I Am David

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I Am David
Author Anne Holm
Original title North to Freedom
Translator L. W. Kingsland
Illustrator (no illustations)
Cover artist Kelly Eismann(in American version)
Country Denmark
Language Danish
Series none
Subject(s) History
Genre(s) Children's, Historical novel
Publisher Gyldendal
Publication date 1963
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)and Film
Pages 239 (in Amercian version)
ISBN ISBN 0-15-205161-9 (first eng. edition, hardback)
Preceded by none
Followed by none
This article is about a 1963 children's novel. For the 2003 film adaption, see I Am David (film).

I Am David (original title: David) is a fiction book written by Anne Holm in 1963. It tells the story of a young boy who, with the help of a prison guard, escapes from a concentration camp in Eastern Europe, and of his journey to Denmark. Along the way he meets interesting people and has many adventures. It was made into a film (I am David) in 2003.

The book was originally written in Danish; in America the book is known as North to Freedom (although it is now also being published there as "I Am David")

Contents

[edit] Film Plot

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Please improve this article if you can. (January 2008)

A 12-year old boy escapes a Stalinist concentration camp in Bulgaria and sets out on a risky journey to Denmark in hopes of finding freedom, while facing danger and encountering various people along the way. A guard at the camp initially helps him to escape, giving him a compass and telling him he must go southwest to Greece, take a boat to Italy and finally go north to Denmark, a peaceful and neutral country. Since he has been locked in a camp all his life, David is inexperienced, and wary of other people. Johannes, his teacher, taught him Italian, French, English, Danish, Russian and a little bit of Hebrew. Johannes dies later in the story and leaves David to go to Denmark to find freedom. In his journey he meets many people and comes to develop his emotions and learn how to trust other people.

[edit] Book Plot

The book starts with David thinking about, and talking to, an unnamed man in a labor camp. David receives instructions from the man for his escape, including instructions to travel to Salonika on the coast, stow away in a boat for Italy, then head north to Denmark. Also, David is instructed to climb the electric fence when he gives the signal, the lighting of a cigarette. David doesn't trust "the man," because he is one of "them," a reference presumed to mean the Communists. He also hates the man because his friend, a scholar sent to the labor camp, was killed by the man.

Believing the man is planning to trick him so David will be shot, David resolves to just run until his eventual capture. He searches a bundle the man gave him, and finds some food, and a compass.

As he travels through the countryside of what is presumed to be pre-WW2 Serbia, he adapts hunted animal mindset, sleeping by day and traveling at night. He eventually, during the first stage of his escape, hitches a ride to Salonica on a truck.

After he arrives in Salonica, he sneaks onto a ship bound for Italy. He hides in the cargo hold, and eats some bread and drinks some "water" he finds in a bottle. The water turns out to be wine, and David falls asleep in a drunken stupor.

When he wakes up, a sailor is standing above him, angry. Through his knowledge of languages picked up at the labor camp, David communicates with the sailor, but only a little. Eventually, the sailor secretly lowers David over the side in a life vest, because of the boy's eyes. with the help of the sailor David gets ashore and finds in the beauty of Italy, the will to live again.

[edit] Meanings

  • When David finally gets the soap he washes himself relentlessly even though he is already extremely clean. To him it signifies washing away all the bad things that have happened to him in the past and how he is starting a new life.
  • When the sailor on the ship finds David but doesn't turn him in, it is because David has the same look in his eyes that the sailor's grandmother did in the last days before she died. He sees in David's eyes the look of desperation and acceptance of the coming of death, therefore he let David be.
  • When choosing a god to worship, David chooses the God of "Green Pastures and Still Waters" because he was the God of another David in ancient times. David is not only choosing to request the help of a benevolent being in his quest for freedom. He has chosen this God specifically because, as far as he knows, he is the only being, living or dead, who knows of David's existence outside the camp. David is crying out "I Am David" for the first time in his journey.
  • During David's journey, he encounters a beautiful little girl named Maria. She is tied up inside a burning shed. David feels he has to save her to settle his "debts" to his chosen god of green pastures and still waters. David saves the girl, who then loses consciousness. When she awakens, she smiles at David. Thus, David learns the true meaning of happiness and how to smile.

[edit] Awards

  • Crystal Heart Award
  • Heartland Film Festival
  • Lewis Carroll Shelf Award
  • American Library Association Notable Book
  • Gylendal Prize for the Best Scandinavian Chidrens's Book

[edit] Release details

[edit] External links and further reading

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