Citation:
Yolen, J. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic. New York, NY: The Trumpet Club
Summary:
While attending the family Seder dinner Hannah listens to her family tell stories about surviving the Holocaust. When she opens the door as a gesture of welcome she is transported back in time to war torn Poland in 1942. Nazi’s appear during a family wedding and everyone is taken away by train to a work camp where Hannah must learn to survive just as her grandparents did so many years ago. The difference is than Hannah knows what is happening while no one else does because she is from the future.
Review:
In this novel, Yolen attempts to answer those who question why the Holocaust should be remembered. Hannah, 12, is tired of remembering and rants and raves at the mention of the Nazi’s. Her mother’s explanations of how her grandparents and great-aunt lost all family and friends during that time have little effect. Then, during a Passover Seder, Hannah is chosen to open the door to welcome the prophet Elijah. As she does so, she is transported to a village in Poland in the 1940s, where everyone thinks that she is Chaya, who has just recovered from a serious illness. She is captured by the Nazis and take to a death camp, where she is befriended by a young girl named Rivka, who teaches her how to fight the dehumanizing processes of the camp and hold onto her identity. When at last their luck runs out and Rivka is chosen, Hannah/Chaya, in an almost impulsive act of self-sacrifice, does in her stead. As the door to the gas chamber closes behind her, she is returned to the door of her grandparent’s apartment, waiting for Elijah. Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and the past , Yolen does a fine job of illustrating importance of remembering. She adds much to children’s understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, which will reverberate throughout history, today and tomorrow.—Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, Tex.
Review Source:
Harding, S. (Nov 1988). The devil’s arithmetic (Books Review). School Library Journal, 35(3), 114.
Impressions:
The events in this book stayed in my mind for days. Yolen paints a very clear picture of the harsh cruelties that Jewish people endured in concentrations camps at the hands of the Nazi regime. Things like the children hiding in the waste pile whenever the commandant came around for fear of being discovered and sent to the ovens or when the commandant comes around for a “choosing” and selects who will die and who will live are examples of images that are vivid for me from this book.
This is not a book that someone can say they enjoyed, but I can say that I got a lot out of the books as I think most readers would.
Suggested Use(s):
*Use the book as a starting point to studying WWII.
*Place students in small groups and assign them the task of creating a webquest that includes the important events that took place in the book.
*Have small groups each read a book about surviving the holocaust then have the gather ins small groups to discuss similarities and differences between the books.
*Have students draw numbers from a hat that represent the numbers tattooed on Jewish people in the camps. Ask students to make up what the numbers mean for them personally just as Rivka taught Hannah to do.
Additional Information:
Awards:
1988 Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies.
Parents Choice Awards Honor Book for Literature.
A Judy Lopex Memorial Children’s Book Award Honor Book from the Women’s National Book Association.
Maryland’s Black-Eyed Susan Award nominee.
American Bookseller’s Pick of the List
On the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller List
Won the 1997 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award in Minnesota.
The German edition won the 1990 Leseratten Book Award presented twice a year by a youth jury on German radio.
Was one of the nominees for the South Carolina 1990-1991 Young Adult Book Award.
Was one of the nominees for the Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award
On the Illiinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award list for 1993-1994.
On the 1992 Sunshine State Young Readers Award finalist list.
Interest Level: 5-12
Reading Level: 5.2
Lexile Measure: 730
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