The almost unbelievable, but true story of a teen-age boy's survival and triumph over hardship in a Russian slave labor camp -- ending in a breathtaking escape -- DONBAS has proven appeal for middle- and high school students and has been taught in schools. It's a book that holds kids (and adults) to the last page and gives them a new awareness and appreciation of what they've got -- and what life might one day ask of them. It's a book that puts you in its author's tattered shoes, makes you feel his cold, hunger, and pain, his homesickness and determination to live, and ask yourself: Would I survive "Riveting suspense . . . Once started I could not stop, once done could not forget it. Ever." The Berkshire Eagle "Simply written, direct and extraordinarily moving . . . an unassuming statement of deep affirmation." The New York Times Book Review "Excellent portrayal of a youth's indomitable spirit and will to survive." Library Journal