It's also published under the name "North to Freedom", a title which appealed to me. I've read the book before, as a school reader, I think from Std 6 (Grade 8). It made a huge impression on me then, though now that I'm reading it as an adult, I'm noticing different parts that I either didn't notice then or can't remember (probably the latter). I highly recommend this book if you want to see the world through new eyes.

David is a boy who is helped to escape a concentration camp. He leaves that grey, dead, troublesome world and for the first time in his life, sees flowers and trees. He has to learn all about 'normal' life, but clings to the lessons learnt in the camp, as they mean his survival. He has to learn who he can trust, though is often held back by his mistrust of people and his fears. Through it all, he holds on to who he is, not who the world wants him to be. "I am David. Accept me as I am. I will not change to suit you." His belief in who he is, despite not knowing his identity is vital to his life and his freedom.

One of my favourite passages... David had, since his escape, been travelling at night and sleeping during the day. His first day awake in his freedom brought new discoveries...

"For a long time David continued to sit and gaze upon the lovely scenery that lay before him. He knew he had much to do, but just then he was too preoccupied to think about it; his resolve to go on living seemed to have pushed everything else out of his mind. And he could not take his eyes off what he was looking at... Surely this was what one had eyes for - not for the ugly dark gray, oppressive buildings of the camp or the endless flat, bare ground that stretched away, dull brown and empty, as far as the eye could reach... One had eyes to gaze on beauty, and David looked again upon the blueness of the sea, upon the coastline curving along its shore. He saw the bright colors of the landscape, its variegated greens intermingled with gold and read, fade into one another toward the horizon until everything melted into the blue of the sea and sky far away over the mountains."