The Lions' Run (Sara Pennypacker)

 

The inside cover says with art by Jon Klassen. This totally looks like art from his books. It's the eyes!  However, the cover gives away a lot. All through the book he doesn't consider himself someone who can ride horses...but yet the cover has him clearly sneaking away on a horse.

It was a great read. Quick too. I'm curious about why she told this story as J fiction. I am not sure I'd read it to anyone in the age it is recommended for.....drowning kittens, pregnant girls, giving babies to Nazis...it has a lot of big topics that would be too much for kids that age, I think.  Apparently, during WWII upwards of 20,000 babies were taken and given to Nazi families to raise.

That being said, I'm continually amazed at how I can read historical fiction stories about WWII and still learn new things. 

This was a great story of courage. A lot of the topics are pertinent to issues going on today with immigrants and families being torn apart. The idea of doing brave things despite feeling like you are not courageous is a good topic for these days. So many of us don't go forward because of anxiety when the it seems like we CAN in fact do hard things, even if we do feel nervous about it. 

The Yarn had a great podcast with the author. I liked her question about whether or not it is ever okay to break a law to do something you think is worth it. It reminded me of discussions I've had with kids about The Breadwinner. This story could be a good start to a discussion on that topic! 

Ch 49: "... Lucas found his arms reaching out ot welcome that hug she had wanted last week. It felt as if he was daring the world to come and destroy him... he had the astonishing sensation that he was connected to someone. If he had just opened himself up to complete devastation, being held was worth it."

Ch 51: "... The Great War, well, it wasn't so great. And they called it 'The war to end wars', but here we are again. Here we'll always be." "Maybe not. Maybe one day we'll learn." Lucas could believe it was him saying those words. But he just realized that hope was a job, and somebody had to do it, and today that somebody was him.

One spot that made me almost bawl....he's writing a letter to the woman who would have adopted him (the need to know you have a mother who loves you....it's huge)

p. 165 Whenever people ask me about my family, I will say that I have a mother who care about me and wants the best for me, he writes at last. I will tell them I love her.
His throat swells when he signs it, Your son.

Goodreads says:

The acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of Pax delivers an historical novel about an orphan during WWII who discovers unexpected courage within himself when he becomes involved with the Resistance.

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be.

He gets the chance when he saves a litter of kittens from cruel boys and brings them to an abandoned stable to care for them. There he comes upon a stranger who is none too happy to see Alice, the daughter of a horse trainer, who is hiding her filly from German soldiers.

Soon Lucas begins to realize they are not the only ones in the village with secrets. The housekeeper at the German maternity home and a priest at the orphanage pass coded messages; a young mother at the home makes dangerous plans to keep her baby from forced adoption; and a neighbor in town may be harboring a Jewish family.

Emboldened by the unlikely heroes all around him, Lucas is forced to decide how much he is willing to risk to make the most courageous rescue of all.

Perfect for fans of Alan Gratz, Ruta Sepetys, and Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, this accessible novel, told in short chapters, illuminates a little-known aspect of World War II history.