Running With Ivan
$16.75
- Paperback
320 pages
- Release Date
1 February 2023
Summary
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, …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781460761335 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1460761332 |
| Author: | Suzanne Leal |
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd |
| Imprint: | HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 320 |
| Release Date: | 1 February 2023 |
| Weight: | 239g |
| Dimensions: | 20mm x 127mm x 198mm |
| Audience Age: | 10 |
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Critics Review
Annie Waters: Having previously won the Nib People’s Choice Prize for her historical adult novel The Deceptions, Suzanne Leal tackles a similar era in her first book for younger readers, a time slip novel that jumps between modern day Australia and the lives of a Czechoslovakian family during World War II. Following the death of Leos mother two years earlier, his dad has remarried and theyre moving into a new house complete with two new step-brothers. Lumped in with bullying, belligerent Connor, Leo tries desperately to escape his new reality. With a few turns of the key of his mothers old music box, a German tune begins to play and Leo moves back in time, meeting a young boy around his own age named Ivan in the early 1930s. Every time Leo goes back to Ivan and his family, they are more affected by Adolf Hitlers rise, eventually being sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Focusing on this lesser known Czech history brings a new angle to a well-trodden time period, and the personal research that Leal was able to access through her Jewish-Czech neighbours shines through. Jumping several years between Leos visits, Leal moderates the intensity of the narrative for the age group without losing any of the pacing or suspense. Back in the modern day, Leos experiences in history gradually give him the skills to cope with his difficult family situation. Immersive and sensitive historical fiction, Running with Ivan is perfectly pitched for readers 10 to 12; imagine The Messenger crossed with Playing Beatie Bow. Annie Waters sells books, writes about books and podcasts about books. Books+Publishing is Australias number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
Suzanne Leal
SUZANNE LEAL is the author of novels The Teacher’s Secret, Border Street and The Deceptions, for which she won the Nib People’s Choice Prize and was shortlisted for the Davitt Awards, and the Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award. A senior member of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and facilitator at community, corporate and literary events, Suzanne is the host of Thursday Book Club, a relaxed, friendly book club connecting readers online.
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