School Library Journal Starred Review

Gr 4-9--Napoli, who has written in a variety of genres--fantasy, mystery, realistic fiction, legends--demonstrates that she has mastered historical fiction as well. Sneaking into the cinema to see an American Western during World War II has grave consequences for Roberto, a Venetian middle-school student, his brother, and two friends. The young male audience is trapped by German soldiers and transported by train out of Italy as cheap forced labor. The first project, constructing a tarmac, goes smoothly, despite wretched living conditions. Separated from his older brother, timid Roberto relies on his quick-thinking friend, Samuele. Both realize the necessity of hiding Samuele's Jewish identity from their captors and fellow prisoners. When a "shipment" of Polish Jews arrive and are penned near the labor group, Roberto uses his ingenuity to help feed two Jewish girls with his meager rations. After Samuele is beaten to death trying to save Roberto's scavenged boots, Roberto escapes. He is a displaced gondolier trying to navigate his boat on a modern Styx, a hellish river journey with slim chances for survival. Few books view the Holocaust from this vantage point; few readers are familiar with the Venetian/Italian connection to the work camps. Others will be interested in this story as survivalism from the worst kind of nightmare. Many children will be ensnared by the author's paean to the art and value of storytelling. Samuele's legacy is the nourishing stories that keep Roberto alive. An intense, gripping tale.--Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO

ALA Booklist (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 1997)

From her rich, dark fairy tale fantasies and light contemporary novels, Napoli turns here to historical fiction about the young Italian boys forced to work as indentured laborers for the Nazis during World War II. Roberto, 13, and his Jewish friend, Samuele, are rounded up with other boys and transported to harsh work camps. The two keep each other alive (no one must see that Samuele is circumcised), and they try to help starving Polish Jews in a barbed-wire holding pen. When Samuele dies, Roberto runs away, and the book's second half becomes a survival adventure as he narrowly escapes Germans, wolves, freezing cold, and starvation to make his way back to join the Italian partisans. The history is well-researched, but much of the long escape adventure reads like an episodic docunovel: we know there will always be some lucky chance to save him (a boat, a fellow deserter, etc.). It is the friendship story and the little-known history of the Italian child laborers that will hold readers, who may imagine what it was like to be a civilian caught up in a war you wanted no part of, fighting an enemy much like you.

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1997)

During World War II, best friends Roberto and Samuele are abducted by German soldiers from a small town outside Venice--despite the fact that Italy and Germany are allies--and taken to a work camp in Munich. The horrors they experience change Roberto's outlook from self-preservation to guarded activism to, following his escape, outright sabotage. A gripping coming-of-age novel about the human costs of war.

Kirkus Reviews

From Napoli (Trouble on the Tracks, p. 144, etc.), a powerful novel set in a vividly realized wartime milieu. Roberto, a Venetian boy who is about to graduate from middle school, is so eager to attend a rare American movie that he makes a worrisome bargain with a boy who is always in trouble. On top of this small sin, he attends the movie with a Jewish boy, Samuele, an unwise idea when restrictions and dangers are multiplying. German soldiers enter the theater and capture all the boys; at first, Roberto can't make sense of what is happening to him. Transported to desolate regions, the boys are forced into labor building a tarmac; food is scarce, the climate is life-threatening, and survival seems remote. Now called Enzo, Samuele, who has a deeper understanding of the situation and who constantly watches for a chance to defy his captors, tells Roberto stories that become crucial to his sanity and lend a semblance of humanity to their desperate situation. When Roberto escapes, the book becomes a memorable survival story: He learns not to speak and give away his nationality, puzzles out the changing borders and alliances of the war, eats slugs in snow-covered streams to survive, and battles wild animals. Finally, by participating in the partigiano, who sabotage the war and work to hide endangered Jews, Roberto goes from victim to hero, seizing control of his life for a noble cause. Riveting. (Fiction. 12-14)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

PW's boxed review called this story of a Venetian gondolier's son and two friends, one Jewish, who are forcibly taken by Nazi soldiers, """"gripping and meticulously researched."""" Ages 10-14. (Nov.)