Anne Holm’s novel, first published in the UK in 1965, is one of the most honest and searing accounts for children of man’s inhumanity to man. It’s also one of the most hopeful. It tells the haunting story of a 12-year-old boy who is helped to escape from a concentration camp in Eastern Europe by an otherwise hateful guard. Convinced this is a trap to kill him, David nevertheless sets off by way of Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Germany in order to get to Denmark, where his former captor had told him he would find ultimate safety. His journey is full of incident, this is a tense and exciting story. Brought up in the camp, David knows nothing of the outside world, but he knows who he is. No matter what happens, he has decided he will not give in to men who love violence and he won’t let them change him. Holm felt that children need ‘real, valuable literature’ and I Am David is a masterpiece. This new edition is an attractive little hardback, its clear layout matches David’s voice. ~Andrea Reece
In this gripping story, a twelve-year-old boy struggles to cope with an entirely strange world as he flees northward to freedom in Denmark, after escaping from the eastern European prison camp where he spent most of his life. David's entire twelve-year life has been spent in a grisly prison camp in Eastern Europe. He knows nothing of the outside world. But when he is given the chance to escape, he seizes it. With his vengeful enemies hot on his heels, David struggles to cope in this strange new world, where his only resources are a compass, a few crusts of bread, his two aching feet, and some vague advice to seek refuge in Denmark. Is that enough to survive? David's extraordinary odyssey is dramatically chronicled in Anne Holm's classic about the meaning of freedom and the power of hope.
Anne Holm, born Else Annelise Jørgensen (September 10, 1922 in Oksbøl - December 27, 1998) was a Danish journalist and children writer. She spent part of her life in United States. Also writing under the pseudonym Adrien de Chandelle.Her books are typically recommended to age groups 8-16 years, but they include elements even for adult readers. Her best known book is David (1963) (translated I am David and filmed 2004; also published with name North to Freedom), which tells about a 13-years old boy who grows in a prison camp, escapes and travels home through Europe. It's a book about hope and freedom, and it is a bestseller.Another well known book by Holm is Peter (1966), which tells about a teenage boy who travels in time to ancient Greece and medieval England. Married J.C. Holm in 1949.
