The Devil's Arithmetic is about a girl named Hannah who really doesn't want to go to her Passover dinner at all. She hears the same things every time she goes. Blah blah blah, she's sick of it. But when she opens a door in the house, she is teleported back to the time of the Holocaust. She is no longer Hannah, she is Chaya, and true horrors await her in the Concentration Camps of the time. (To tell the truth, that's the only summary you need...it's not that hard to understand. She's in a strange time, with strange people, in a strange people.)
This book is simply amazing. I want to read it again. I love the insight it gives on the Holocaust. At the back of the book, there's a note from the author. It talks about what was real and fake about the book. You want to know what the only fake part was? The characters. She made up characters with names like Chaya, Gitl, Shmuel, Rivka, and others. Yolen talks about how significant the Holocaust was to our history. She quotes Winston Churchill, who said: "There is no doubt that [The Holocaust] is probably the greatest and most horrible single crime ever commited in the history of the world."
We learn lessons of bravery from Hannah. Imagine coming from a nice place in a nice time, and going from that to being in a dirty, harsh place. Could you do it? I know I couldn't. That's probably the most important lesson in this book. I give it an A+ for its lessons, about bravery and about history. I reccomend it to anyone who is interested in the Holocaust and World War II!
(P.S., Sorry I don't have a picture, I couldn't get one to upload.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
do you know how sound the info that the book is giving is. i mean it sounds like a great book and id like to check it out i just was wondering if im going to be able to count on the info im getting
Post a Comment