What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

A probably YA book about a young boy (maybe Polish?) during WW2 sent to Siberia and/or a concentration camp. Starving to death, he sustains a leg injury and runs away to avoid amputation. He is on the run for a while and ends up in a US? hospital where is shocked at the waste that he sees. Someone gives him choclate which he devours greedily because of being so used to starving. My husband said he loved this book when he was IN JR HIGH IN the EARLY 70'S

I Am David was first published in 1963. I haven't read it so don't know if the details fit.

Gosh, sounds just like it to me but my husband said that's not it.

Leslie, There's probably a ton of books like this. I assume some member of this group will eventually help him find it. Keep checking. I'll keep thinking too.

Well thanks! I do appreciate it.

My husband remember a bit more about the shocking waste bit. After arriving in wherever he escaped to, he was shocked at how carelessly soap was wasted. He went around gathering halfused bits of soaps to save because he was not used to it's being so easy to get.

The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque, 1964.

Summary: In 1942, a German refugee offers to give another refugee his passport and passage to the United States if he will listen to the donor's story, which starts in the 1930s.


Crumb Borne by Clive Barry, 1965. Guardian First Book Award 1965.

Examines the microcosm of a POW camp, drawing on his own experience and background. A vivid stylist with a capacity for dry
humour, Barry exploits the bizarre and incongruous to produce interesting, if slight, narratives.”

Books about "gulags":

Fiction
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Signet Classic, 158 pp., ISBN 0-451-52310-5.
The First Circle, Northwestern University Press, 580 pp., ISBN 978-0810115903.
Mehdi Husein (1905-1965), "Underground Rivers Flow Into the Sea" (Excerpts - First Novel About Exile to the Gulag by an Azerbaijani Writer)

Nope, none of those are it. It would have been a young adult novel. But thanks anyway!

The Silver Sword by Ian Seraillier, 1959.

Summary: During the German occupation of Poland, three children who have been separated from their families unite to help and protect each other.

The Little Fishes by Erik Christian Haugaard, 1967.
Summary:A twelve-year-old orphaned beggar in occupied Italy searches daily for food and for meaning in the life he witnesses, and develops compassion and understanding that will help him survive.


The Kid Comes Back by John Roberts Tunis, 1946.

Summary: Roy Tucker, the "Kid" comes back from Occupied France with a leg injury in this tale of a triumph over a physical disability and the fear created by it.

We Couldn't Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold, 1941.

Summary: Two English children on a Nazi-occupied Channel Island plan their escape.

Nope. Just the one teen boy. Siberia. Some kind of camp. Ran away because he knew his worsening leg injury would lead to amputation and/or death because anyone unable to work was killed.

Was it read definitely in the 60's? cuz I'm only searching up to 1970.

"Boris" by Jaap ter Haar translated from the Dutch by Martha Mearns, 1970.

Twelve-year-old Boris struggles for survival during the German siege of Leningrad in World War II.

Okay, he says it would have been both read and published around 1973. Sorry!

To fight in silence by Eva Lis-Wuorio, 1973.

A tribute to the Danish and Norwegian people who resisted Nazism, played in a single key dominated by subdued chords of heroism, bravery and goodness.

Also, Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene, was published in 1973.

Summary: Sheltering an escaped prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a twelve-year-old girl in Arkansas.


Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter, published in 1970.

Summary: A young German boy recounts the fate of his best friend, a Jew, during the Nazi regime.


Night by Elie Wiesel, 1960.

Summary: An autobiographical narrative, in which the author describes his experiences in Nazi concentration camps.

It's definitely not Summer of My German Solider, but oh I did like that book a lot!

I remember a book like that from about this time period. I THINK it was called "The Long Way Home" but I haven't been able to find it. I probably have a copy somewhere, it was one of my favorite books back then.

Lisa wrote: "It's definitely not Summer of My German Solider, but oh I did like that book a lot!"

Yeah< I figured as much! :)

I think Wkd is onto something.....

Long Way Home by Margot Benary-Isbert, 1959,

Offers both praise and wonder at our "land of liberty," as seen through the eyes of Christoph, a young refugee from East Germany in the early 1950s.

Nope, he says the boy escaped a camp where he had hurt is leg so bad the doctors started talking about amputating. He knew he had to flee because if he couldn't work he would be killed. My DH says Siberia figures into the story somehow, either the was born there or that's where the camp was.
It couldn't have been summer of my German soldier because that's set in the states and involves no running away from a concentration camp with an badly injured leg.

Seems to me like the first part of "Long Way Home" was about the boy's escape and it wasn't until close to the end of the book that he made it to the US.

He said it's not Long Way Home.

Leslie, If he remembers anything at all else about it, please post here. There are so many books like this that the more details we have, the more likely we are to find it for him. Thanks.

Edit: If a member has read this, the information you've given so far should suffice, but for people doing searches, the more info the better, and it's possible that other readers of this book will remember different details about it.

Would this have been a personal narrative or fiction?

A Separate Peace by John Knowles, 1975.

Summary: The novel focuses on the reminiscences of Gene Forrester who returns to the boarding school he attended during the early years of World War II.

Uncle Misha's Partisans by Yuri Suhl, 1973.

Summary: During World War II in the Ukraine, an orphaned Jewish boy joins a band of partisans who give him an important assignment against the Nazis.

All he remembers is that it's a boy (pre-teen or teen) who runs away from some kind of forced labor camp because he's afraid his leg injury has gotten so bad that he's either going to have an amputation or be killed outtright for not being able to work. DH thinks this was in Siberia. He doesn't think it was a Nazi vs Jew story at all. The details of his arduous journey to (?) are plentiful. He is ALONE on the journey. They boy ends up in some modern country's hospital (American or English) and is surprised at how plentiful things like soap are. He is scolded for gathering little bits of unused soap that others discarded. His hospital room mate sees him enjoying chocolate blissfully and goes to buy him some that the boy eats all at once frightening both the giver and the hospital staff. He is shocked by the plenty and the waste that he sees.

Wild Jack
by John Christopher, 1974

Summary: Clive Anderson is falsely accused of questioning the status quo and must escape from a twenty-third century "retraining school.".

Oh, no, sorry, it's not a futuristic book. The setting was around WWII.

Dangerous Journey
Author:
Trans. from the Swedish by Annabelle MacMillan, illus. by W.T. Mars
Publication Information:
Harcourt copyright 1962. 190p.

Kirkus Reviews

/* Starred Review */ Latsi and Pishta escape from a railroad car bound for a communist children's home in Hungary. Aided by a friend in Budapest, they plan to stowaway aboard a freight train, pass the Austrian border and make their way to Sweden where Latsi's parents have resided for several years. The unpredictable obstacles in this race for freedom add to the existout hazards. The boys are separated, Pishta comes down with a fever and Latsi comes in contact with a Russian spy whose job it is to reclaim wayward refugees. With the help of a Swedish journalist in Austria., the spy is apprehended, the boys reunited and the long angerous journey completed. A timely topic employs tried and true techniques of story telling in this well thriller in the cloak and dagger vein. (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1962)

http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Journ...

Bless your heart, you do work hard but I don't think that could be it because the boy was alone on his journey and at least part of the story happens in Siberia.

It sounds like most of "Dangerous Journey" is about one boy. The amazon reviews have some comments about the book.I haven't been able to find anything set in Siberia and I don't know why.

Sounds a bit like We Were Not Like Other People by Ephraim Servela, but it was published in 1989. Here's the plot summary: FROM: Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1989):
Separated from his parents, who had been officers in the Red Army until the Stalinist purges, the young Jewish protagonist wanders through a landscape of war from Siberia to Germany, experiencing moments of great pain and betrayal as well as occasional instances of friendship and love. A violent scene in the prelude may be difficult for many readers.

Nope couldnt' be that cos my husband read it as a new book in his preteen-earl teen years which makes 1989 way to late.
DH says boy was utterly alone. (Sounds bleak huh?) Anyway, I begin to fear he has perhaps confused a couple of books in his old age. Hee hee, nearly 50.

I begin to fear he has perhaps confused a couple of books in his old age.

Not necessarily. Some books take over a year, or longer/never, to find. It depends on who else might join this group and read this thread, as well as what research can come up with.

Are we sure the protagonist is a boy?

I keep finding this one book that has a girl disguising herself as a boy, but I haven't posted it.

Oh, yes, a boy.

Donbas: A True Story of an Escape Across Russia by Jacques Sandulescu
1968

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61...

From Head Butler website:
"As “Donbas” opens, Jacques is 16 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180 pounds. He's the youngest person in the box car filled with Romanians that the Russians are shipping east in January of 1945. But his youth vanishes fast when he watches guards execute some would-be escapees. On one hand, he envies their death: “no more cold, misery, hunger.” On the other, he wants to live. Which means he'll have to escape. This is a book about noticing everything, paying sharp attention, looking for an opening. His first conclusion: Don't try to escape in winter, don't think you can get out of Russia without knowing Russian. But after a few days of working in the coal mines of Donbas (now considered part of the Ukraine), his thoughts turn from escape to survival. The work is wet and cold. A cave-in could come at any time. Exhaustion, exposure, hunger --- death comes in many forms here. I have never read an account of work in a mine that made me so claustrophobic. I found myself reading faster, as if getting to the end of a particularly horrible shift would provide some relief. But it didn't --- above ground, there were sadistic guards and icy winds. “Many prisoners died,” Jacques reports matter-of-factly. “Over half the camp. Four hundred and fifty weak and sick weren't suffering any more.” Jacques is comparatively well off. He is strong and uncomplaining, a good worker. He gets privileges --- when he goes to nearby homes for dinner, it's a delight to read as he eats and eats and eats. But he's never fooled; there's always a power-mad guard around the corner. And one does beat him so badly he almost dies. Which makes it all the more satisfying when, with the permission of a senior officer, Jacques stomps that sadist mercilessly. “It was a good feeling while it lasted,” he says. I think even a pacifist would agree. After two and a half years, his luck runs out. Jacques is trapped in a cave-in and rescued only by a friend's heroic efforts. He fears his legs will be amputated. It's winter, but so what --- he must escape. His legs are running with pus, he is a mass of sores, but he slips onto a train, hides in an open coal car and begins the slow, freezing ride to the West. Books like this have a built-in handicap --- we know the author survived. Only the best of the breed make us forget that there's a happy ending. And this is the best; reading these pages, you will feel cold and hungry, raging with fever, wet and dispirited. But mostly, you will feel Jacques Sandulescu's spirit, his unyielding insistence on life, life in free air, life at all costs."

Michelle, That sure sounds like it!!!
Leslie, ?!

I'm already addicted to google-ing everything under the sun. I like a challenge!

Fingers crossed that it's the right book!

That HAS to be it!

Wow, that has to be it. Left DH a voicemail at work and will let you know as soon as he answers. The thing about the leg, the Romanian/Russian part, all sound right. I bet this is it!

THAT'S IT! He called and said that's probably it! I'm going to pick up our library's copy after lunch and order him a copy online somewhere. THANKS SO VERY MUCH YOU GUYS! Michelle and Lisa, you are both darlings!

Thank GAWD!!!!

Whoo hoo! I feel ever so accomplished.

:)

Hope your hubby enjoys it!

Leslie, So happy you found it for him. Everybody who tried to help, Thank you!
I'll move it to the right folder for you, Leslie.

Thanks again for all your help you guys. I ran to the library to pick this book up and when DH got home from work and saw the cover he said, That's it!
By the way, I read it and it is a very special book. I was moved to tears several times but laughing by the end.

Maybe now we'll all have to read it!

I put it on my to-read shelf. I'm not sure if I'll ever read it though, but it does look good.

I've been following this thread with frustration because I have nothing to add, but I'm so glad it's solved! You all are awesome.

Donbas for the trackable link.