The first edition of this book also contains a special collection of historical photos and stories of real life forgotten heroes from World War Two.

Then, on a class trip to a nearby cathedral, Leo's attention is drawn to a large marble slab high above the doors of the hall. Right there, bang in the middle of a list of war heroes, Leo finds himself staring at something incredible: his own name. Leo and his best friend Sangeeta are the odd ones out in their school. But as Leo’s dad is always telling him, it’s because they’re special. Only thing is, if they’re so special, how come they never see anyone who looks like them in their school history books? Touching on themes of historical racism, The Lion Above the Door shines a light on the stories our history books have yet to contain and the power of friendships that can last through generations. When Leo and Sangeeta’s class begin a project about World War Two, Leo looks at pictures in books of the people that fought for Britain in the war and realises that none of them look like him, even though Sangeeta points out that many of the books also don’t include the experiences of many women – and certainly not women of colour. I love it wasn't a stereotype of an oppress Asian family that books and movies always depicts of us.Natasha Farrant’s The Girl Who Talked to Trees, in which ‘various species give up their secrets’ to a young girl. Illustration: Lydia Corry

Onjali Q Rauf's loyal fanbase will be pleased to hear of a new novel. True to form, the Lion Above the Door explores important social issues while capturing voices from the younger generation in a most relatable manner. Leo and his best friend Sangeetha are the odd ones out in their school. In fact, they seem to be the odd ones out no matter where they go in their small town. But as Leo's dad is always telling him, it's only because he's extra-special, and Sangeetha is extra-extra-special. Only thing is, if they're so special, how come Leo never sees anyone who likes him in the history books he loves to read? As the children embark on their research they find that there isn’t much written in the history books so they enlist the help of their families and relatives around the world. Two friends, Leo and Sangeeta often feel as though they don’t quite fit in at their village school and are subjected to the stares and jibes of their classmates. However, Leo’s Dad insists it is because they are special. When a class trip to a nearby cathedral leads Leo to notice his full name carved into a remembrance wall, things change and Leo wants to know more. Who is this person? Are they related? Why is his name next to a lion and what do the initials DCF mean? Excitement breaks out on their return as the class discover that the school has been chosen to take part in a TV Remembrance Day competition. Classmates put forward their ideas for a theme with Leo suggesting that they could investigate ‘ people who were in the war that no one else knows about’, secretly driven by his desire to research his namesake. The two friends become determined to explore the lost histories of the forgotten heroes who fought in World War Two and a series of adventures ensues as Leo makes a promise to himself that he will make ‘ everyone listen!’ I found the truth in (in my experience) why in school our curriculum of history is about Hitler and never about our own Asian histories, heroes and stories.

LoveReading4Kids Says

This serious subject is balanced by the humour and madcap adventure aspects of the story (something big gets broken... ) Leo faces all sorts of challenges but there is a huge sense of fun to this book. Leo vows to include his namesake’s story in the class project, one that has a chance to be shown on national TV, but no matter how hard he tries, he struggles to learn anything about the man. It seems as if all the men and women on the memorial war have been left out of the history books. He, Sangeeta, and a few allies come up with a cunning plan to make sure the heroes aren’t forgotten, but can they overcome red tape, family tensions, and other people determined to see them fail? I really enjoyed reading The Lion Above the Door and found myself reluctant to put it down when I had to do other things. Leo's first-person narration is appealing and so endearing in its innocent truthfulness, even as Raúf threw themes of family and family history, cultural underrepresentation, contemporary and historical racism, perseverance, courage, and teamwork his way, but all with a sensitive hand and a combination of seriousness and humor.

Leo and Sangeeta are the only two kids in their school who look like them and of course, there is a bully named Toby who never tires of going after Leo. He's kind of an Eddie Haskell character in that he acts sweet and innocent in front of teachers and parents, but all that changes in the school yard and sometimes in class. He makes fun of the Singaporean food Leo brings for lunch, pushes and shoves him and the morning of the school trip, Toby hits Leo hard several times with a tennis ball. As a bruise developed on his leg, Leo thinks about the bruise inside him that never seem to heal, getting hit over and over. Leo is convinced his inner bruise will only heal if "something big and unexpected and brilliant happened." But the chances of that happening were zero as far as he was concerned, after all, he and Sangeeta "were too different for brilliant things to ever happen to us. And the bruise knew it." (pg27) Leo and Sangeeta stand out from their class because of their skin colour and culture – and at times they are bullied because of this. Leo’s Dad says they need to be on their best behaviour at all times and he seems willing to tolerate the racism; the accumulated effect of prejudice leaves Leo feeling emotionally (and sometimes physically) bruised. On a class trip an RAF museum, Leo sees pictures of heroes like the ones in the history books – no one who looks like him. But on that same trip, he sees a commemoration stone of an RAF hero who had the exact same name as him –Leo Kai Lim. So begins the quest to find out more about this hero and others like him. The TV series Real Kidz Rule Remembrance Day competition seems exactly the right forum to tell these forgotten heroes’ stories. Leo and his best friend Sangeeta are the odd ones out in their school. But as Leo's dad is always telling him, it's because they're special. Only thing is, if they're so special, how come they never see anyone who looks like them in their school history books? Then, on a class trip to a nearby cathedral, Leo's attention is drawn to a large marble slab high above the doors of the hall. Right there, bang in the middle of a list of war heroes, Leo finds himself staring at something incredible: his own name. The story broaches the topic of cultural blindspots in history education, posing questions about the missing and ignored figures from the history topics taught in schools. Young Leo is intrigued to find a WW2 memorial in which he recognises his own name; being of Singaporean heritage he has become used to rarely seeing people like himself reflected in the history books. As Leo and his classmates research their relatives' roles in the war, important stories come to surface and it's up to the children to make sure these histories get the spotlight they deserve.

Toby, whose parents have freshly split, wanders into this strange, burning kingdom chasing a cat through a tunnel. Everything is falling apart in this autocracy plagued by floods and earthquakes as well as fire. But who is this spectral girl he meets, and how can he ever get home? Onjali’s novels seem to have similar themes in regards to a mostly introverted protagonist who is bullied and goes on a mission with friends to highlight a certain cause.

Leo and Sangeeta are best pals at school. As part of a school trip they visit a cathedral ,where Leo spots his own full name on a war memorial on the door. It's a name with the legend DFC and a lion picture. As a teacher who teaches WWI and WWII every year, I will now completely change the way I change these and any other historical topic due to this book and the insight it has given me. Read Manchester’s city-wide Year 6 transition read is now underway! For a second year running, the award-winning author, Onjali Q Rauf has been chosen as the author and her brilliant book, The Lion Above the Door is being given to every year 6 pupil in Manchester. That’s 8,000 books for 144 primary schools! Going on a trip to a war museum, Leo envies his classmates that have stories to tell about their great-grandparents and family members who fought in the war. Yet, when he finds his own name on a war memorial, he is amazed. Who was this brave soldier, and is he related to Leo in any way? With Sangeeta’s help, Leo starts an amazing investigation that will highlight some of the hidden history of World War Two – and his own family.That said, I found Leo just not great as a main character. He doesn't seem to have any other interests apart from finding this Leo guy (does he not have any other hobbies?) but the thing that really made me almost dislike him was how negative he was about everyone he met. I'm not talking about his racist classmates, but he just has a very pessimistic view of everyone around him. His parents, his friends at school, his teachers, he would have a not-so-great interaction with them and then would immediately be down about them. He didn't question his dad, he didn't try to persuade any of his other classmates, he didn't try to tell his brother about his likes and dislikes. I wouldn't have minded if he had tried and failed, but he didn't even bother trying. I would have preferred to have Sangeeta as a main character because she looked like such fun.