The+Devil's+Arithmetic

Summary:
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 1940s, where everyone thinks that she is Chaya, who has 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. School Library Journal 11/1/88

Lexile: 730

Book Talk from Booktalks Quick and Simple:
Thirteen-year-old Hannah hates attending her family Seder. All the talk about the remembering the Holocaust bores her until she finds herself transported to a Polish ghetto in 1942. There, she joins the residents from all over as they're taken to a concentration camp. This is not a fun camp, for it is a camp where many will not make it out alive. The trip is long, tiring, deadly, and hard. Several small children die along the way and many others become extremely sick. They arrive at a death camp and meet several others who have been brought to this god-awful place. They must get their hair shaved off, get thoroughly cleaned, and get a number branded onto their forearm. Throughout the story Hannah, otherwise known as Chaya in the camps, meets several people that help to keep her spirits alive and give her the push to keep living through this horrible time. Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and past, Jane Yolen does an excellent job of illustrating the importance of remembering. Find out if Hannah makes it through gas chambers, starvation, sickness, and self-sacrifice in this compelling remembrance story about a past that cannot be forgotten. The Devil's Arithmetic is truly a sensational story and one you will not soon forget. (Kayleigh Harris, kn-harris@wiu.edu, college student)

More Info:
[|Read here] what the author, Jane Yolen has to say about this book, where the ideas came from. Use the back arrow to get back to the wiki.