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A review by myjourneywithbooks
The Lion Above the Door by Onjali Q. Raúf
5.0
In a little English village that feels like the middle of nowhere, Leo and his best friend Sangeeta are the only ones who look different from everyone else at school. And some of the kids take great pains to make sure that Leo and Sangeeta know this.
While studying World War II in school, Leo feels even more like he doesn't belong because his ancestors weren't involved in the war like the relatives of his classmates. But a school trip to a nearby cathedral changes everything, when Leo spies his own name - Leo Kai Lim - among the names of soldiers from the war. Who was this Leo and what was his name doing all the way here in a cathedral in England?
As Leo and Sangeeta, soon joined by a few other friends, dig deeper into the lesser known facts of World War II history, we as readers will find our eyes opened too. I've read a lot of books set during WWII and only recently have I begun to realise that most of them focus on characters in Europe and sometimes the US. The history textbooks are the same. And while it may be true that they played a large role, the fact that other countries were affected too should not be forgotten. The Lion Above the Door, beautifully written and unputdownable, will make you wonder about the heroes who history has forgotten. While the story itself is entertaining, it also draws the reader's attention to racial discrimination in history and how representation matters.
"The school history books about the war hardly mentioned any countries outside Europe and America. Even the ones that did only ever said things like 'parts of the common wealth' or 'the Far East' or 'Africa' as if those words were just a single thing and weren't made up of lots of huge countries with millions of people who might have been heroes too."
The back of the book contains a collection of photos and stories of real life forgotten heroes from World War II.
While studying World War II in school, Leo feels even more like he doesn't belong because his ancestors weren't involved in the war like the relatives of his classmates. But a school trip to a nearby cathedral changes everything, when Leo spies his own name - Leo Kai Lim - among the names of soldiers from the war. Who was this Leo and what was his name doing all the way here in a cathedral in England?
As Leo and Sangeeta, soon joined by a few other friends, dig deeper into the lesser known facts of World War II history, we as readers will find our eyes opened too. I've read a lot of books set during WWII and only recently have I begun to realise that most of them focus on characters in Europe and sometimes the US. The history textbooks are the same. And while it may be true that they played a large role, the fact that other countries were affected too should not be forgotten. The Lion Above the Door, beautifully written and unputdownable, will make you wonder about the heroes who history has forgotten. While the story itself is entertaining, it also draws the reader's attention to racial discrimination in history and how representation matters.
"The school history books about the war hardly mentioned any countries outside Europe and America. Even the ones that did only ever said things like 'parts of the common wealth' or 'the Far East' or 'Africa' as if those words were just a single thing and weren't made up of lots of huge countries with millions of people who might have been heroes too."
The back of the book contains a collection of photos and stories of real life forgotten heroes from World War II.