The Year we Escaped by Suzanne Leal

I picked up this book (purchased from Gleebooks Kids) to read yesterday and finished it this morning. The Year we Escaped is one of the 2026 CBCA Younger Readers Notable titles.

This story explores a different aspect of the Holocaust and World War II where over six thousand five hundred Jewish people from the German regions of Baden and Saapflaz were transported to the Gurs Internment Camp in the Free Zone of France.

The author of this book Suzanne Leal heard about a small French village called Le Chambon-sur-Ligon. During the war some communities like these gave refuge to Jewish children. Suzanne stayed "at a guesthouse called Chez Tante Soly, where twenty-two Jewish children had been hosted and protected throughout the Second World War. ... What a story, I thought as my mind kept turning to the lives of these children caught up in that dangerous time. Where had they come from, I wondered, and how had they found their way to this remote village?"

This is the basis of The Year we Escaped which covers the period November 1938 to September 1941. We meet children from two different families. Klara lives in Germany and you will watch with horror as she experiences first hand the persecution of the Jews - smashing of her parents shop windows (Kristallnacht), horrible treatment by people in her town and then her dismay as she has to change schools. Her experiences reminded me of Dancing on the Bridge of Avignon by Ida Vos. Klara's mother decides they urgently need to leave but mother and daughter do not reach safety, instead they are taken to the Gurs Internment Camp. It is an utterly horrible place. The descriptions of the latrines will 'turn your stomach'. (There are extensive notes at the back of the book about Gurs and other aspects of WWII).

Meanwhile Lucien and his brother Paul live in Paris. Their father is a doctor but he is left behind when they are also forced to leave with their mother. By chance there are now four kids - Klara, her friend Rachel, Lucien and his younger brother Paul - in this camp. They quickly become friends. Klara works out a way to leave the camp and she and Lucien enjoy picking the blackberries (they are on the back cover of the book) but the kids don't appear to think about escape. Then suddenly Klara and Rachel are 'rescued' and taken by train to Le Chambon-sur-Ligon. Lucien and Paul's mother decides her boys need to find a way to get there too but for the boys it means sneaking out of the camp and embarking on a 750km train journey. This journey takes up the second half of the book - Suzanne Leal creates some terrific tension on their train journey and at every turn I kept anticipating that terrible things would happen to the young brothers. 

Leal blends fact, fiction and feeling so beautifully, crafting a story that’s deeply emotional and brilliantly paced. It’s historical fiction done right: full of heart, action and unforgettable characters. Readings Melbourne

Suzanne builds her story gradually detailing the changes brought about by a war that affects everybody’s life. She has obviously thoroughly researched Kurs as it is brought vividly to life. Klara and Lucien are passionate relatable characters, perfect advocates for peace, tolerance and acceptance, the dominant themes in this carefully structured novel. Story Links

You can read a chapter sample and find teachers notes on the publisher web page.

Awards: Winner 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize – Children & Young Adult Category

As an adult reader you know that the people left behind in the Gurs camp will be taken to places like Auschwitz but younger readers aged 10+ are sure to feel great relief knowing (spoiler alert) the four children will be safe right through the war years.  

Here is an interview with Suzanne Leal and Joy Lawn at Paperbark Words. 

Things are very hard for everyone in the Gurs camp but I kept expecting harsher descriptions of the starvation and inhumane conditions. Parts of the story were filled with tension for example when Klara is used to demonstrate the awful Nazi doctrine in class and when everyone is forced to leave their suitcases on the station platform but if you have a sensitive reader this book is nowhere near as harsh or confronting as other holocaust middle grade novels. Older students could compare the conditions in the Gurs camp with those described in Let the Celebrations Begin.

Companion books:

All the Beautiful Things

Anna at War

Hiding Edith

Beyond Belief

Interned

Two Turtles by Kiah Thomas illustrated by Jack A Minton

Terrence and Frank are serious rivals. Everything is a competition. If you have siblings you might relate to this. 

"Who has the shiniest shell ... Who can walk the slowest ... Who is the best at pretending to be a shark?"

Then Frank falls off the cliff or perhaps he rolls off - is this an accident? - he cannot bear to lose so he turns this mishap into a competition too and calls out to Terrence 'Bet I can beat you to the bottom'. 

Naturally Frank takes up the challenge and he also jumps off the cliff. Luckily (or perhaps it could be a disaster) this is a very very high cliff. This means there is time to think. About halfway they both realise this could end very badly. At this point you, the reader, are invited to offer some help.

Both turtles have lots of things inside their shells. There are things they have stowed that can could save them but ... you and your young audience need to shout:

HEY, TERRANCE AND FRANK! JUST WORK TOGETHER!

What did they have in their shells? Do they land safely? And most important of all did they learn a life lesson about cooperation (not competition)?

Two Turtles is listed on TWO CBCA 2025 Notables lists - Picture Book of the Year and the Early Childhood list so I thought it must be an amazing book - sorry but I was slightly disappointed. First off I disagree that this is a book for very young readers aged 0-6. 

I made similar comments about Jetty Jumping (here are the teachers notes) and the inclusion of risk-taking behaviours for an audience of very young children. Jetty Jumping is a beautifully illustrated book and it tells a special story but I worried about it being listed for very young children. 

Secondly, Two Turtles is overtly didactic with its lesson about the importance of cooperation, but the ending shows the two turtles are not going to change that that their propensity to see every aspect of their relationship as a competition and it seems their rivalry will continue.

I do like:

• the way this book 'breaks the fourth wall'
• the expressive faces on the two turtles (and the bird)
• the humour - packing a toaster
• the wise little bird watching these silly turtles - you could write a whole story from his/her perspective
• the wordless page
• and there is room here to read other books such as The Hare and the Tortoise (text reference: who can walk the slowest); and The Great White Man-eating Shark by Margaret Mahy (text reference: who is best at pretending to be a shark). 
• The story structure is interesting moving from the present back to the past and then ending where the story started.

I'm not such a fan of:

• Repeated digital illustrations (you can see inside this book here)
• The sudden arrival of extra birds on the second last page - where did they come from?
• Two pages of black showing the side of the tall cliff
• The patterned end papers - do they relate to the story or are they decorative?
• I'm not sure how the four pigs fit into the narrative and also there is a puzzling wire frame around the tree stump where the bird is trying to catch a worm
• There are tiny butterfly decorations on some pages - are these necessary?

The Kids' Book Reviewer totally disagrees with me. 

The illustrations are stunners, with a gorgeous green and brown palette throughout and the funkiest of animal pals. A birdy spectator features on the pages, expressing its own views about the juvenile turtles with the most entertaining facial expressions. ... Two Turtles is a story for everyone. It’s a story about all of us. I highly recommend you grab a copy. It’s an award winner for sure!

What Book Next.com say: But instead of this becoming a tale of a terrible tragedy, readers will laugh out loud at the antics of two rival turtles. ... Entertaining to the last possible moment!  

Other reviewers liken Two Turtles to books by Jon Klassen such as This is not my Hat. Some other (better) books about rivalry for readers aged 6+ are:

The Real Winner

Best Test

I previously read and enjoyed a middle grade novel by Kiah Thomas - The Callers.

The Callers (five stars from me)

Jake A Minton entered this book in the CBCA New Illustrator award 2023. It didn't win but I was one of the judges and we all agreed this book had very special illustrations. 

There's no such book

To the Other Side by Erika Meza

También de este lado hay sueños
"There are dreams on this side too."

A big sister tells her younger sibling they are playing a game. The pair, and all their 'friends' don masks and they set off careful to avoid the monsters and knowing it is vital that they are not caught.

"She promised the masks would hide us. Make us fast. Make us brave. It's like tag. If the monsters catch you, you're out. 'We win the game when we cross the line.' Everyone was racing to see who could get there faster."

So where are these kids going? And why? And who are the monsters?

"We thought hard of what we might win. 'A home!' 'A really big school!' 'A spotty dog!' "A pair of shiny red shoes."

Take a look at this list - a home? This might be your first hint something bigger and way more serious is going on here. And in the illustrations, we see the children and others are running and then they are on a bus, a raft and train. But they are not riding in the train they are on the roof. This is another hint about the real reason for this 'game'. 

"This isn't a game ... is it?' I asked."

Finally you reach the last page - which contains the back matter for this story:

"There are currently 13 million child refugees in the world. Every year tens of thousands of children leave their homes, sometimes with their families, and sometimes alone, in search of a safter place to live."

Now go back and notice tiny details in the illustrations: the boy's mask eyes can close but his sister's eyes are always wide open. There are bars everywhere (anticipating immigration detention) even the game of hopscotch ends in a chalk set of bars that looks suspiciously like the US flag. The village they leave (flee) is on fire. There are black, evil looking figures watching them the whole way. The children only have their small backpacks. As they jump off the train, it turns into a monster. 

I was chilled to see crosses drawn on the wall and you can see the words written on the wall at the top of this post. This journey is truly one of life and death. And on the final pages, even though they have reached safety and have a new life, the sister still holds onto her mask. And there is a whole discussion that needs to be had about the colour choices and use colour in this book. 

This is one of the most interesting picture books I have read in a long time. As an adult reader it is clear this book is dealing with a devasting journey and deep themes of the plight of refugees and border crossings especially from Mexico into the US.  Betsy Bird said: I don’t know how this book got made. I mean, I know the rudimentary basics behind it. I know how an author would write out a proposal and, if they were also an artist, draw some sketches. What I don’t know is how a person can look at a topic as impossible to encapsulate as child migrants moving across the U.S.-Mexico border and then know how to write a picture book on the subject.... when I read To the Other Side by Erika Meza, I was floored. With care and invention, she’s actually managed to tell a migrant story that is both literal and figurative, realistic and metaphorical, and does so with honesty and more than a bit of cleverness.

A gorgeously rendered, heartbreaking look at one family’s immigration experience. Kirkus Kirkus Star review

To The Other Side, written and illustrated by Erika Meza, is an allegorical picture book that gently addresses child and family migration with compassion and empathy. Meza skillfully balances the challenging aspects of the immigrant experience, presenting it as an adventure or game, while acknowledging the emotional complexity behind colorful masks worn by the kids on this journey. Common Sense Media

Yes, this particular story is of crossing from Mexico to the U.S. but with more and more asylum-seeking children from various parts of the world being welcomed into homes and schools in the UK, this book is highly relevant here and wherever else there are immigrants. Strongly recommended for sharing in primary schools to open up discussion. Books for Keeps

Awards:

• Shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2024
• Shortlisted for the Jhalak Children's & Young Adult Prize 2024
• Empathy Collection title
• 2024 Inclusive Books for Children

I would share To the Other Side with older primary students aged 10+ and it would be a perfect text for a High School class. There is sure to be a lot of discussion with the group about the story and themes of this book. This is not a book to read and discard. It is a book that needs careful reading and deep thought. The copy I borrowed from a school library is not shelved with their picture books - it is in the non-fiction [325] which is the Dewey number for International Migration. Decisions like this are important and must be based around your library users (staff and students). In my former school, for example, I had a shelving bay with Picture Books for Older readers (Grade 5 and 6) which is where I would place this book.

About the author: Erika Meza was born in Mexico and developed a taste for eclairs in Paris before moving to the UK to teach drawing. She won a scholarship to study in L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, where she learned to combine bold colour and mark-making with poetry.

Companion books:

Read more about each of these books about crossing the border from Mexico to the US

Above all else, these stories showcase the humanity of the people who risk everything to seek refuge in the United States. More than providing insight into someone else’s reality, in these stories immigrant children can also see their own stories reflected back at them—

stories of fortitude, resilience, joy, and sorrow.

Read more here.

Kirkus Star review

Please take a minute to watch this video of Erika Meza talking about her book. In this radio interview Erika talks about her use of masks in this book. 

Here are other books by Erika Meza:

By chance today I was talking to a friend and she mentioned a former student from my previous school. Take a look at this article written by lawyer and journalist Claire McMullen about the plight of families trying to cross the border from Guatemala into the US. I was thrilled to see her success as a lawyer and journalist and impressed a school kid from suburban Australia is tackling big topics just like the one covered in this book. 

I Spy: A Bletchley Park Mystery by Rhian Tracey

 

Bookseller blurb: Twelve-year-old Robyn has grown up in Bletchley Park, where her father works as a driver. When she's not at school, there's nothing she likes more than helping her dad in the garages. Then the war begins and everything at Bletchley changes. Robyn is assigned to help with the carrier pigeons that take messages to the Allies. But first, she must sign the Official Secrets Act and is ordered not to leave the grounds of the park. While Bletchley is buzzing with people recruited for the war effort and all eyes are on the skies, Robyn becomes convinced that there's something sinister going on within Bletchley Park itself. Together with her friends Mary and Ned, Robyn resolves to uncover the enemy in their midst . . .  This is a part of World War II UK history that is probably unfamiliar to many young readers of books about WWII.  

It is my blog policy to only talk here about books I have loved or at least enjoyed reading. I didn't really enjoy I Spy mainly because Robyn is such an unappealing child and so I became annoyed at the way she just kept 'breaking rules'. One Good Readers reviewer said "One of the first thoughts I had of young Robyn was that she would not be a good role model for other children. Ignoring her parent's rules and the strict rules and regulations of the Bletchley Park security officers. Plus, one of the first things she does is steal a bike, and yes, she gets a reprimand, but still."

I do like the cover and I always on the hunt for good stories about World War II, but I took over a week to read this book - it just didn't hold my attention. I did enjoy reading about the pigeons and the women workers at Bletchley Park. I was fairly sure Robyn was on the wrong track in her identification of the spy in their midst, so the ending was both expected but also a surprise. 

Listen to an audio sample from the first chapter.

There are three main historical topics mentioned in this book:

• Pigeons and their use to send and deliver messages during WWII
• The work at Bletchley Park to break German codes and especially the use of the Enigma machine
• The request by Winston Churchill to move and save precious artworks taking pieces from big cities such as London to more secure and secret locations (sorry this is a story spoiler).

Here are some other books about pigeons and World War II

Here is a splendid book about the way art was protected during the war

Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd

Jimmy Branthwaite and his mum have moved to a new house. It all seems quite rushed and strange but there are tiny hints in the text that something is wrong with the way dad treats mum. Perhaps Jimmy and his mum have run away?

In the car Mrs Jessop tells Jimmy to put his head down low and stay quiet. Mum is curled up on the back seat too. Mum has a sore arm.

"Mum says 1991's going to be a better year for us. ... Mrs J says we're not allowed a torch ... the moon is a crescent shape, same as the tip of Mum's nails, when they're not all polished how Dad wants them."

"It's a good thing Dad has a new job.  ... Dad reckons the cops had it all wrong when they said he'd had one drink too many to drive the truck. ... I'm happy we'll have fun now he's busy (far away with a new job)."

"She's prettier without her make-up on. With Dad not being here, she can be just how she wants for a change. Same for me too. I'm lighter when he's not around."

Then Dad finds them! After a very abusive scene he leaves so Mum and Jimmy quickly pack a few things, things they can carry, and they head off to catch a bus. This time they land in Mungo Creek. Surely they will be safe here. Mum gets a job in the local grocery store but they decide it might be best to change their name to Baxter - and so now we have Jimmy Baxter. 

The new school is hard. Thank goodness the teacher Miss Anna Smith is wonderful but when the bullies become too violent and mum won't get out of bed Jimmy decides to leave school and get a job or two so at least they can have something to eat. At this point adult readers will need to suspend disbelief that no one questions why Jimmy is not at school and how just how Jimmy gets various jobs including one in a pub when he is way too young and also you might ask why the shop owner doesn't ask many questions when mum no longer comes to work in his shop. 

Out in the countryside Jimmy meets a reclusive man named Mac who offers food, wisdom and friendship. Mac is deeply grieving the loss of his beautiful wife. Jimmy also makes friends with a girl from his class called Debbie and the two of them work on a project about Ned Kelly. Debbie is such a good friend to Jimmy. Things are hard but at least Jimmy and mum are safe until late one night there is a dreadful accident out near Mac's shanty. Has dad found them again?

Some of the vocabulary in this book might be confusing for readers outside Australia. There is a good list in the back of the book which made me happy but here are a few words from the first couple of chapters:

• bonnet - car hood
• yakking - talking
• crikey - wow! or that was unexpected
• lorikeets - colourful native birds
• stoked - pleased, happy
• ripper - that's good

I do like the cover and many of the things coming out of Jimmy's head are found in the story so this might be something to share with a class for a book talk - students could predict the significance of each object - tin foil, wattle, an LP record, a pencil, eggs and yellow Cadillac. 

This is a new book from Penguin Random House (Puffin Books) due for publication in July 2023. I am fairly sure this book will appear on the CBCA 2024 Younger Readers award Notables list. This book is almost my last Advance Reader copy from Beachside Bookshop - I have LOVED reading all the new releases over the last 5 years.  I will desperately miss this opportunity.

If you enjoy books with a very Australian setting and flavour you will enjoy Being Jimmy Baxter. The writing style is very similar to Morris Gleitzman's early books with his main boy character depicted as a naive protagonist in books like Two Weeks with the Queen; Too small to Fail; and Boy Overboard. There is actually an endorsement on the cover of my copy from Morris Gleitzman himself. Companion reads:

Cop and Robber

Dragon Skin

Small as an Elephant

The Secrets we Keep

Waiting for Normal

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll illustrated by Lauren Child

 

Bridie Sweeney wants to tell you a better story, a more truthful story, a less tragic story about the real little match girl. The year is 1887 (the year my own Grandmother Amy Elizabeth was born).

The old story was "so sweet and sad, people would snivel into their hankies upon reading it, and it soon because famous the world over. It made the man who wrote it very rich indeed, though I don't suppose he'd ever met a real match girl in his life. If he had he'd have know we weren't all pretty things with fair curls and tiny, freezing hands, and that most of us were fed up with being hungry all the time."

Bridie lives with her mother, who works at the match factory, and her younger brother Fergal. They live in a tiny room and just scrape by with small wages from the factory and the few coins Bridie makes selling matches in London's East End. 

Conditions in the factory are dreadful. Mam, and the other women who work there, are subject to the poison of the phosphorus from the matches (phossy jaw). There is no ventilation in their work space and they cannot wash their hands before eating. 

"I couldn't imagine how bad it was inside the factory building. Mam was a dipper, dunking the matchsticks in phosphorus, which meant she - and many others like her - stood bent over the stuff all day long without so much as an open window for air."

The factory is based on the real one The Bryant and May factory. Here are their match boxes:

Image source: National Archives UK

Bridie sets out to sell her matches and on this day things go well at first. She sells all of her boxes and is able to pick up another set from the factory. But this is when things go badly wrong. She is nearly killed when a carriage containing the factory boss hits her. All of her matches are spilled, her tray is smashed and the too big slippers, which belong to her mam, are lost. Bridie has only three damaged matches left. She strikes each of them in turn, and, as in the original tale, she enters a series of visions. She experiences the excesses of the rich factory boss and his family at their dining table. Then she meets a activist who wants to support the factory workers and demand change. Finally she is given a glimpse of her final wish - "I wish to see my family living a better life".

This is historical fiction at its best. At the back of the book there are notes which explain the context of factory workers, match production, the role of the activist Annie Besant (1847-1933) who published letters in newspapers all over England which led people to support the striking factory workers. It all takes a long time but by 1908 the use of white phosphorus is banned. 

The production of this book is scrumptious!  Yes I am using the word scrumptious.  This hardcover book costs under AUS$20 and it has a dust jacket (you know I adore them) and a different image under the jacket (another aspect of book design that I really appreciate). The illustrations by Lauren Child are perfect too. If you have a young reading companion aged 10+ I highly recommend this book. It would be a perfect Christmas present.

It’s a thrilling tale and Bridie is a wonderful character brought stunningly to life in Lauren Child’s magnificently beautiful illustrations, many of them based on real photographs of match sellers and workers from the time. The innovative layout of the text makes this a particularly vibrant read. Emma Carroll and Lauren Child are a brilliant pairing and this book would make a wonderful gift. Book Trust

Further reading

Kids Britannica "Match girls' strike"

English Heritage 

Historic UK

Spartacus Educational

I would follow this book with these:

Counting on Grace

Bread and Roses Too

Of course you will also want to revisit the original story. Some very talented people have illustrated versions of this famous Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale - Jerry Pinkney; Rachel Isadora; Kveta Pacovska; Kestutis Kasparavicius and Hye-Won Yang.

I have previously talked about several books by Emma Carroll:

Letters from the Lighthouse

Sky Chasers

The Week at World's End

In Darkling Wood

The Ghost Garden

Dragon Skin by Karen Foxlee illustrated by Dale Newman

Look at this wonderful opening sentence:

"She didn't want to go home and that's why she found it."

This is a powerful opening sentence that just demands you read on (and on and on). What is happening at home? Is it something bad? What did she find? Who is this girl? Where is she? 

Home? Read on and see how Karen Foxlee is a master of word placement and choice:

"Matt would have come home and the screen door would have slammed hard and his tool bag would have crashed down on the kitchen bench. They would have flinched ... "

"Matt liked Pip in her room with the light off and the door closed so he could have her mum all to himself. He didn't like any competition. Competition made him angry."

"Now he was sitting drinking his coffee and scrolling through Facebook and stealing all the oxygen. Her mother and her had to survive on small sips of air."

"He was dangerous like hairpin bends in the road."

"Matt was made complete out of anger. He was an armour of anger and he had anger blood and he had a heart that was solid anger."

Now we know why Pip doesn't want to go home. Home is not a safe place. Pip knows her mother feels this too but leaving will take great courage.  In the meantime what has she found?

"I will save you.

I will help you.

I will fix your wings.

I was chosen."

Pip has found a baby dragon. 

I adore the way Karen Foxlee references Australia in her story. Mika tells Pip they might be bunyips at the waterhole. If this book is taken up by a US publisher I wonder what they will make of bunyips!

There is just so much to love about this book. The writing is powerful. The title is perfect and contains more than one meaning which will be revealed as you read. And this whole book is utterly brave! Karen Foxlee creates the most amazing tension in this story. Yes I've shared enough text with you so you know about Matt and his temper and way of controlling her mum but there is also the tension about Pip's friend Mika. I am not going to spoil this important story strand. And there is the little dragon himself. Pip names him Little Fella. He has come into Pip's life at just the right time. She has something to love and in turn this tiny creature helps her navigate this year of loss and fear. Little Fella also helps her make special new friends. I read one reviewer (Goodreads) who said summed this book up perfectly "So lovely, so heart-breaking and then heart-mending."  My only other personal comment about this book is that I deeply hope the terrible violence she describes in the relationship between Matt and Pip's mum was not based on any aspect of Karen's own life.  

I'm in love with this book. Dragon Skin is surprising, beautiful, unique. The characters are wonderfully drawn - tough but vulnerable, hurt but hopeful, damaged but strong. They've lodged themselves in my heart forever.' Katrina Nannestad

Dragon Skin will be available from tomorrow and I am certain it will be listed for many awards here in Australia and perhaps beyond. School libraries who subscribe to standing order services will receive this book in their book package but if you are in a library, and you don't purchase books this way, I strongly suggest you add Dragon Skin to your book shopping list NOW!  And YES this is a book for Upper Primary (mature readers aged 11+ look at the labels at the bottom of this post) and High Schools too. I am also thrilled that this book is such a great price at less then $20 for the hardcover. 

A friend from our IBBY committee sent me an Advance Reader copy of Dragon Skin and then the publisher Allen and Unwin (thanks go to Yvette Gilfillan) sent me the finished copy which is a beautifully designed hardback with an embossed cover. Take a look at this twelve page chapter sampler. 

Karen Foxlee books just get better and better.  Take a look at some here:

Lenny's Book of Everything

A Most Magical Girl

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

Companion reads:

A Game of Fox and Squirrels

One for the Murphys

The Star Outside my Window

One more thing - you already know I am obsessive about covers.  Here is the paperback cover for the UK edition of Dragon Skin due out at the end of October.