One Step Ahead: A child's story of daring and bravery during the holocaust

The young boy, way too thin for his age, stares down the long railroad tracks covered in undisturbed ice and snow, wondering aloud, “Will this really be how it all ends? Will I be just another body lying frozen in the snow like the others I saw in the streets on the way here? Will anybody ever know what happened to me? Will my mother or father ever know . . . if they are even alive?”

The astonishing and inspiring true story of a young Dutch boy’s survival during World War II, One Step Ahead traces his remarkable survival. This harrowing tale, as told to Barbara Harwood by Jack Prins, begins with six-year-old Jack watching the bombing of the ship Statendam in the harbor across from the apartment where he has been placed with virtual strangers.

Facing certain death around every corner, Jack miraculously manages to survive the invasion and occupation of Nazi fanatics bent on murdering every Jewish child in Europe. From his remarkable tale of deprivation, hunger, and courage, through his teen-age years in an orphanage, and on to his journeys to Israel and eventually America, Jack’s sense-of-humor and resilience remain intact, making his story a reader’s delight.