After a tearful good-bye to their mothers, and carrying nothing but their suitcases and some silly looking gas masks, they are quickly shepherded aboard the underground and travel from Islington to Paddington Station, where they are given name tags to wear.

After a day of searching, finding nothing, the pair starts to return home, when David slips and falls into a river and is pulled under by the current.

Morpurgo said he was inspired to write the story by his aunt, who as a teacher at the time of World War II, was herself responsible for the evacuation of the children in her school.

[3] The authors sum up their analysis by noting how at the end of the book, when the boys confess to having helped the soldiers, by providing them with food and blankets; the farmer says to Tucky: "tis never wrong to do what you feel is right".

They opine that "his simple sentiment provides the implicit moral behind the whole book, a story in which individual conscience must take precedence over national pride and official duty".

[4] It was also adapted for BBC School Radio, in an eight episode format, that featured an educational resource pack for teachers to use in the classroom.

[6] British write Julia Eccleshare wrote Morpurgo is "at his best with adventures on a small, personal scale featuring the triumph or growth of an individual; it's the theme with which he began; in this book he shows his ability to identify with the obviously 'different' children; how they see themselves and how they overcome the problems set in their way".

[10] It stars John Bardon, Stacey Tendeter, Valerie Lush, Edward Burnham, Prentis Hancock and Stephen Bent.

In her five-star review for WhatsOnStage, Anne Priestman wrote that the "young audience at the première performance in Watford was immediately gripped by the story", and that "both Hamper and Sandys are excellent as the boys".

Sam Marlowe wrote in The Times that Aydon and Davies "are an enormously appealing duo and it's the details in their interaction that bring the staging to life".

He concluded that "it's a gentle drama, and the producers could usefully have allowed more darkness and danger to creep in; but it's affecting nonetheless, with a sweet-natured charm that in the end proves winning".