Summary:
This book is about a young girl is learning about
the Holocaust. Her grandfather was a
part of it and has to hear about it often.
She is actually very embarrassed by all of it. However, during a special Jewish ceremony,
Passover Seder, Hannah gets to greet Elijah the prophet. She is immediately thrown back into time in
Poland during World War II. She has a
new identity and a new home. It just so
happens that she is then taken by the Nazis and placed in a concentration
camp. Rivka befriends Hannah, now Chaya,
and tries to make her time at the camp as comfortable as possible. Eventually Chaya is among those that will be
put into the gas chamber. As soon as the
door closes on her she is transported back to her own family again. She learned a very hard lesson and finally
understood what her grandfather truly endured.
APA Reference:
Yolen, J. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic. New York, NY: Viking Penguin Inc.
APA Reference:
Yolen, J. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic. New York, NY: Viking Penguin Inc.
My
Impressions:
This is an excellent story. I can really appreciate this as a parent and
as a teacher. There is nothing harder
than trying to explain something to a child that has no particular relevance in
their life or they were not there so they don’t care. I can remember when our middle school pulled
out all the stops one year and even had us piled into “cattle cars” in the
hallway marked by tape. Some of us had
paint on our face and could not speak the rest of the day. These were the people that had been gassed,
tortured to death or had died from some other unspeakable thing. Even then it was hard to understand what
these people had gone through. It was
not until I was an adult that I could truly appreciate what these people had
faced. This book allows the reader to
identify with Hannah in that the Holocaust was just some time period that did
not pertain to her and did not care to know about it. Then you are thrown into this frightening and
very real experience with her. It makes
you truly appreciate not only the people that suffered but your own
existence. It is a very powerful story.
Professional
Reviews:
School
Library Journal Review
Gr-4-8 – In this novel, Yolen attempts to answer
those who question why the Holocaust should be remembered. Hannah, 12, is tired
of remembering and is embarrassed by her grandfather, who rants and raves at
the mention of the Nazis. 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 1940’s, where everyone things
that she is Chaya, who just recovered from a serious illness. She is captured by the Nazis and taken 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, goes in her stead. As the door to the gas chamber closes behind
her, she is returned to the door of her grandparents’ apartment, waiting for
Elijah. Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and the past, Yolen
does a fine job of illustrating the importance of remembering. She adds much to
the children’s understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, which will
reverberate throughout history, today and tomorrow. – Susan M. Harding,
Mesquite Public Library, Tex.
Harding, S. M. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic
(Book). School Library Journal, 35(3),
114.
Library
Uses:
a. This is a great book to use while discussing
the Holocaust. We use this one.
b. It
can also be used to highlight the time period with discussions and activities
pertaining to both sides of the war, the different countries involved and the
culture surrounding the people involved.
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