Rip to the Rescue

Rip to the Rescue is a true-to-life World War II adventure featuring heroic teens and one heroic dog.

Rip to the Rescue by Miriam Halahmy. Holiday House, 2022, 194 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10

Recommended for: ages 10-14

London Under Fire

For 13-year-old Jack, there’s one good thing about the London Blitz: it’s given him a purpose. He’s tall for his age and Air Raid wardens haven’t questioned him too closely about it, so when German bombers are flying overhead and incendiary bombs splintering all around him, he’s pedaling messages from one fire station to another. The half-deafness that made him an outcast at school is a positive here, as it shields him from the worst of the noise. And the appreciation he gets from wardens and firemen makes up for the scorn heaped upon him by his disgruntled father at home. Or almost.

His simple mission becomes more complicated when he meets Paula, a girl his age who is doing her part to protect her Jewish family from the invasion she knows is coming. But the stray dog Jack adopts from a heap of rubble, half-starved with one torn ear, adds real value to his team. Rip (named for the ear) can smell out people in the rubble. As Rip’s fame grows, so do the challenges Jack finds himself facing, both in war-torn London and at home.

Good old-fashioned storytelling

There’s a retro feel about this story that’s refreshing in our current minefield of woke books. The plot is reliable (a better word than “predictable”) with real-world high stakes and genuine danger. Though Jack’s problems are wrapped up a bit too speedily at the end, there’s still a war going on, and the author note lets us know that the story is based on real events. Both dogs and children performed valuable service during the months-long “Battle of Britain,” and this story gives them their full due.

Consideration:

While not gory or overly descriptive, the depictions of falling bombs, burning houses and splintering glass might be too much for sensitive readers.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Worldview/moral value: 3.5Artistic/Literary value: 4.

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

Reviews: Kirby Larson has written several novels about wartime dogs. See our reviews of Dash, Duke, and Code Word Courage. Also Michael Morpurgo’s Shadow.Resource: Heroes of World War II: A Booklist for Teens and Tweens.

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