The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible - Leon Leyson, Marilyn J. Harran Audiobook

Written by Leon Leyson, Marilyn J. Harran
Read by Danny Burstein
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release date: August 27, 2013
Duration: 04:14:49

For Grades 4-9-An intimate look at one family on Oskar Schindler’s famous “list,”

Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow. Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, a man named Oskar Schindler, who saved Leon Leyson’s life, and the lives of his mother, his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory—a list that became world renowned: Schindler’s List.

This, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s List child, perfectly captures the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson’s telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

Narrator Danny Burstein speaks in decorous, measured tones, yet sounds conversational. The words have power no embellishment is necessary. Despite the horrific subject, Burstein imparts Leyson’s peaceable nature and even delivers a natural-sounding laugh or chuckle when relating the rare bright spots. Leyson here shares only his own memories and does not speculate or pontificate on the larger story. If he does not know the fate of a relative or friend, that uncertainty, too, is part of his story.

Randomness, luck, and split-second actions that delineated life and death-these are the truths of the Holocaust, and of those on Schindler’s list. This is a moving and heartfelt conveyance of Leyson’s gratitude to his family and to Oskar Schindler.

Although an award winner for Juvenal literature, this is an excellent book for anyone interest in World War II.