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Wish Me Luck
While on an ocean voyage to Canada to escape the air raids in his Liverpool home, twelve-year-old Jaimie Monaghan faces another kind of life-threatening situation
197 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1997
About the author
James Heneghan
27 books16 followersJames Heneghan (born 1930) is a British Canadian author. Heneghan grew up Liverpool, England, and currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He earned Canadian citizenship in 1963.
Series:
* The O'Brien Detective Agency
Awards:
* Arthur Ellis Award: Juvenile
o 1995 – Torn Away – Winner
* Sheila A. Egoff Children's Book Prize
o 1998 – Wish Me Luck – Winner
o 2001 – The Grave – Winner
o 2003 – Flood – Winner
Series:
* The O'Brien Detective Agency
Awards:
* Arthur Ellis Award: Juvenile
o 1995 – Torn Away – Winner
* Sheila A. Egoff Children's Book Prize
o 1998 – Wish Me Luck – Winner
o 2001 – The Grave – Winner
o 2003 – Flood – Winner
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 2, 2017
Although it was somewhat interesting to experience from the survivors' perspective the air raids in Liverpool, England and during World War II, the narration in Wish Me Luck is quite detached and unemotional, the plot is mostly slow and uneventful, the ending is rather anticlimactic, and I didn't really connect to or care about any of the characters.
August 11, 2011
I do believe this was the book that taught me my favorite (dirty) reference to pregnancy: "the balloon over the toy shop." Something an uncle tells the impressionable narrator. Yep, I brush that one off every now and again to horrify those in my acquaintance.
October 4, 2013
I was extremely moved by the story of the children who were torpedoed on the City of Benares when I read about it in Tim Clayton and Phil Craig's Finest Hour, but I just couldn't connect with this novel. The biggest problem for me was that I didn't like the narrator. Jamie is a 12 year old bully whose favorite things seem to be toilet references and watching other kids get beaten up. He constantly torments his neighbor, who is desperately poor and abused, and doesn't do anything I could call decent until near the end of the book. My other big problem was that the narration was curiously detached despite the depth of the tragedy and first person perspective. It also kept switching back and forth between past and present tense in the last third of the book. However, it was obvious that the author did a lot of research into period details, so it does provide an interesting glimpse into an often-overlooked historical event.
July 16, 2019
I was hoping to learn about the children who were sent from England to Canada during WWII. However, the main character repulsed me so much that I didn't finish the book. Jamie is a 12-year-old boy who has a potty mind and loves watching other kids getting beaten up. He and his friends do illegal things for fun, and, instead of trying to help his neighbor who is desperately poor and abused, he is mean to him. Not my kind of book.
May 19, 2019
Read this as a kid when I was obsessed with Atlantis, Troy, the Titanic conspiracies and the Lusitania. Loved it and have read it many times over the years as it's a quick but interesting story and well written.
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May 29, 2020wow. I had no memory of previously reading this book. Which I find odd, because it's reasonably memorable. Although the danger at sea comes fairly late in the game, so it's not quite as exciting as I expected it to be.
November 1, 2019
For 8th graders and up. Some language.
July 17, 2023
It was a fun little read when I was around 12! Sad and suspenseful at times but overall pretty good! All I wanted was for the main character to have a little more emotion! That’s all
October 25, 2009
Wish me luck is about a boy names Jamie Monaghan that he wishes that ww2 would be over. And the war starts to get close to his house so his parents arrange for him to go the Canada . The ship that he was in was called the city of Benares, a ship that carried a hundred young British people. And for some reason the ship starts going closer to the war instead of being away from it. and his parents are very scared and don’t know what to do so Jamie I think needs to do something quick before someone dies.
September 22, 2009
what i have read in this book so far is really good. this book 'Wish Me Luck' is about ab oy who gets sent off to Canada during the war against Hitler. i would recomend this book to anyone because it 9s a quick read and very inspirational.
November 13, 2013
I think this an ok-average read. The book covers a Irish kid who lives in Liverpool in ww2. The book isn't to exciting as there isn't any real action, and pretty much everything in the book is predictable.
May 18, 2017
A historical novel about a boy being sent from England to Canada aboard the City of Benares during World War II. The ship is torpedoed! Based on a true incident.
September 14, 2015
another freaking awesome ww2 book.
September 21, 2012
OK YA historical novel on the Yukon gold rush.
January 15, 2020
Average.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews