"From celebrated Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Uri Shulevitz comes the gripping and revealing true story of a young Polish exile fighting to survive in war-torn Europe"-- Provided by publisher

Ages 10-14

"Born amid the tumult of World War I, a young Jewish boy named Yehiel Szulewicz (the real-life uncle of author and illustrator Uri Shulevitz) feels stifled by the limits of his hometown of Żyrardów, Poland, and at the rules set in place by his very religious parents. Brimming with a desire for true adventure, he leaves home in 1930 at fifteen years old to seek his future elsewhere. Little does Yehiel know, he'll never see his parents again. His journey takes him beyond Polish borders, to Czechoslovakia, Austria, Croatia, Italy, France, and Spain. With no money and no ID papers, he often sleeps under the stars, with only the sky as his blanket. But even wayfaring Yehiel--indebted to countless strangers who offer him kindness along the way--can't outrun the evil spreading across Europe in the years leading up to World War II. As the fascists and Nazis rise to power, Yehiel soon finds himself a member of the Spanish Republican Army and then the Jewish Resistance in Vichy France, fighting for freedom, his friends, and his very life. Completed just months before the author's death, this is a unique and riveting tribute to a young man's courage and resilience during one of the darkest periods in global history, and a deeply moving finale to a beloved book creator's acclaimed career."--Dust jacket flap

Grades 4-6