The Silver Sword
Ian Serraillier
Like David, the Balicki children cross a war-torn Europe on foot seeking safety, relying on courage, luck and the kindness of strangers in a classic, gently told journey.
11 books to read next
Books Like I Am David
If you loved I Am David by Anne Holm
I Am David follows a boy who has known nothing but a prison camp as he walks alone across Europe, learning to trust people, notice beauty and decide who he is. Readers love its quiet, reflective tone, the way ordinary things like soap, colour and kindness feel miraculous through David's eyes, and the steady tension of a journey where every stranger might be a danger. It is a story of survival, faith, identity and hope rather than action.
Children escaping across Europe
Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
Set in Denmark, David's longed-for destination, this story of a girl helping her Jewish friend escape shares the same quiet bravery and moral clarity.
When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit
Judith Kerr
A family flees Germany and moves from country to country, and like I Am David it shows a child adjusting to a strange world with honesty and warmth.
Survival told through young eyes
Once
Morris Gleitzman
Felix escapes an orphanage into a dangerous world he only half understands, echoing David's innocence and the gradual, painful discovery of what is happening around him.
The Endless Steppe
Esther Rudomin Hautzig
A memoir of a girl exiled to Siberia, it shares I Am David's focus on endurance, small comforts and keeping one's spirit alive under hardship.
Friedrich.
Hans Peter Richter
A spare, powerful account of friendship under Nazi rule that, like Holm's novel, lets readers feel the weight of history through a child's ordinary days.
Lonely journeys toward hope
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
Brian must survive alone in the wilderness, and readers who admired David's self-reliance and inner thoughts will find the same solitary resourcefulness here.
The Incredible Journey
Sheila Burnford
Three animals travel hundreds of miles home through unknown country, capturing the determined, step-by-step pull toward safety that drives David north.
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O’Dell
Karana's years alone on an island share I Am David's reflective, calm voice and its themes of resilience, loneliness and learning whom to trust.
Modern refugee stories
Refugee
Alan Gratz
Three children from different eras flee danger, giving readers who loved David's journey a gripping, contemporary take on escape and the search for home.
The Boy at the Back of the Class
Onjali Q Raúf
A gentler, hopeful story about a refugee boy finding friendship, it reflects David's need to be accepted by people in a new country.
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