Description
Yearning to escape the new family he never wanted, thirteen-year-old Leo Arnold is transported to wartime Europe where he must draw on his courage to save himself and those around him. From award-winning author Suzanne Leal comes a gripping timeslip novel inspired by true stories.
Thirteen-year-old Leo Arnold hates his life. He doesn't want a new school, a new house or a new family. And he definitely doesn't want to be sharing a room with his new stepbrother, Cooper.
What Leo wants is to be somewhere else, far away. So when he uncovers an old music box and turns the key, he is astonished to find himself in Prague, surrounded by whispers and fears of a second world war. A war that ended decades ago.
In Prague, Leo meets Ivan, a Czech boy, and the two become friends. But when World War Two finally erupts, the unimaginable becomes real and the boys are imprisoned. Fearing the worst, Leo and Ivan frantically search for an escape. A search that sends them running.
Running against time.
Running for their lives.
Review
When thirteen-year-old Leo has to move house, school and seemingly his whole life to live with his new stepfamily, things are really not going great for him. The worst part is having to share a room with his new stepbrother Cooper, who constantly bullies him.
Leo seeks refuge in a small room off the garage and when he plays an old music box, he is transported back in time to Prague before the onset of World War II. Leo has learnt about the war at school, and he tries to warn Ivan and his Jewish family of the impending doom.
Each time Leo travels back it is for a longer period, and time has marched forward - so as Ivan grows older Leo remains thirteen. Things, of course, get much worse and Ivan’s family are split up, and Ivan and Leo experience the horrors of an internment camp. At one time, Leo and Ivan also work for the Germans as runners, sending messages around the town and it is through this work that Leo’s running abilities increase – enough for him to complete in top level athletics back in his own time.
Can Leo possibly hope to keep Ivan alive until the end of the war?
This is a terrific novel that through the use of a timeslip gives us both a view of the challenges of modern teenage life, and the extreme danger faced by a Jewish teenager during World War II.
Containing themes of war, stepfamilies, survival and hope, this is an intriguing story for those in upper primary and lower secondary.
Reviewed by Rob
