Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian is a children’s historical novel set in England during the Second World War. Not only is reading it an excellent way for children to understand more about life during World War II, it also teaches them about love, trust and resilience.
It is recommended for readers who are 10 or older (Year 6 and above) due to themes of child abuse and death, but overall it is a beautiful, heartwarming story with a happy ending.
Below, I outline some writing ideas to carry out whilst reading this excellent book.
Write a character profile
Have pupils write a Goodnight Mister Tom character profile about one of the characters in the story. I like to do this early on, perhaps after reading the second chapter, to examine a character in detail.
Studying the character of one of the story’s protagonists, evacuee Willie or host Tom, will not only enable pupils to gain an insight into the character in question – their appearance, personality, family etc – the activity also reveals how a character can be created by an author, which is a useful creative writing skill.
See this William Beech Model Character Profile Text Pack for a WAGOLL text; feature find activity with answers; planning and writing templates; and useful word bank.
Write a diary entry
Writing a diary entry as one of the story’s characters helps pupils to think from another person’s perspective. Goodnight Mister Tom is written from a third person shifting point of view, focussing on the thoughts and experiences of Willie and Tom. Therefore scenes that are told from one character’s viewpoint can be written about in a diary entry by the same character or, to make it more challenging, a different character.
See this Goodnight Mister Tom Model Diary Text Pack for a diary entry WAGOLL with feature find worksheets, templates and word bank.
Write a persuasive leaflet
Pupils often read Goodnight Mister Tom whilst studying World War Two in history as it is an excellent way to gain an insight into life during the war.
After reading Chapter 7 of the book, get pupils to examine the text and even do some independent research in order to create a persuasive leaflet about Home Front preparations. This will broaden their knowledge of daily life for evacuees and their foster families.
Use this Goodnight Mister Tom Persuasive Leaflet Model Text Pack as inspiration. It contains a WAGOLL persuasive leaflet text; feature find worksheet with answers; planning and writing templates; and success criteria grid.
Write an informal letter
Like the diary entry, writing an informal letter related to the story helps pupils to think from a character’s point of view. What is the character thinking and feeling at that particular point in the story? What might they want to share with family or friends? What information might they leave out of their letter?
This Goodnight Mister Tom Letter Writing Example Text Pack contains a model letter from Willie to his countryside host Thomas Oakley asking for help.
Write a postcard
In my experience, children find postcard creation to be an enjoyable activity as it involves the design of artwork as well as writing a relatively short note. Get pupils combining writing and art with geography and history by researching the area the postcard is sent from, and looking at photos from the past.
The ideal time for postcard writing is after reading Chapter 17 when William goes on holiday. This Goodnight Mister Tom Postcard Model Text Pack contains a WAGOLL; feature find worksheet with answers; a success criteria list; and postcard writing template.
Bundle
If you want to use all of these non-fiction text WAGOLLs, try this Goodnight Mister Tom WAGOLL Writing Packs With Model Texts Bundle.
