Maybe the war would be over by then. But the days slipped by as fast as the trees shed their leaves. And the war didn't end. Ellie hates the stars proudly displayed in her neighbours' windows: a blue one for every man gone to serve in the war, a gold one for every man who will never return. She doesn't want a star – all she wants is for her big brother Jimmy to stay safely at home. But then Jimmy is called up, and Ellie can only desperately hope that his star never turns gold.

"You won't find a better novel to paint a picture of family life and woes during World War Two" - Lovereading4kids

About the author

Mary Ann Rodman wanted to be a writer since the age of three, but was only inspired to write Yankee Girl, her first novel, after leaving her job as a librarian and moving to Thailand. The experience of dealing with a completely different culture reminded her of her childhood years spent in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s. Mary Ann moved to Mississippi when her father, an FBI agent, was sent there to investigate hate crimes during the civil rights movement. Yankee Girl is based on the author's personal experiences of that time and her character Alice Ann is, she says, "an improved version of me, someone who I wish I could have been".