Tales of the Cobb Street Commandos

In a recent Books for Keeps interview Tony Bradman shared his top tip for writing an exciting book: ‘You just write a good story, and don’t put any boring bits in.’ He’s certainly applied that rule to his new series, Tales of the Cobb Street Commandos. Set in London during World War II and specifically the Blitz, it introduces schoolboy Jimmy who along with his mates Bill and Stanley, is desperate to do his bit for the war effort. The action proceeds at pace as the boys determine how to raise money for new planes during Spitfire Week and, particularly enjoyable, inveigle their way into a training session for the local Home Guard, helping them get one over regular soldiers in the process. It even ends with Jimmy meeting ‘Old Winnie’ himself, the Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Along with the action, there’s a proper sense of the boys’ camaraderie which extends too to Jimmy’s East End neighbours as they endure the horror of the bombing raids. Throughout all the action and boys’ own adventure, Tony Bradman slips in a great deal of information about the war and how it affected those at home. As he revealed in that same BfK interview and mentions in his author’s note, his parents both lived through the war and the stories they told him make their way into this particularly lively bit of historical fiction, giving it a real and fresh sense of a period that is the subject of very many children’s books. There will be more tales of the Cobb Street Commandos to come and likely to be just as enjoyable and informative.