In this humane and stirring work of middle-grade historical fiction, National Book Award-longlisted Sara Pennypacker (Pax) and Caldecott Medal-winning artist Jon Klassen (This Is Not My Hat) delve into an appalling and often-ignored piece of World War II history: the creation of "a massive, secretive web of maternity homes... whose purpose was to provide the population needed for Hitler's plans to conquer Europe and the world."
For 13-year-old orphan Lucas, the Nazi occupation of his French village is "like a filthy, heavy blanket over the town." As a delivery boy, tender-hearted Lucas is one of the only villagers allowed inside the mysterious Lebensborn, where teenage French girls carrying babies fathered by Nazi soldiers are treated like prize Aryan livestock. Essentially, Lucas learns, the Nazis are "breeding a new crop of blond soldiers." Lucas's relationships with three women with audacious secrets of their own--the home's head housekeeper, a teen mom resident of the Lebensborn, and a British girl hiding her horse from the Nazis--inspire him to join the Resistance.
Pennypacker shines a light on the "deadly and thoroughly debunked Nazi theory of eugenics" as well as the crushing weight of Nazi occupation in this forceful novel filled with multi-dimensional characters. Klassen's cover art, map, and spot illustrations lend a dark and atmospheric mood to the book, which is ideal for mature middle-grade readers. Like Markus Zusak's The Book Thief and Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, The Lion's Run will likely leave readers with big thoughts about courage and the ways we respond to injustice and atrocities. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor