David's Story - Stig Dalager

David's Story

By: Stig Dalager, Frances Osterfelt (Translator), Cheryl Robson (Translator)

Paperback | 26 February 2010

At a Glance

Paperback


$31.95

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.99 with

 or 
In Stock and Aims to ship in 1-2 business days

When will this arrive by?

Separated from his parents who are deported to the camps by the Nazis, David struggles to survive, alone, hungry and scared, until he eventually finds his way to the city of Warsaw. There he learns from other Jewish boys how to work in the black market, dodging the police and the Gestapo and finding a few scraps to eat. The eventual day comes when the ghetto is cleared and everyone is herded into trains for the long trip to the camps, but David already knows what to expect there... Will David survive? Can he outwit them one more time? A beautifully written story based on the testimonies and diaries of young people who experienced the Holocaust.
Industry Reviews

"How was it possible for Stig Dalager to write about the last years of the story of David in such a shocking and convincing way that one should think that this was written by Isaac B. Singer or one of the other Polish-Jewish geniuses?" -Jewish Information Magazine


"Dalager has written a shockingly relevant historical novel, a taut story of international standing and appeal. A monument to our own shame, at that time and now." -Politiken Newspaper, Denmark


"Despite being a translation of Stig Dalager's original Danish text, this is one of the most readable and accessible accounts of the Holocaust I have ever read. My wife and I both enjoyed this book immensely, and it reads well. It is presented in good clear prose, and rings true with other accounts - my wife once transcribed texts from Holocaust survivors, and knows what sounds like real accounts. Dalager is an experienced writer, and this shows.

There are a number of Holocaust survivor children's diaries, and you can feel that whilst this book is changing from one to another, each section was very real to the person who wrote the diaries used. The story begins with the start of restrictions on Jewish life, and advances to roundups, forced marches, the ghetto, and transportation. The ending is something you'll have to judge for yourself as to whether or not David makes it out alive. He certainly seems to be able to escape from earlier challenges, but the author has adapted the stories, so who knows which chapters were real happy endings, and which ended the way that so many tragedies did in those times.

The atmosphere in David's village at the start shows the tipping point where Jews were suddenly no longer just neighbours, and became non-persons to be abused and ultimately murdered. The question one has to ask is: just how did their oppressors come to believe that anybody has the right to do what they did? In reality, this book reminds you that in the end, it was the Nazis who lost their humanity. Humans could not have treated children the way that these children were forced to suffer.

Read this book, and if you didn't understand what I meant in the previous paragraph, you soon will... " *****- M. J. Jacobs, Amazon



More in Historical Fiction for Children & Teenagers

The Midwatch - Judith Rossell

Hardcover

RRP $24.99

$21.25

15%
OFF
Becoming Kirrali Lewis - Jane Harrison

RRP $22.99

$21.90

The Tattooist of Auschwitz - YA Edition - Heather Morris
Tom Appleby Convict Boy - Jackie French
Refugee - Alan Gratz

Paperback

$17.99

All the Beautiful Things - Katrina Nannestad

RRP $22.99

$12.95

44%
OFF
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
Number the Stars : A Newbery Award Winner - Lois Lowry
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
Tales of the Kingdom, Vol. 2 : Tales of the Kingdom - Abigail Blackman
The Diary of a Young Girl : The Definitive Edition - Anne Frank
The Night They Stormed Eureka - Jackie French

RRP $17.99

$17.25

Number the Stars : Collins Modern Classics - Lois Lowry
Runner - Robert Newton

Paperback

$19.99

The Serpent's Shadow : The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan