Elephant RunRoland Smith
Hyperion Books for Children
Nick Freestone has lived all over the world: Burma (present day Myanmar), United States, and England. When the bombing starts in London during WWII, Nick's mother is forced to send him to live with his father back in Burma, thinking it will be safer. She is sorely mistaken, however, when a few days after Nick arrives the Japanese take over his father's teak plantation and turn it into a Japanese headquarters. Nick's father gets sent to a labor camp while Nick is forced to stay and work on the colonel's garden. The situation soon becomes life-threatening and Nick has to leave Burma, with his father, to survive. The decision wasn't a hard one to make, but getting to India is a whole other story.
WARNING: There are a few swear words and minimal descriptions of war crimes and hostile conditions in the labor camps.
Personal opinion:
After I read Peak, I really wanted to read another Roland Smith book so I chose this one and loved it. I liked it even more than Peak. The inner conflicts that Nick has seem so realistic and the way his story is told is really great. Smith is a great story teller. His books seem to be extremely accessible, but not lacking in meaning or moral. Definitely one of my new favorites.
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