superb book - Rated 
I am David is both a deeply moving and thought provoking read. Although written as a book for children I could not put the book down. David's story is the story of each one of us as we try to make sense of life. It is beautifully written and wonderfully translated. I can not recommend this book highly enough.
Amazing - Rated
This is a story about a young boy's epic journey across Europe, and his budding emotions and sense of the wonder of life.
The facts are simple. David is a 12 year old boy. He has lived all his life in a concentration camp somewhere in eastern Europe. He does not know anything about his parents or where he comes from, or why he is in the camp. All he knows is that he is David. One day, without any explanation, a guard arranges for him to escape. The electric current is switched off from the perimeter fence for half a minute, just long enough for David to climb over. He is given bread and water and a compass. He is told to head south for Salonica, stow away on a ship sailing to Italy, and then walk north until he comes to a country called Denmark. And that is what David does.
Now, what kind of person would you be if you had spent all your life in a concentration camp? The first thing you may notice about David is his extraordinary isolation. He has survived in the camp by never allowing himself to think further than the next meal. After the death of his friend and teacher, Johannes, he never permits himself to have any affection for anyone. Out of the camp and on the run he believes, not unreasonably, that 'they' are after him. Of all the people that he meets on his long journey, he doesn't feel able to trust anyone. And so he shoulders the burden of the journey alone. Consequently, of course, all the judgments he makes about other people and their actions, and his own actions, are governed entirely by his own moral standards.
He has very high moral standards. For instance, he refuses to accept payment for a small service that he renders voluntarily to a stranger. For him, I think, to chose to observe high moral standards is a symbol of his new-found liberty. And should anyone fall below his own exacting standards he is an unforgiving opponent:
Haven't you seen that David hates Carlo? Not like boys who fight and then forget about it because there is really nothing serious to fight over. David hates Carlo as a grown man hates. He talks to him only when he has to, and then he speaks politely and coldly and refuses to look at him.
But as David journeys across Europe he begins to comprehend that he cannot live life entirely alone. He does need other people, Maria, whom he saves from the fire, and the dog, and perhaps a mother of his own ... And it works the other way round - other people may need things from him. It is not good enough for David simply to hate evil when he finds it in others. If others say they are sorry for their evil acts then he must also learn to forgive, because relentless unforgiving is another kind of cruelty.
The book is not set in a real time or place. Although the circumstances seem real enough, David's background is a synthesis of all the terrible persecution that happened during the Second World War and the subsequent years of cold war communism. This helps to make David a very powerful and pure figure. I don't think he is particularly real. Anne Holm uses him as a blank canvas on which can be drawn the first experiences of life - beauty, knowledge, trust, religion, love, everything.
And what pleasure he discovers in the simple things of life:
Before he had come to the town he had known about nothing but death: here he had learnt to live, to decide things for himself; he had learnt what it felt like to wash in clean water in the sunshine until he was clean himself, and what it felt like to satisfy his hunger with food that tasted good; he had learnt the sound of laughter that was free from cruelty; he had learnt the meaning of beauty -
More of a discussion paper than an adventure story, but atmospheric and quite thought-provoking. If you want to know whether David eventually finds a place to settle down, you will have to read the book.
The greatest story to come out of Denmark since Hans Christian Andersen - Rated
I Am David is one of the most evocative books I have come across to read aloud to a class of children. I say that as a teacher of twenty years experience and having taught in schools in four continents. It is a magical book - not afraid to confront some difficult themes, but always maintaining the unique perspective a child with David's background would have.
Indeed the only gripe I have with this book is nothing at all to do with Anne Holm's creation but the stupidity of the United States' publishing industry in insisting on retitling classic European books (in the US this classic story is titled "North to Freedom"!) As "I Am David" this book successfully explores far more profound questions than freedom. David's journey is a process of self discovery and a self-imposed restructuring of a broken human spirit. Though told in the third person, the narrative invites us into David's young mind and allows us to see the wonder of objects and concepts that we all take for granted but which are new to the young escapee. Music, play, the taste of an orange, the feeling of being clean, language, colour! David's voyage of discovery is a bitter sweet mixture and we learn the awful truth about his past during his trek across Europe at the same pace as he does himself.
I have read this book with classes of children from fourth to seventh grade, as well as with adults. It is a book for all seasons, and I can still turn the pages with pleasure and wonder.
The wonder of realising what it is to say "I Am David" is what the book is all about! "North to Freedom" is a lousy title - meaningless in fact; David's first steps to freedom take him south! But this should not dissuade anyone from reading Anne Holm's book. The greatest children's story to come out of Denmark since Hans Christian Andersen.
The Film does Justice to a great Book - Rated
I agree with all the other positive reviews of this profound book. Our family has just watched the American DVD/movie of this book with Joan Plowright, Ben Tibber and Jim Cavaziel. The film, too, is very moving and should be viewed by anyone who doesn't realise that Communism and Nazism are in essence the same. Th UK version will be available soon.
erm- TITLE FOR REVIEW! - Rated
I read this when I was 14, I am now 16 and I still find it immensly moving. A really poignant story that humbles you in many ways, I felt for David from the beginning to he end and I recommend it. Keep the tissues handy though... !!!
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