What an AMAZING book.
Now, I personally like history, so I was a little biased towards this book since it follows the story of one of the young boys on Schindler’s List during the Second World War. However it is an amazingly well written book!
The only downside is that while the reading level is around a grade 6, the content is probably closer to grade 7/8 and only as a read aloud. The author masterfully skips over some more brutal scenes without having them lose their impact. One such scene that stood out was how he scavenged garbage piles for potato peels to bring home and share with his family, another about how his brother and others were sent to the death camps, or when his father was beaten before their eyes.
However, despite not getting into the nitty gritty details, the story had a profound impact nonetheless. I also enjoyed the fact that the author tells us what became of his various family members as well as the main character, as the book was published after his death.
An amazing story for a grade 7 or 8 read aloud especially if it’s in conjunction with the history units, you can also tie it into the movie Schindler’s List as the author goes on at the end about how accurate the movie was to what really happened. With the way society has been moving lately, you could also potentially tie this into current events in the US and how they compare to what is described by Leyson to have happened to the Jews.
Overall this book gets a 4/5 from me!