It feels odd to tag the mood for this book as both dark and lighthearted, but that's exactly what this book is. David Almond manages to encapsulate the horrors of war and the optimism of children on the home front of world war 1. Almond's depiction of the vilification of anti-war sentiment and the paranoia of the government accusing a small child of treason does a fantastic job of capturing the sense of hopelessness and the inability to stop the violence as experienced by someone so young. I think I'm a bit older than the intended audience, but it was an enjoyable read, nonetheless.