The Lion Above the Door

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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. Even though the story is suppose to highlight racism. I felt that Leo’s struggle to prove that he had a world war “hero” for Britain enforces the good immigrant notion placed on ethnic children. It would have been better had Leo’s ancestor been a army hero or inventor in Indonesia who’s achievements were ignored. 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 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)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. This is a sincere and timely story that gently turns over themes of prejudice, cultural underrepresentation, racism and the courage to put right societal injustice - while at once holding out the mantle to young readers to invite them to be the catalyst for change. Sophie absolutely loved The Lion Above the Door which handled the sensitive topic of race and racism in history perfectly. Leo experiences the impact of racism in many different ways – from direct name-calling by classmates to the missing chapters in a history book and to his own family’s attitude to those around them – and although this is hard to read, it is also eye-opening to see how the many micro-aggressions he encounters every day have formed what he calls an invisible bruise inside him. She also appreciated that not everything falls into place perfectly by the end, as can sometimes happen in middle-grade books. Not everyone learns the error of their ways by the end, just as they don’t in real life. 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! 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). 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.... Although, Onjali does highlight the racism and prejudice faced by ethnic soldiers during World War Two in her notes in the end. It would have been better had this been incorporated in the story. For example, Leo, Sangeets and Olivia decide to incorporate the racism faced by coloured soldiers during the assembly finale despite their teacher disapproving. A perfect read for children studying World War Two in primary school, The Lion Above the Door is another sensitive, thoughtful book from Onjali Q Rauf that highlights racism and bullying in children’s lives today, as well as the way that people of colour’s stories have often been ignored from history.I love it wasn't a stereotype of an oppress Asian family that books and movies always depicts of us. 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? directorio de fundaciones volumen i fundaciones docentes de investigaci n y deportivas volumen ii fundaciones culturales 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.