Book cover for The Lions' Run by Sara Pennypacker

The Lions' Run

2026 Released
288 Pages
3-4 Hours
Paperback Available July 27, 2027
Hardback Unavailable
Balzer + BrayISBN 9781250392800

A NEW YORK TIMES AND INDIE BESTSELLER ***SIX STARRED REVIEWS***

"A page-turning and ultimately triumphant tale of heroism."* "Thrilling and gut-punching."**

An orphan during WWII discovers unexpected courage within himself when he joins the Resistance. From
the acclaimed author of the classic PAX. Perfect for fans of Katherine Applegate and Alan Gratz.

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be.

He gets the chance when he saves a litter of kittens from cruel boys and brings them to an abandoned stable to care for them. There he comes upon a stranger who is none too happy to see him: Alice, the daughter of a horse trainer, who is hiding her filly from German soldiers.

Soon Lucas begins to realize they are not the only ones in the village with secrets. The housekeeper at the German maternity home and a priest at the orphanage pass coded messages; a young mother at the home makes dangerous plans to keep her baby from forced adoption; and a neighbor in town may be harboring a Jewish family.

Emboldened by the unlikely heroes all around him, Lucas is forced to decide how much he is willing to risk to make the most courageous rescue of all.


*The Horn Book
**BookPage

Sara Pennypacker

Sara Pennypacker is the author of the bestselling Pax, the award-winning, New York Times bestselling Clementine series, the novel Summer of the Gypsy Moths, and the picture books Pierre in Love, Sparrow Girl, and Meet the Dullards. She lives in the US. You can visit her online at www.sarapennypacker.com.

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