In 1940 Janusz Korczak marched and sang with 170 orphans when the German Army forced them to move from a Warsaw orphanage to the “the other side,” the Jewish ghetto. Korczak was a physician, children's book writer, musician, and fierce advocate for the orphans in Warsaw. The children called him Mister Doctor. The story is told from the point of view of one of the children who Korczak sustained and championed until 1942 when Nazis established extermination camps where they were sent. “We were saplings ripped violently from the earth. We never became trees…” (52)

2016, Commended, Sydney Taylor Book Award, Notable Book, 2016 Joint winner, Independent Publishers Book Award, Gold, 2016, 2016 Outstanding International Book, United States Board on Books for Young People.

Author lives in France.

Italy. Originally published in Italian as L'Ultimo Viaggio by Orecchio Acerbo in 2015. English translation by Paula Ayer published in the United States by Annick Press/ Toronto in 2015.

Nothing--not even the chance to live makes Dr. Korczak abandon the children of the Warsaw Ghetto. November 1940. One hundred and sixty Jewish orphans, forced by the Nazis to leave their orphanage, walk through the streets of Warsaw towards the ghetto. Led by their beloved director, Doctor Korczak, the children are defiantly joyful. In the ghetto, people everywhere are dying of disease and starvation, but the children's spirits are sustained by the devotion of "Mister "Doctor. These children will never grow up: in August 1942, they board the train that will carry them to the death camps. Offered his freedom, Doctor Korczak refuses to abandon the children and proudly joins them on their last journey. This profoundly moving illustrated book, based on a true story, allows young readers to meet the remarkable man whose humanity and bravery still stand as a glimmer of light in one of history's darkest periods