Helpful Score: 5
Jane Yolen is a brilliant story-teller (she's famous at the National Storytelling Festival) and this book is an example of what she does best. Hannah is a typical 12 year old who doesn't understand why she has to go to Passover at her grandparents and why she has to listen to their stories every year. This year, she is swept back in time, to the Holocaust and the lessons she learns will stay with her for a lifetime. The ending is rich and was totally unexpected. I loved this book and highly recommend it. I fully believe that if we ever forget the Holocaust it will happen again.
Helpful Score: 4
"When Hannah opens the door during Passover Seder to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she suddenly finds herself in the unfamiliar world of a Polish village in the 1940s. Hannah had always complained about listening to her relatives tell the same stories of the Holocaust over and over, but now she finds herself in a terrifying situation. The Nazi soldiers have come to take the villagers away, and only Hannah can guess where they are going."
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and the Association of Jewish Libraries Award.
A Puffin book.
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and the Association of Jewish Libraries Award.
A Puffin book.
Helpful Score: 3
Amazing story! I read it in two sittings. Great for home-schoolers or even for grown-ups who want to think about this from a different point of view! Sucks you right in...have tissues ready!
Helpful Score: 2
Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com
THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC by Jane Yolen is required reading at my school, as it is in many middle/junior high schools across the country. I've been meaning to read it for several years but never did, until my son read it this year as an eighth grader. He insisted I read it. How could I resist that?
Hannah is celebrating Passover Seder with her family. It's the same thing every year. Grandpa will get all worked up over old photos on TV, shaking his fist, screaming about the numbers on his arm, and Aunt Eva will calm him down as she always does, laying a hand on his arm, leading the same old Jewish prayers as Hannah mumbles along. But this year will be different. Hannah's brother, Aaron, will get to hide the afikoman, Hannah will get to taste real wine, and then she'll get to open the door to symbolically welcome in the prophet Elijah.
But when she opened that door, she had no idea just how different this year's celebration would be.
Instead of seeing the hallway in front of her as she expected, she sees a man coming her way, crossing a field. Confused, she turns back to her family and instead sees a strange woman, dressed even more strangely, kneading dough on a wooden table. Hannah's confusion grows as she hears herself referred to as Chaya, and discovers that these two people believe themselves to be her Aunt Gitl and Uncle Shmuel. More unbelievably, they talk about her parents' deaths, and that she herself had nearly died, sick for weeks.
Feeling like she's in a dream she can't wake up from, she finds herself pulled into wedding festivities, which includes walking to a nearby village for the celebration. There, her dream turns into a nightmare. Hannah is slowly disappearing as Chaya is loaded onto trucks with the other villagers. Then, later, they are prodded like cattle aboard boxed railroad cars with no ventilation, and they travel, standing, for four days and nights without food or bathrooms. What follows is days, weeks, maybe months, in a Jewish concentration camp.
Jane Yolen's telling of the Holocaust is chilling. She gathered information from survivors, those heroes who remember so that the atrocities of the past will never happen again. Ms. Yolen writes in her final pages to the reader, "That heroism - to resist being dehumanized, to simply outlive one's tormentors, to practice the quiet, everyday caring for one's equally tormented neighbors. To witness. To remember. These were the only victories of the camps."
This book is incredibly powerful. The way Ms. Yolen weaves the past and present together forces the reader to make personal connections. She makes the reader think and ask questions. How could society have allowed such a thing to happen? And, more importantly, how can we assure that it will never happen again? I truly hope THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC will remain required reading in schools. Each new generation must bear the weight of those lost souls upon their heart. They must believe that such devastating events can, and did, happen. Only in believing and remembering can we move forward to a better society.
Thank you, Ms. Yolen, for this riveting and thought-provoking book.
THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC by Jane Yolen is required reading at my school, as it is in many middle/junior high schools across the country. I've been meaning to read it for several years but never did, until my son read it this year as an eighth grader. He insisted I read it. How could I resist that?
Hannah is celebrating Passover Seder with her family. It's the same thing every year. Grandpa will get all worked up over old photos on TV, shaking his fist, screaming about the numbers on his arm, and Aunt Eva will calm him down as she always does, laying a hand on his arm, leading the same old Jewish prayers as Hannah mumbles along. But this year will be different. Hannah's brother, Aaron, will get to hide the afikoman, Hannah will get to taste real wine, and then she'll get to open the door to symbolically welcome in the prophet Elijah.
But when she opened that door, she had no idea just how different this year's celebration would be.
Instead of seeing the hallway in front of her as she expected, she sees a man coming her way, crossing a field. Confused, she turns back to her family and instead sees a strange woman, dressed even more strangely, kneading dough on a wooden table. Hannah's confusion grows as she hears herself referred to as Chaya, and discovers that these two people believe themselves to be her Aunt Gitl and Uncle Shmuel. More unbelievably, they talk about her parents' deaths, and that she herself had nearly died, sick for weeks.
Feeling like she's in a dream she can't wake up from, she finds herself pulled into wedding festivities, which includes walking to a nearby village for the celebration. There, her dream turns into a nightmare. Hannah is slowly disappearing as Chaya is loaded onto trucks with the other villagers. Then, later, they are prodded like cattle aboard boxed railroad cars with no ventilation, and they travel, standing, for four days and nights without food or bathrooms. What follows is days, weeks, maybe months, in a Jewish concentration camp.
Jane Yolen's telling of the Holocaust is chilling. She gathered information from survivors, those heroes who remember so that the atrocities of the past will never happen again. Ms. Yolen writes in her final pages to the reader, "That heroism - to resist being dehumanized, to simply outlive one's tormentors, to practice the quiet, everyday caring for one's equally tormented neighbors. To witness. To remember. These were the only victories of the camps."
This book is incredibly powerful. The way Ms. Yolen weaves the past and present together forces the reader to make personal connections. She makes the reader think and ask questions. How could society have allowed such a thing to happen? And, more importantly, how can we assure that it will never happen again? I truly hope THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC will remain required reading in schools. Each new generation must bear the weight of those lost souls upon their heart. They must believe that such devastating events can, and did, happen. Only in believing and remembering can we move forward to a better society.
Thank you, Ms. Yolen, for this riveting and thought-provoking book.
Helpful Score: 1
This is an incredible story about the holocaust, for children. Even my sons read it and liked it, and that doesn't happen so often.
Helpful Score: 1
I had no idea this book would turn out to be so touching. I didn't quite guess the ending (which is a surprise for me), making it all the more a good read!
Helpful Score: 1
I haven't read the book but there's a very good film based on it also.
A story of hope in the midst of WWII.
An EXCELLENT book for younger readers to learn more on the haulocaust.
I would fallow-up with the made for tv movie ...
I would fallow-up with the made for tv movie ...
A compelling fiction of the holocaust
She didn't want to attend the family Passover dinner, she was tired of hearing stories about the Holocaust. But of course she had to go.
During the Passover Seder, she opens a door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she is swept back in time to 1942, to a Polish village where everyone call her Chaya. Then something terrible happens. Nazi soldiers come to the take the villagers away.. and she knows what lies ahead. Scholastic book for ages 9-12.
She didn't want to attend the family Passover dinner, she was tired of hearing stories about the Holocaust. But of course she had to go.
During the Passover Seder, she opens a door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she is swept back in time to 1942, to a Polish village where everyone call her Chaya. Then something terrible happens. Nazi soldiers come to the take the villagers away.. and she knows what lies ahead. Scholastic book for ages 9-12.
What if you could experience the Holocaust and all its terror first-hand? The protagonist of this story does just that when she is transported through time and space to Poland during the occupation. A scary story that needs to be read, especially by kids who think history is "boring" or not relevant to them.
I liked this story very much, even as a grown-up. True-to-life and horrifying.
I liked this story very much, even as a grown-up. True-to-life and horrifying.
so scary but so good! good for ages 10 and up
Great book, great read!!!
This is supposed to be a YA title, but it is definitely suitable for adults. A coming-of-age story that bites!
From back of book: "I know where they're taking us."
Hanna dreads going to her family's Passover Seder. Her relatives always tell the same stories, and Hanna's tired of hearing them talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village--and the year 1942. Why is she there, and who is this 'Chaya' that everyone seems to think she is? Just as she begins to unravel the mystery, Nazi soldiers come to take everyone in the village away. And only Hannah knows the unspeakable horrors that await.
From back of book: "I know where they're taking us."
Hanna dreads going to her family's Passover Seder. Her relatives always tell the same stories, and Hanna's tired of hearing them talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village--and the year 1942. Why is she there, and who is this 'Chaya' that everyone seems to think she is? Just as she begins to unravel the mystery, Nazi soldiers come to take everyone in the village away. And only Hannah knows the unspeakable horrors that await.
