  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 01/01/2013 Fleeing the German bombing of his Leningrad home in 1941, Ivan, 12, joins the partisans and finds himself digging tunnels and training in self-defense. Then he is captured, and the brutal Nazi commander Axel, so tender with his dog Zasha, tries to lure the boy to be a collaborator. Set before Saving Zasha (2011), the focus in this action-packed prequel is as much about the boy in wartime as it is about his relationship with the beautiful dog, but the detailed scenes of pet bonding and training may be what grab readers most. - Copyright 2013 Booklist. School Library Journal - 04/01/2013 Gr 5–8—In this prequel to Saving Zasha (Scholastic, 2011), 12-year-old Ivan must escape from Leningrad after the Nazi invasion and his mother's forced factory-work assignment. He travels with his wise and resourceful neighbor, Auntie, across a frozen lake in dangerously arctic temperatures to the mountains, but he is soon entrapped by Nazi soldiers and forced to live with villainous Major Axel Recht as a dog trainer. Ivan is aware that the brutal purpose of these trained bloodhounds is to track down escaping Russians. Working as a spy for the partisans, he is determined to run with the two puppies, Thor and Zasha, but underestimates Recht's cruel determination to retrieve both his prisoner and his dogs. Barrow creates a suspenseful, engaging boy-loves-dog story within the historical context of the Russian World War II landscape, amid the harrowing environment of daily bombings and a vicious enemy. A climactic fight scene will keep readers enthralled to the concluding cliff-hanger ending in which Ivan is left with Thor, wondering how his mother fared during the occupation and if he will ever see Zasha again.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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