David is 12, he is in a concentration camp and is being given the chance to escape. He decides to take the chance and try as if he doesn’t then he will be shot in the back and it will be all over in a minute, very pragmatic. This is the story of his escape and how he travels all the way across several countries, discovering new foods and discovering that he likes to be clean, to Denmark where he knocks on a door and announces his name.
This is a very moving story, much like the Diary of Anne Frank. It’s not told in a diary fashion but it is told mostly in the third person. On his journey he discovers oranges and he saves a little girl whose family looks after him for a while although he makes his departure when they start asking him too many questions.
There are a number of difficult concepts so I would recommend this book for older readers, but having said that it has been and will probably continue to be on the school text book list. I do recommend you read it with your child so you’re able to help them understand things that happened during the war and also to help them with the emotions. It was first published in 1963 and I must have been a tween when I first read it and have cried every time, then and since.
My year six teacher read this to me at school. I then bought my own copy. I don’t read it frequently, but every two years or so I find it in my hands once again. It is so sad…
I don’t recall when I read it. I don’t dare read it too often, the emotions are not far from the surface every time.
I don’t usually watch movies or read books dealing with the holocaust, so it is really rare for me to have a favourite book on this topic. I don’t know if it is the writing style or that it was read to me when I was 12, but I have a soft spot for this one. Yes, I know what you mean about emotions not being far from the surface.