Alice's review:

This story takes place in 1939, at the beginning of WW2. It talks about 12 year old Petra and about the lighthouse she lives in with her family. They have a german heritage and live in England. This was a time where England was at war with Germany, the fact that they have a German heritage was looked down upon.

The character I found most interesting was Petra. She needs to cope with problems one after the other and still manages to be strong in a time of war like the one she lives in. She is one of the strongest characters with an imagination to rival the best writers.

I learned so much about the past from this book. To begin, I learned that to hide from German bombers everyone had to camouflage their houses. Then I learned how no one trusted anyone and that if you had a German heritage, you were almost doomed.

I love the time it was set in as the contrast between mythology and real life in a time of war stands out immensely and adds an impact to the story that makes it remain in your read. The plot is wonderfully constructed and creates a realistic world that makes you want to read more and makes you yearn for a second book.

What stands out the most to me is a story, told to us on the second page. The story goes like this:

“Long, long ago a thick fog settled on this coast. It was very bad for the fishermen and their families, as they could not fish while the fog lingered, but it was even worse for the families of those aboard the Aurora. The Aurora had set out on the morning before the fog came, and she had still not returned. There were four men aboard the Aurora And each of these men had a daughter. Each evening the girls climbed the path from the harbour hand in hand, making their way up to this very clifftop to light the signal fire, and they kept the fire burning all through the long, cold nights. They hoped that, if the Aurora was still afloat, if she was lost somewhere in the fog, the bright flames would help to lead the little boat home. By the fourth evening, everyone else in the village had given up. They said the Aurora must have been swallowed by the Wyrm – the treacherous sandbank that lurked in the shadow of the towering cliffs. The Wyrm had wrecked many hundreds of ships over the centuries, and it was hungry for another sacrifice. But the girls had one last hope. That night, as usual, they wound their way up the cliff path hand in hand. As usual, they lit the fire, and tended it, and they sat, watched and waited for their fathers to return, but on this night they did not make their way home again. Here in the dark, on this very spot where we are sitting now, the girls sang a special song to the sea. They sang the sweetest, saddest song that has ever been heard. It was a song of love and loyalty and sacrifice, promising the greatest of gifts if only the Aurora were returned safely to the harbour. They sat and sang, and as they sang, they saw the fog begin to disperse. They kept singing and singing. Soon it was dawn and the girls stood up together, holding hands as the darkness dissolved and the new sun started to rise over the sea. Their white dresses billowed like sails in the first breeze that had blessed the shores in four long days and nights. A ghostly little boat seemed to bob up from the grey waves, and the girls knew it was the Aurora. They kept singing – but singing with joy now as they watched the fishing boat sail towards the harbour below. The Wyrm squirmed beneath the surface of the water. It had returned the Aurora, but now it felt angry and cheated and hungry. So it took the great sacrifice the girls had promised: it took their souls. Tentacles of mist reached up from the sea, creeping over the edge of the cliff and into their hearts. As the sun rose over the glittering water, the four daughters turned to stone.”

I love this scene and find that it stands out because it adds a feeling of mystery and fear.

I would definitely recommend this book to other students. Especially if they love history and fantasy. This book has a medium reading level and is suitable for people 10-18. This is a great book that really drags you into the story.

I learned so much from this book and felt the story many times. Then I would close the book and dream of the lighthouse and everyone in it.

This book is a wonderful piece of literature, perfect for everyone. This story will drag you unto it like the Wyrm dragged the ships to the bottom of the ocean floor.

Ellen's review:

I really liked Petra (or Pet, the main character) because she was very determined to find out all the secrets, which she found to do with her family, which she had no clue about. She also thought a lot about her family and cared for them a lot. Petra was also very brave. I didn’t really like Kipper Briggs at the start, who was quite a rude boy and a bit showy-off, but in the middle/end part of the story deep down he was a kind person and a helpful one. In the end when Kipper Briggs started being nice the really kind boy (or so we thought) Michael was really helping the Germans with his mother and turned out to be really cruel and rude.

I did learn something new about the time in this story and that was that there was more destruction and more lives lost than I expected.

I liked all the old and fancy names that they used for the planes and just some of the words they used like, sabotage or spitfire. I did know some things about World War II before, but I didn’t know much about spies. I didn’t really know lots and lots about the war to understand the story perfectly.

The story itself was a bit sad and had a lot of evil characters in but it was still really good.

The book has inspired me a little bit. But now that I have finished it I want to learn a bit more about this topic and WW2.

I would definitely recommend it to others because it is very gripping and paints a real picture in your mind.

Imogen's review:

I loved this book so much, it is really well written and it made me feel as if the story was really happening! One of the characters I found really interesting was a man that in the book they call “Pa”, because he is in charge of the lighthouse so I learned that running a lighthouse can be a very important and dangerous job during a war. I also learnt that hundreds of ordinary, British people sailed from Dover to Dunkirk to save thousands of retreating soldiers. I would defiantly recommend this book to other pupils that love reading and are interested in history.

Jess' review:

Overall, I found the main character Petra most interesting because she is very different from all the others and makes her own mind up on what to do, sometimes ignoring others advice. She is very quick thinking and smart which means she can make many difficult decisions. I dint find any character particularly unattractive either. From this book I learnt that there were more things happening behind the scenes then I thought during the 2nd world war e.g. Undercover Nazi spies. Before this book I didn’t really know much about this time period (1939-1941) only what was happening in major parts of England and Europe. Whereas this book has given me a deeper understanding of its effect on other places on the coast. The plot was exciting because there was always something happening that encourages you to carry on reading. This book has inspired me to try and read other history-based books as it is educational and enjoyable at the same time. I would definitely recommend this book to other students as it has a good story line which hooks the reader in.

Maja's review:

Our Castle by the Sea is a gripping story about a family who live in a lighthouse by the coast in the Second World War and get caught up in many dangerous situations. I found Spooky Joe (Granpa Joe) the most interesting because at first, I thought he was an unsympathetic character, especially when he was so rude to Petra’s mum but then he was revealed as her grandad. There were clues in the story, but I didn’t realise this until after he’d been revealed and he was actually really kind. I didn’t like Michael because he was using Magda and Petra. He supported the Nazis and his blackmail led to Petra’s dad dying. I hadn’t ever really thought about what it was like for people who had a German parent during the war – it was really interesting to find out about them and the Italian family. I am interested in this period of history and it was so good because it made me think about it in a different way. The plot was very tense, I wasn’t sure whether to believe Petra’s ideas or not and I was shocked when her dad died. What most stood out for me was the way people in the village changed in the way they treated the family because the mum was German. I was also surprised that Kipper turned out to be such a good person. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about a time in history they think they know about because it will surprise them as it has a new angle.