Impossible Escape

Impossible Escape
Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Book Press, 2023
243 pages
Grades 8-Up
Non-Fiction

Three different points of view relate the story of two teenage Slovakian acquaintances who must escape the Nazis when their world crumbles at Hitler's rise to power. The primary story is seen through the eyes of Rudolf Vrba. After trying to escape multiple times from the Nazis he ends up in the worst imaginable place: Auschwitz. Once there it is an unbelievable fight for survival. After lucky breaks, near misses, and heroic actions, Rudi is the first person to actually escape from the Nazi death camp and tell his story to the Jewish underground. After joining the resistance and pulling his life together after the war, Rudy dedicates himself to telling his story so that it will never be repeated. We also experience the war through Rudy's friend Gerta, who though not initially arrested, experiences her own near-misses, relocations, hiding, and courageous acts of survival and resistance. The third voice is a narration offering the historical account of the war during this time period in order to educate the reader and give them context to the accounts of the two young people.

Sheinkin has won numerous awards for his non-fiction and this book is also worthy of praise. Meticulously researched, the back of the volume contains incredible source notes, a bibliography and an index. That said, the book reads like a novel. Sheinkin does add dialogue, but relied on the writings and accounts of the subjects and so it is based on actual memories. The plight of these two young people is staggering and though what happens to them is horrific, it is impossible to stop reading. They left accounts of their lives, so we know they must survive and that is what kept me going even as I was getting upset at the brutality of the Nazis. Maps are included within the text along with one photo of the young people after the war. That was all I need to get a visual in my head--and to know that they turned out okay. I love that Sheinkin did not rely on illustrations to tell this tale. An author's note at the end gives his account of following Rudi's heroic escape on foot, complete with some photos of this trek. The book was just the right length, every word mattered, and I felt different after reading it. Readers will be inspired by the actions and courage of these young people and will be left to ponder, as Sheinkin leaves the reader with this thought at the end of the book, "You read the story, you know what to do". In this crazy world, we are challenge to not to repeat the mistakes of the past.