Books for Kids: Stories of bravery from the Second World War

It was the cover of this book, by Canada-born illustrator Jon Klassen, that initially caught my eye, but it’s the lively storytelling ability of author Sara Pennypacker that kept me glued to the 267-page historical fiction about a young orphan who, to his own surprise, exhibited extraordinary courage when it counted. The story is set in 1944, in a Nazi-occupied village in France during the Second World War. Thirteen-year-old Lucas Dubois has spent his life in a local orphanage, where other kids sometimes call him Petit Éclair for his soft and cowardly mannerisms. Lucas had won my heart by the second short chapter, after standing up to two bullies who tried to drown a sack full of newborn kittens in the village canal. Lucas not only finds the courage to recover the sack and care for the surviving kittens, but eventually to outwit the Nazis and quietly rescue both a baby boy and a racehorse from being sent to Germany. In a 4½-page author’s note at the end of her story, Pennypacker says historical fiction is her favourite kind of novel to read, “but it’s a tricky hybrid to write.” She helpfully provides a list of the facts in this book, as well as the fiction. Read More