ECONOGAL

Sara Pennypacker’s The Lions’ Run renews my hope for good middle grades fiction. Set during World War II in wartime France, the book presents the atrocities of the Nazi occupiers at an age-appropriate level. The Lions’ Run will keep both kids and adults turning the pages.

The story revolves around Lucas and Alice. Their backgrounds are worlds apart. Lucas was abandoned at birth and lives in an orphanage. Alice is the daughter of a British horse trainer. But both know to stay away from the Germans. And both have something to hide. Their friendship starts slowly. However, the common enemy binds them together.

Alice is determined to hide her prized and beloved mare Bia. She trains her at night and has acquired papers to save the thoroughbred from the Germans by shipping the horse to Kentucky in the United States before travelling back to Britain herself.

At fourteen, Lucas is small for his age but hard-working. Gradually he notices many of the townspeople quietly resisting German rule. He considers himself a coward, but readers see him as a brave hero. Whether saving kittens or a newborn baby destined to be taken from his young French mother and sent to Germany to be raised as a soldier for the future, Lucas demonstrates his care for those who cannot help themselves.

In the end, the two youngsters learn wartime blurs the line between right and wrong.

The Lions’ Run is an adventurous historical novel geared for middle grades but highly enjoyed by this adult. Furthermore, the traditional approach by Pennypacker is much appreciated. Kids need stories that entertain with a bit of teaching thrown in. They do not need brainwashing, nor does writing need to be dumbed down.

If you have kids or grandkids from the age of twelve on, buy this book for them. It will make a great gift. Furthermore, school libraries need this kind of fiction. Books full of comic strips pale in comparison. Sara Pennypacker is a bestselling author for a reason.