Stay Where You Are and Then Leave - John Boyne

Set in world war one, this book doesn't document the war but the effect it has on children, wives and men unwilling to fight. Alfie, a five year old boy is the main character of this story and when his dad goes off to fight his world is turned upside down. Alfies dad writes letters from the trenches but after a couple years they stop coming and Alfie can't help wondering why. Alfie's mum tells him that it's because his dad is "on a secret mission for the government". Alfie suspects that she's lying to him, so he vows that he will find the answers himself. The only problem is, every answer he gets seems to just lead to more questions.

Alfie's mum starts to struggle to make enough money to support Alfie and herself so Alfie takes it upon himself to become a shoeshine boy. By pure luck, one of Alfie's costomer is an army doctor whose papers are blown away by the wind. Alfie helps to retrieve them and in the process discovers the true whereabouts of his father. So he sets in motion a series of events that sees Alfie heading iff to Sussex to bring his dad back... whatever the concequences.

This book covers difficult themes, such as conscientious objecters, mental illness, loss, racism, wartime survival and family tragedy. This book is an excellent book because of multiple reasons. It is very well written and it teaches you a lot about the war.

This book is really great because it can be read by a range of ages, like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Another great book by John Boyne). I read this book when I was 11 years old (the year it came out) and I really enjoyed it. When I was sick this year I read it again and I still loved the book. I was able to get a deeper understanding about how Alfie felt and I was able to pick out more themes that I hadn't noticed coming through the first time I read it.

I rate it 4.3/5 stars.