When Roberto sneaks off to see a movie in his Italian village, German soldiers raid the theater and pack them onto a train bound for a work camp. Roberto and his best friend, Samuele, vow to stick together. But Samuele has a terrible secret which, if discovered, could get them both killed.

A good read. I may have wanted a map or something showing me how far Roberto was. I felt like either I had to know more about this time period or to not worry too much. I could feel lost along with Roberto.

Sending as part of the Birthday Group. Happy birthday!

Thank you so much for sending this book such a long way. It arrived today, about 2.5 months after entering the postal system.

Update: I enjoyed this story, which told a different aspect of the war I didn't know much about. At times the main character was frustratingly naive/stupid, but he was young.

If you aren't familiar with Bookcrossing, take a few minutes to check out this very cool site. Bookcrossers LOVE books, and more than anything, they love to read books and then set them free for other people to find and enjoy. I would love it if you would leave a journal entry -- you can say where you found the book or how you liked it when you read it.

Happy birthday

Went to post office to pick up a larger package and what do you know, it was the earliest birthday present ever. :D

Thank you so much, this book sounds really interesting. I visited Cracow and Auschwitz last summer, I'm really curious where this book takes me as the horrors happened in so many places.

Started the book months ago but finally had the time to finish it. In the acknowledgements it says the story is based very, very loosely on someones experiences during the WWII, it would be actually interesting to know which of it really happened. For me it felt quite made up, especially the running away was something that most likely a young boy couldn't survive. But, there are a lot of true stories about surviving in very difficult scenes, especially the Holocaust, and I guess that is the lesson in this book – survival is possible.

This was actually second book that gave a bit more insight about Italy's role in WWII as mostly books concentrate on Germany, the Holocaust or England. This is definitely something I'd like to read more. This book was more about the WWII that the Holocaust, which was interesting too. I didn't know about children being used as prisoners and labour, I think there's still a lot of details about WWII that's unraveled to the public.