- Nightmare Fuel: When Tom finds Will, weeks after he's been called home by his mother. He's filthy, half starved and holding his dead baby sister in his arms.
- Tear Jerker:
- When Tom is forced to put Will on the train back to London to be reunited with his mother. Magorian's description really sells how heart breaking it is for both of them.
- Zach's death and Will's grief.
- What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: For the most part, the story is a heartwarming tale about a scared and impoverished evacuee bonding with a Grumpy Old Man With A Heart Of Gold in an Idyllic English Village. But what Will's mother does in one chapter when he returns to London is pure Nightmare Fuel (see above). She beats him, locks him in a cupboard with his infant sister, and disappears trapping him there with the (presumably) screaming baby for God knows how long. By the time Tom comes to check on him the baby has starved to death and Will is barely clinging on to life. Oh, and she commits suicide later, too. Bear in mind that this book is frequently given to primary-school aged children learning about World War II.
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