Harper Collins Australia
February 2023
- ISBN: 9781460761335
- ISBN 10: 1460761332
- Imprint: HarperCollins AU
- RRP: $17.99
Leo is not in a good space. After his mother died, it seemed that his grief would never ease and now, two years later, his father has re-married, and he has a whole new family and home to which to adjust. Julia, his stepmother is just fine, and he really does like her, but her two sons are complete bullies, especially Cooper, with whom Leo is expected to share a room.
Hating everything and everyone is becoming a common feeling for him, and when Leo is at the end of his tether at one point and desperate to find a refuge, he discovers the storage room at the back of the garage. This becomes his secret hideaway and he installs here mementos of his mum including photos and her beautiful vintage music box. When he winds it, the music box plays Brahms’ Lullaby – a real memory from his early childhood – but astonishingly, when it finishes playing, Leo finds himself transported to another time and place.
Leo’s timeslip takes him to the beautiful city of Prague, pre-World War II, where he first meets Ivan, a little boy of six or seven. As he adventures back time and again, Ivan grows until he is older than Leo, and the war is drawing to a close. For a Jewish family such as Ivan’s, the war is hard and dangerous, and Leo shares many of the trials and tribulations with his friend, though not quite in the same way.
Simultaneously, his one solace in his new life is discovering joy in running, and finding a friend in both Sandy, girls’ champion, and his mentor and coach, Mr Livingstone.
The intertwining of all these threads is beautifully well-written, and not only truly transports the reader as well as Leo, but also makes for compelling reading which young people who love a true-to-life narrative will lap up. Leo’s journey in time has many parallels to his present day unhappiness, and his friendship and shared ordeals with Ivan enable him to develop a deeper understanding of his own feelings, as well as the behaviours of others.
The author had the privilege of hearing from her neighbour, the first-hand account of his war as a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia (as was), and has transformed that into a heartfelt and inspirational historical fiction which resounds with authenticity, compassion, friendship and courage. d
As Ivan and Leo run together in the streets of the Terezin concentration camp, which the Nazis duplicitously presented as a ‘safe haven’ for Jews, they are literally running for their lives. Running brought them closer together during the war as a means of survival and, in the present day, running once again brings them together.
This is highly suitable reading for kiddos from around 10 years upwards but would make a superlative addition to your ‘read around your topic’ units on WWII, the Holocaust or if you use Anne Frank’s diary as a set text, right up to Year 8 or 9. There are deep concepts to explore as well as the historical information which will provide rich and fertile learning experiences. Read more about Theresienstadt here, and stay posted for teaching notes for this novel.
Highly recommended for your Upper Primary/Early Secondary students.
Just So Stories 
Leave a comment