The Young Warriors
When Gera, a Jewish boy in Roman-ruled Judea, is told that he will soon visit Jerusalem, he is very excited. But before that can happen, he comes home one night to find that his house has been attacked by Roman soldiers. He himself is captured and sold as a slave – a common fate for young boys 2,000 years ago. However, he escapes into the hills, where he discovers a rag-tag army of Jewish orphans who call themselves the Young Warriors. Gera joins the boys and convinces them to help him search for his missing family.
In an odyssey that stretches from Galilee to Judea and up to Sidon in Lebanon, the boys` small make-shift army manages to take on an entire Roman legion. During the battle, Gera identifies the Greek slave who betrayed his father to the Romans, and the slave eventually leads him to his captured family. After heroically risking his life several times and seeing his friend Jeremiah die, Gera becomes the leader of the Young Warriors and swears to free his people.