Rudi is nine years old. He is living in Frankfurt. The year is 1938. Hitler is on the rise and daily life is changing for Rudi and his Jewish family. Things are becoming very dangerous. His parents make the heartbreaking decision to send Rudi and his sister Lotte on the Kindertransport to England.
Rudi has no English. Rudi has witnessed terrible violence. And now Rudi is told he cannot take his best friend Hando to England.
"He's my little dachshund, and he's the best dog in the whole wide world. I've had him since he was a puppy. He's two years and one month old now. He goes everywhere with me ... Hanno's coat is very smooth and a sort of chocolate brown. His ears feel like the velvet on Mutti's best dress. His legs are quite short, but he can walk and run long distances."
Luckily there is a solution. Someone offers to take the little dog to England. It will be a while until the friends are reunited because Hanno will need to stay in quarantine but eventually Rudi will have his special friend by his side. Rudi is sent to live with a very kind older couple. His sister is not so lucky. She is forced to work as a servant but this will only be for a short time Lotte has plans to leave as soon as she turns seventeen but the war intervenes and as this story ends Lotte and Rudi are evacuated again so they can be safe away from the bombs that are about to drop on London.
Publisher blurb: Nine-year-old Rudi and his beloved dog Hanno escape from Nazi Germany, but Rudi soon learns he’ll have to protect Hanno from an entirely new threat in this thrilling reimagining of a little known World War II event. What if you had to leave your dog behind when you fled? Nine-year-old Rudi has a chance to leave the dangers of Nazi Germany on a Kindertransport to England. However, he cannot bring Hanno, his wonderful dachshund. Luckily, his family finds a way to smuggle Hanno to London. But with England on the brink of war, Hanno is still not safe. As a German invasion of England becomes imminent, many British people decide their pets will suffer as well as drain limited resources, and thousands of pets are euthanized. To save Hanno, Rudi joins a group of scrappy London children who hide their pets away in a vacant lot. Just as London’s children are about to be evacuated to the countryside, the group finds a wealthy animal lover willing to care for the menagerie on her country estate. This fast-paced and accessible novel is full of courage and excitement.
Here is a video with the author Miriam Halahmy where she talks about her book. Here are some teachers notes to use with this book.
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