Tag Archives: France

MMGM Review: The Lion’s Run by Sarah Pennypacker

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The Lion's Run by Sarah Pennypacker

The Lion’s Run
Sarah Pennypacker
Illustrated by Jon Klassen
Balzer + Bray
Published February 3, 2026

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About The Lion’s Run

The acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of Pax delivers an historical novel about an orphan during WWII who discovers unexpected courage within himself when he becomes involved with the Resistance.

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be.

He gets the chance when he saves a litter of kittens from cruel boys and brings them to an abandoned stable to care for them. There he comes upon a stranger who is none too happy to see him: Alice, the daughter of a horse trainer, who is hiding her filly from German soldiers.

Soon Lucas begins to realize they are not the only ones in the village with secrets. The housekeeper at the German maternity home and a priest at the orphanage pass coded messages; a young mother at the home makes dangerous plans to keep her baby from forced adoption; and a neighbor in town may be harboring a Jewish family.

Emboldened by the unlikely heroes all around him, Lucas is forced to decide how much he is willing to risk to make the most courageous rescue of all.

Perfect for fans of Alan Gratz, Ruta Sepetys, and Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, this accessible novel, told in short chapters, illuminates a little-known aspect of World War II history.

My Review

I could not put this book down. The author’s note at the beginning explains how Sarah Pennypacker learned about the Lebensborn program and the germination process of the idea that became The Lion’s Run.

The Lebensborn program is a part of history that I wasn’t familiar with. This was a Nazi program through which they planned to create a new generation of blond-haired, blue-eyed Germans. They did this by rounding up teenage girls who were pregnant by Nazi soldiers, imprisoning them in these Lebensborn facilities, where they were well-fed and cared for until the birth of their babies, when they were returned home. The babies were then forced into adoption.

Information about the program is pretty limited to keep the story appropriate for a middle grade audience. Lucas meets one of the moms and her baby and sympathizes with her over her situation. It’s also obvious that the girls living at the Lebensborn are well fed when everyone else in Lucas’s town is not getting enough to eat.

In terms of the story itself, I was wholly engrossed. Lucas wants to be brave and worries he isn’t. Yet, he saves kittens from drowning. He hides them, saving food from his own meager meals to give to the little furry critters. He also insists on helping adults in his life who are in the Resistance.

I loved how the story showed him processing the question of what it means to be brave and to help. What a timely message. This will resonate with both middle grade readers and older readers.

I highly recommend this book. It’s a great pick for readers interested in historical fiction, especially those who enjoy stories set during World War II. I think it’ll appeal to readers who like fast-paced stories, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Lucas delivers groceries to a facility for pregnant teens called a Lebensborn. He befriends one of the young mothers and her newborn. Readers learn about the German initiative to imprison these girls, who are pregnant by Nazi soldiers, for the purpose of producing a new generation of blond-haired, blue-eyed children who are forced into adoptive homes in Germany.

Spiritual Content
Lucas lives at a Catholic convent and speaks with a priest who is part of the Resistance.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A woman tells two boys to drown a litter of kittens they find near the convent. A boy throws a rock and hits another boy in the face. A boy buries broken glass in a dirt road, hoping to damage the tires of a German convoy. The story references other Resistance members who have been sent to concentration camps, or worse.

Drug Content
Before the babies at the Lebensborn are transported to Germany, the nurses add a drug to their milk so they’ll sleep through the trip.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

MMGM Review: The Sky Was My Blanket by Uri Shulevitz

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The Sky Was My Blanket: A Young Man’s Journey Across Wartime Europe
Uri Shulevitz
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published August 12, 2025

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About The Sky Was My Blanket

From celebrated Caldecott Award–winning illustrator Uri Shulevitz comes the gripping and revealing true story of a young Polish exile fighting to survive in war-torn Europe.

Born in the tumult of World War I, a young Jewish boy named Yehiel Szulewicz chafes at the borders of his hometown of Żyrardów, Poland, and at the rules set in place by his restrictive parents. Brimming with a desire for true adventure, he leaves home at fifteen-and-a-half years old to seek his future elsewhere. Little does Yehiel know, he’ll never see his parents again.

His journey takes him beyond Polish borders, to Austria, Croatia, France, and Spain. With no money and no ID papers, he often sleeps under the stars, with only the sky as his blanket. But even wayfaring Yehiel can’t outrun the evil spreading across Europe in the years leading up to World War II. As the fascists and Nazis rise to power, Yehiel soon finds himself a member of the Spanish Republican Army and then the Jewish Resistance in Vichy France, fighting for freedom, his friends, and his very life.

Inspired by the true story of Uri Shulevitz’s uncle and stunningly illustrated by the author, The Sky Was My Blanket is a unique and riveting account of one man’s courage and resilience amidst one of the darkest periods in global history.

Don’t miss Uri Shulevitz’s acclaimed memoir, Chance: Escape from the Holocaust: Memories of a Refugee Childhood, which bestselling author Elizabeth Wein called “harrowing, engaging and utterly honest” (New York Times Book Review).

My Review

I really liked the way this book was written. Each part is broken into very short chapters, usually only a page or so of text, often accompanied by a drawing. This allows the story to focus on the critical moments of Yeheil’s journey. It feels exactly like the snippets you might get when you sit down to ask a relative to tell their life story.

It’s also the kind of information that you’d tell an interested child if you were relating your experiences, so it doesn’t delve too deeply into the horrors of war that Yeheil must have witnessed.

Many of the World War II stories that I’ve read following Jewish characters relate experiences in Concentration Camps, and those are critically important stories to tell. (Perhaps only more important now.) Still, this narrative reminds readers that those aren’t the only experiences of war survivors.

I haven’t read Uri Shulevitz’s memoir, Chance: Escape from the Holocaust: Memories of a Refugee Childhood but after reading his account inspired by his uncle’s life, it’s high on my reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to marriage.

Spiritual Content
Reference to Jewish faith and traditions.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Reference to ghettos and concentration camps.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

Review: A Traitorous Heart by Erin Cotter

Book Review and Content, Historical, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

A Traitorous Heart
Erin Cotter
Simon & Schuster
Published January 7, 2025

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About A Traitorous Heart

A noblewoman in the scandalous French court finds herself under the dangerous and watchful eye of the Parisian royalty when she falls in love with the handsome king who is betrothed to her former lover in this bisexual The Three Musketeers by way of Bridgerton and F.T. Lukens.

Paris, 1572. Seventeen-year-old Jacqueline “Jac” d’Argenson-Aunis is lady-in-waiting to her best friend and former lover, the French Princess Marguerite “Margot” de Valois, but she dreams of more. If Jac plays her cards right, one day, she’ll become a full member of the Societas Solis, a secret society of spies—just like her uncle and guardian, Viscount Gabriel d’Argenson-Aunis.

But it’s hard to think about her own ambitions while France is on the brink of war, and the only thing that might save the country is an alliance—a marriage between the Catholic Princess Margot and Henry, the awful son of the Huguenot queen. Who would be the perfect person to play matchmaker? Jac, of course.

Jac resents lying to her best friend almost as much as she resents the brazen and arrogant King Henry, but it’s her one chance to prove to the Societas Solis that she belongs among their ranks before her uncle can marry her off or worse. The more time Jac spends in the French Court’s clandestine corners, though, the more she starts to wonder if Henry is…not as terrible as she once believed. And the Societas Solis may not be what they seem.

Politics. Spies. Chaos in the French court. Perhaps even witchcraft? Everything’s more dangerous when love is involved.

My Review

I enjoyed this book, but it took me longer to read than I expected. I liked the main characters for the most part. Truthfully, I wanted to like Margot more than I did. I felt like the plot kind of easily dismissed her as selfish and frivolous, though there was obviously more to her. Her goal was to open a school where women and people of any class could be educated. So she obviously had a lot of depth.

I appreciated the development of the romance between Jac and Henry. At first, they don’t like each other at all, but as they’re forced to work together on a common goal, they each surprise the other, and gradually, they grow to like one another. I appreciated that the relationship developed more slowly, giving us time to savor it as it developed.

Jac’s complex relationship with her oncle also added some layers to her character and backstory. Sometimes she interpreted his behavior to mean pretty dramatic things, but I felt like that fit her character and her age. I appreciated that the story included some changes in their relationship and how they saw one another and understood what the other needed from them, if that makes sense.

All in all, I enjoyed this one, and I can see how the marketing comparisons to Bridgerton and F. T. Lukens fit. If those ideas appeal to you, I think you’d enjoy ]A Traitorous Heart.

Content Notes for A Traitorous Heart

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
I don’t think there was much in the book in terms of profanity. Maybe some mild profanity infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and references to sex.

Spiritual Content
Reference to religious differences between the Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants). References to spells, potions, and occult practices. Jac investigates a graverobbing group, looking for evidence of occult activity, possibly reanimating the dead.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. An assassin comes after Jac and her allies. After she ties him up, Jac tosses one would-be assassin over a wall into a moat. A fire consumes a building with a child inside. Jac attempts to save him and his cats. References to a prisoner potentially being tortured. (Not shown on scene.)

Drug Content
References to drinking alcohol at social gatherings. The King of France is consistently embarrassingly drunk at the events.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Running for Shelter by Suzette Sheft

Book Review and Content, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Running for Shelter
Suzette Sheft
Amsterdam
Published November 9, 2022

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About Running for Shelter

Vienna, late 1930s. Bright, red-headed Inge Eisenger leads a privileged life with her glamorous, distant mother. When forced to flee from Nazi-occupied Austria to Switzerland, Inge sees her young life turned upside down. She hopes to finally connect with her mother during their escape, but her mother soon abandons her. Vulnerable and alone, Inge makes her way to Paris before reuniting with her grandmother in Central France. But even there, Inge endures one hardship after another—all while her grandmother keeps a family secret that, if revealed, could result in their whole family’s demise.

RUNNING FOR SHELTER is written by Inge’s 15-year-old granddaughter, Suzette Sheft. The gripping, true story offers a window through which young adult readers can witness the challenges of growing up during the Holocaust. As this important chapter of history fades from living memory, Inge’s tale offers hope to a new generation who must also cultivate courage and determination in the face of personal and political challenges.

My Review

I love that the author chose this way to honor her dad, who passed away when she was thirteen, but whose interest in family history inspired her own. And to honor her grandmother, whose life story this book is based upon. What a cool tribute to them both.

Each chapter begins with a date, helping to anchor the reader in the timeline of not only the story, but also in history. The story begins in 1937 and ends in 1946, so it covers almost a decade, which is pretty much half of Inge’s life at that point.

So many people were part of Inge’s journey through the war. It was cool seeing the way communities pulled together and/or went into survival mode as war threatened them. Some scenes felt really filled out, and it was easy to imagine myself in them. Others seemed to move more quickly and left me with questions.

I was a little bit confused by the marketing of the book. It didn’t read like a nonfiction title or list sources in the way I would have expected, but the subtitle flags the story as true. The publisher lists it as a novel based on a true story, which is what it felt like reading it.

On the whole, I thought this was an intense story about a young Jewish girl’s struggle for survival in Europe during World War II. I hadn’t read anything deeply similar to Inge’s experience, so I’m glad to have broadened my understanding of that period of history.

Content Notes for Running for Shelter

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Inge Eisenger is Jewish and Austrian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man hired to transport Inge to France rapes her. It’s not described on scene, but the lead up is pretty harrowing.

Spiritual Content
For a long time, Inge does not know she’s Jewish as she was raised by a nonpracticing mother.

Violent Content
See sexual content. Inge learns a friend was killed by a German bomb.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of RUNNING FOR SHELTER in exchange for my honest review.

Review: One for All by Lillie Lainoff

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One for All
Lillie Lainoff
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
Published March 8, 2022

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About One for All

An OwnVoices, gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a swordfight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels for the first time like she has a purpose, like she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her first target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming, and breathlessly attractive—and he might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to lean on her friends, listen to her own body, and decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

This debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love.

My Review

I’ve been wanting to read this book since before it came out! I wasn’t able to get a pre-release copy, but a group that I write editorial reviews for sent me a copy a while ago, so I cleared my schedule and sat down to read it!

The setting swept me away. I loved getting lost in the beautiful descriptions of places and lovely dresses and parties. Tania also spends a good deal of time practicing fencing, so I loved getting to read about some of the technical side of that. I thought those descriptions were easy to follow (and I know nothing of fencing) and well-paced.

The characters are charming, too. I loved the girls Tania joins at Madame Treville’s establishment. They each bring different talents and sensibilities to the team of Mousquetaires. Also, I loved reading about them getting to know one another and building relationships with each other. I kind of wish we had gotten to know Henri a bit more, but it makes sense that the story would focus on the four girls.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Though I can’t speak for the accuracy of the representation, I can say as a reader, Tania’s experience was very accessible. Her illness intruded into her life in some ways, but it didn’t define her. Sometimes it meant she had to work hard to compensate for her limits as best as she could, and other times it meant she leaned on people she could trust. I thought that seemed like a great balance, and it kept the story from being dominated by her symptoms and Tania centerstage.

On the whole, I loved it. I would definitely read more by Lillie Lainoff, so I’m excited to see what she writes next. I think readers who enjoy historical fiction like THE RING AND THE CROWN by Melissa de la Cruz will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Tania is disabled and has POTS.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Brief profanity in French used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to girls’ reputations and the harm that rumors about them being taken advantage of or being caught in a romantic position could do. References to an assault that happened before the story began.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Tania and her sisters in arms take lessons in fencing. Some situations of peril occur. Some brief battle violence, no graphic injuries.

Drug Content
References to social drinking at parties and dinners.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

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My Contrary Mary (Mary #1)
Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
HarperTeen
Published June 22, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About My Contrary Mary

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?⠀
⠀
Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.⠀
⠀
Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But after the king meets a suspicious end, things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis are forced to navigate a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

My Review

For a book that’s nearly 500 pages, MY CONTRARY MARY was a really quick read. The writing is really easy, and the paragraphs are pretty short, which is awesome. That made it even easier for me to get lost in the story.

This is a silly, fun reimagining of the history of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary lives in France, where she’s waiting to marry Francis, who will one day be king of France. He loves her, but he’s uncertain whether she has feelings for him that extend beyond friendship. As Mary nears her wedding day, a new lady-in-waiting joins her: Ari, the daughter of Nostradamus, a girl who is searching for her own place in the French court.

All three of those characters have chapters from their points of view. I liked that the story rotated between the three of them. There were moments for each of them where we really needed only the perspective that character could bring.

I liked the tongue-in-cheek, break the fourth wall style the authors use to tell the story. There are lots of asides where the narrators speak directly to the reader in little jokes or funny comments. I thought that was clever, and I enjoyed it. I feel like that’s always a gamble with readers, though– some people really like it and others do not.

Conclusion

On the whole, I enjoyed this book for its silliness and the sweet romance as well as the opportunity to imagine a happily ever after for a historical figure who didn’t get one. (This isn’t a spoiler, since the authors explain this out at the beginning of the book.)

I have only read MY LADY JANE from the other series by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows, but I enjoyed that book as well. It made me want to go back and finish that series. I think the second Mary book, MY IMAGINARY MARY, comes out in August.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters are white, either Scottish or French. Ari is in love with another girl.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity in English. Strong profanity in French. Used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
Nostradamus and Ari have visions. Ari’s are all visions of scenes from famous movies. Nostradamus has some visions of the future.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to torture. Brief battle scene.

Drug Content
Francis’ father gets drunk in some scenes. Mary and Francis once played a game where they took a drink every time the king said a certain word. They were pretty tipsy themselves by the end of it.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of MY CONTRARY MARY in exchange for my honest review.