LibraryThing offered this book in August 2012 and I thought it sounded interesting so I asked for it. And they sent it to me!

When Eduard Kochergin was a very young boy (only 2 or 3 years old) his mother was sent to jail in Russia as a spy. His father had suffered a similar fate before Eduard was even born. For a while he and his brother Felix were looked after by a godfather but then they were put into state orphanages. That's where they were when the Second World War started. Felix was put in a mental home and died soon after. Eduard was spirited away from an orphanage in besieged Leningrad and taken to one in Siberia. This may have saved his life since he was young and frail and may have died before the city was freed. However, it put him thousands of miles away from his birthplace where his parents would probably return. When the war was over Eduard decided to return to Leningrad and he ran away from the orphanage. It took him 6 years but he did get back there and he was reunited with his mother.

Considering Eduard was only about 8 when he first went out on his own it is simply amazing that he survived and made his way. He was a naturally gifted artist and made wire portraits of the "Leaders" (Stalin and Lenin) as well as packs of cards to earn food. He also picked up other skills like making fires, tattooing, opening doors which helped him. When cold weather came he would give himself up to authorities and spend the winter in another orphanage. He made friends with a few boys his age and was also helped by adults (many of whom didn't have much themselves). He was truly a survivor. He is now a renowned stage and set designer in St. Petersburg so the skills he used on the long road home have become his way of life.

He is quite the inspiration.

I'll take this book to the Winnipeg BookCrossers Meetup tonight. If no-one claims it then you can find it on the OBCZ shelves.

This book is currently sitting on the Winnipeg Official Bookcrossing Zone bookshelf in the loft of The Park Theatre & Movie Café, 698 Osborne Street, Winnipeg MB.

It is waiting there for a new reader to take home, read, and release back into the wild!

Winnipeg bookcrossers meet at my location on the second Wednesday of every month at 7pm to chat about books, swap great reads, and release on the OBCZ shelves. Please join us! We love to see new faces! You will enjoy the comfy atmosphere, the fabulous coffees and teas, and the yummy treats!

I selected this book from the OBCZ shelf at the Park Theatre at our February meeting. Looked interesting. I've just started reading, so will report back. Thanks gypsysmom!

I enjoyed this book a lot and was truly amazed at this young boy's determination and perseverance to get home to his mother. I do find it interesting though that I am quite willing to be impressed by this Polish/Russian boy living by his wits and wiles (some of which are quite literally criminal in nature - he steals). I'll bet every other reader will come away positively impressed. Yet, I am not nearly so impressed by the petty thieves in my own part of the world.

I noticed the author chose not to tell us some of the things he did as he traveled with the train thieves. I suspect that they were more than just petty crimes and that if we learned of them we might not be so impressed with the "little orphan". It appears God, whom the author credits for looking out for him, looks the other way sometimes.

Thinking this book might appeal to whomever it is that so kindly adds books of history and memoir to Little Free Library #2873.

To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.

Welcome, also, to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.

If you make a journal entry (you can do it anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!

I just picked up this book along with two others at the LittleLibrary - what a neat idea, I've never seen one of these before