The Lion Above the Door

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I love it wasn't a stereotype of an oppress Asian family that books and movies always depicts of us. This novel will also make you think carefully about ignored heroes that students should be learning about. As a History & English teacher, I have a chance to transform the curriculum to eliminate cultural blind-spots, and to celebrate all contributions to our shared human experience. Although, I found the displays becoming vandalised to be a interesting turn of events. There wasn’t any punishment given to Catherine after confessing. Also, the fact that they didn’t win the “real kidz rule show” competition in the end was underwhelming. This was especially the case as it was constantly brought up through the entire story.

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. The Lion Above the Door’s story covers themes about friendships, fitting in and family, and fits in with Read Manchester’s See Myself in Books campaign which champions representation in books. Another thought-provoking gem from the award winning author Onjali Rauf. Exploring themes of historical racism, The Lion Above the Door is a heart warming story of two friends and their quest to celebrate the forgotten World War Two soldiers. But imagine the surprise Leo gets when he sees the name Leo Kai Lim DFC and a golden lion above it carved into the marble with other names of other soldiers who were WWII heroes. Stunned by this discovery, Leo promises to find out all he can about this soldier.Natasha Farrant’s The Girl Who Talked to Trees, in which ‘various species give up their secrets’ to a young girl. Illustration: Lydia Corry 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. 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? Overall, “the lion above the door” is a factually accurate novel detailing the importance of forgotten soldiers and their impact. It is very clear that Onjali put a lot of time, effort and work into researching historic records of World War Two for this novel. It can definitely be utilised in schools to educate students on the diverse soldiers who served in World War Two. Rauf’s book, published by Orion, tells the story of Leo and his best friend Sangeeta who often feel like the odd ones out at school and in the small village they live in, where everyone else is white. That is until they go on a trip to a war museum where Leo sees his own name on a war memorial, starting him off on an amazing investigation that highlights some of the hidden history of World War Two and his own family.

I am a Singaporean and while I am glad to see Singapore being featured in the book, portrayal of Singapore is not quite accurate. I would hesitate to share this book with my children. Firstly, Singapore was a British Colony. During World War Two, Japan invaded Singapore and we were left to fight for ourselves after the British surrendered and left our island. We were not fighting for Churchill against the racist Nazis, we were fighting for our own survival. Secondly, the main Character Leo Kai Lim’s grandfather is supposedly named Huang Kai Lim. Is the family name Huang or Lim? If it is Huang, how can the boy be named Kai Lim? I am also not going into the fact that in Singapore, our family names are stated first followed by last name. The war hero is also named Leo Kai Lim, why does both the war hero and main character’s great grand father (Huang Kai Lim) share the same name? It is too confusing. Thirdly, while the writer included some Singapore culture in the story such as our food eg. ondeh ondeh, it feels like the writer is also mixing us up with Korea and China. Leo’s aunt exclaimed omo, which is a Korean expression, not Singaporean. And Leo’s family ate dumplings for dinner, which while Singapore being multi cultural and dumplings are enjoyed by locals, it is not a authentic Singaporean dish. Also, Leo is Chinese but based on book, he wears a “teluk belanga shirt” when guests came to his house which is a traditional costume of Malays (not Chinese). That's the problem with being the only ones who look different to everyone else. There's always someone who look different to everyone else. There's always someone who doesn't like you, and then doesn't like you even more when you can do something that they can't." The story follows Leo, a boy whose parents came to live in England before he was born from Singapore. The fact that he is British makes no difference to the school bullies. He describes the feeling of a bruise inside him that hurts whenever something bad happens. He is angry when his dad witnesses these events and doesn't say anything. His friend Sangeeta, has the same problem. Together they also have friends called Nancy and Drew. 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!

Onjali Q. Raúf Press Reviews

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. But on a special class trip to a nearby cathedral one day, Leo's attention is drawn to a large marble slab high above the doors of the hall, featuring a short list of names. Because right there, bang in the middle of the list, Leo finds himself staring at his own name... But on a special class trip to a nearby cathedral one day, Leo's attention is drawn to a large marble slab high above the doors of the hall, featuring a short list of names. Because right there, bang in the middle of the list, Leo finds himself staring at 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?

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? Leo has always wondered where his name comes from. Growing up in the small village of Whot, there isn’t much help for Leo to find out. However, on a school trip to a cathedral Leo uncovers his name emblazoned on the list of World War Two heroes. With his interest piqued, Leo begins a long journey to uncover his own history. 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) 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. Children in Year 6 will be given the opportunity to read the story and take part in activities both at school and at home. It will be used by many high schools as part of their transition programme between primary and high school and gives pupils a shared experience, no matter which high school they go to in September. Pupils in Special Schools will also receive a copy of the book and an additional title – Super Duper Me by Sophie Henn.

LoveReading4Kids Says

I bought this middle grade novel at the start of the year and finally got around to it seven months later. This book is about Leo, who sees his name on a WWII memorial and wants to know all about it, especially when their history class or textbook doesn't teach them about heroes who look like him. I am aware that I am not the audience for this book and I think it would be well suited for the middle grade audience. Leo and his best friend Sangeeta are Year Four pupils at their primary school in southern England where they are also some of the only children of color. Their class is working on the topic of World War Two and both the children notice that none of the photographs in their history books are of people who look like them, nor do any of the heroes discussed there have similar names. However, on a field trip to Rochester Cathedral, Leo spots something incredible. Inside is a wall dedicated to soldiers from all over the former British Empire and included there is his exact name, along with many others – some sharing Sangeeta’s surname, Singh. When Leo and Sangeeta go on a class trip to Rochester cathedral, Leo spots a name on one of the war memorials that is identical to his own. He begins to wonder about the “real” Leo - who he was and what he did during the war. When the class embark on a project following on from the trip, they decide to focus on the forgotten heroes of the war - which includes soldiers from Asia and Africa. 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? Leo, a boy living in the UK but of Singaporean descent, cannot see anyone who looked like him when studying World War 2- all the names sound like British royalty, and he feels like his ancestry are lesser to his classmates. Until, he spots a name on the cathedral wall honouring the soldiers from WW2, and not just any name- his own name. Suddenly, Leo wants to know, who was this soldier, what is his story, and could he have been named after this Leo? The race is on, especially as his class have been chosen to prepare an assembly and display board which might even make it onto TV. Can he find out the information in time, to make everyone remember a forgotten hero?