Children's Book review

I Am David

By Ann Holm

Published by Mammoth

Anne Holm's 1963 account of David, a boy who has escaped from a concentration camp in an unnamed Eastern bloc country, and his search for his family, has become a modern classic. Holm decontextualises David's character and his situation to such an extent that he stands for all dispossessed humanity, throughout time. She emphasises both David's innate dignity and the absence of more sophisticated social skills which have resulted from his incarceration. Although some of the coincidences which allow him to return to his (hitherto unknown) mother appear contrived, this is an intensely powerful book, of relevance to a study of the effects of ethnic cleansing in any era.

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Reading age: 9+
Interest level: 10+