10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It’s something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner … prisoner — his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will — and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside? Based on an astonishing true story.
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I truly don’t know how the Jewish people survived this horrendous time in their lives. Terribly sad but so happy I read it. Excellent.
Although this book is fictional, it is based on a prisoner who lived most of these things. That someone could survive such treatment and still live!
This is another one that made me cry. Story of a prisoner in a concentration camp and all he went thru. It was hell! We must never forget what the Nazis did.
Could not stop reading this book. The author took me on a journey of despicable atrocities which were, unfortunately, true.
The story was a pretty standard version and a fair read. It made me sad.
Excellent book. Could not put it down
Could not put this book down … read in literally a single sitting. One of the top 3 or 4 Holocaust related books I have read. Have already recommended to my friends … with some of them commenting in line with my take. Powerful.
The descriptions in this book, while a very difficult subject, really brought things to life. I felt the pain, frustration and relief of the main character. The only thing I would have liked is a little more follow up in the prologue. I was not ready to say goodbye when the book finished.
I have read many books on the Holocaust, but this is one of the very best that I have ever read. Reading about a young boy that loses his family and then is able to survive all the horrors of the concentration camps – the very worst of the concentration camps too! A book like this should be required reading, so no one forgets the horrors of the …
Although written for the middle grade child, adults will find this true story of a Jewish boy’s coming of age in Nazi Poland powerful reading. The young man tells, with stark, simple prose, of his years in concentration camps during WWII. Quite frankly, I had nightmares while reading it, and had to confine my time with this book to morning and …
It was a realistic view of the horrors of the plight of Jews during WWII. It follows one young man through his trials and ability to survive.
Easy read and great for middle school readers.
If you are interested in details of the prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, this book provides that. Many scenes and incidents are rather gruesome and hard to read, but are described with some detachment as we don’t really know most of the characters who are subjected to the worse. I find it hard to believe it’s a young adult novel; I wouldn’t …
I think it awesome and cool.
This is possibly one of the best books that I have ever read so good.