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A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw
An ALA Notable Book.
“Singer's memories of his youth in Poland make a powerful, brilliant children's book. The author lays out a panorama of Jewish life in the city-- the rabbis in black velvet and gabardine, the shopkeepers, the street urchins and schoolboys, the poverty, the confusion, the excitement of the prewar time. But even more, the author reveals himself; and the torments and mysteries that plagued him as a child will make his stories fascinating to other children....Reflecting a bygone world, the photographs add a further note of realism and power.” ―The Horn Book
A Day of Pleasure is the winner of the 1970 National Book Award for Children's Books.
“Singer's memories of his youth in Poland make a powerful, brilliant children's book. The author lays out a panorama of Jewish life in the city-- the rabbis in black velvet and gabardine, the shopkeepers, the street urchins and schoolboys, the poverty, the confusion, the excitement of the prewar time. But even more, the author reveals himself; and the torments and mysteries that plagued him as a child will make his stories fascinating to other children....Reflecting a bygone world, the photographs add a further note of realism and power.” ―The Horn Book
A Day of Pleasure is the winner of the 1970 National Book Award for Children's Books.
227 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
22 people are currently reading
773 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Bashevis Singer
551 books1,087 followersIsaac Bashevis Singer was a Polish American author of Jewish descent, noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978.
His memoir, "A Day Of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw", won the U.S. National Book Award in Children's Literature in 1970, while his collection "A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories" won the U.S. National Book Award in Fiction in 1974.
His memoir, "A Day Of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw", won the U.S. National Book Award in Children's Literature in 1970, while his collection "A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories" won the U.S. National Book Award in Fiction in 1974.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 2, 2017
My middle son just finished a unit on World War II in school.
They read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in conjunction with it, and he has been very interested in history since then. "Do you have anything else I can read?", he asked, and I started browsing my shelves for something suitable. He had already consulted our nonfiction, so I looked for something to make the era come alive.
Wanting him to understand what life was like for people before the catastrophe occurred in Europe, I gave him this wonderful account of Nobel Prize Winner Singer's childhood in Poland, before he sensed the danger of the growing power in Nazi Germany and emigrated to the safe haven America in 1935.
I had read several of Singer's tales and short stories aloud with my children before, so they are well acquainted with the author and his realistic, yet magical portraits of family and village life, told in humorous language.
This book offers a different perspective however: it tells the background story of Singer's own imagination, shows the seeds that started growing in his childhood, the different influences that shaped his storytelling. It is a real life adventure, not a made-up story, lovingly illustrated with old photographs, showing little boys going to cheder school, busy Jewish quarters in Warsaw, markets, apartments and other settings that play a major role in Singer's early life, evidence of the Jewish traditions before the war destroyed that way of life.
As opposed to the novel he read in school, my son will now be exposed to the reality of that time instead of fictionalised war events, and he will learn about everyday historical life in excellent, masterly prose.
It is very important to me that the Second World War and the Holocaust are not treated as a kind of historical horror movie, but as something that really happened to normal, everyday people, step by step, slowly getting worse while they lived their regular lives, having everyday worries and pleasures.
I have nothing against The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and I am of course grateful that children learn about history in school, but sometimes I worry that they lose the sense of reality if all they see are showy documentaries or simplified fiction.
Reading Singer's story is a way to break the pattern of violence voyeurism while keeping memories and compassion alive. I think a balance between war report and description of the life that preceded the destruction is necessary in order to generate a true historical understanding in our children. They need to learn that history is part of what we are, and something that can be repeated if we are not taking care of our world.
Apart from the educational aspect of the stories, they offer a wonderful introduction to Singer's fiction, and an enjoyable excursion into a lost world, not only for children. I read the book with great pleasure myself.
Singer ends his memories with a visit to his childhood village before leaving Poland to start a new life in America, and he listens to the familiar sounds of the past:
"We were both silent again, and suddenly I heard the familiar chirping of a cricket. Could it be the cricket of my childhood? Certainly not. Perhaps her great-great-great-granddaughter. But she was telling the same story, as ancient as time, as puzzling as the world, and as long as the dark winter nights of Warsaw."
Needless to say, I am eagerly following my son's reading...
They read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in conjunction with it, and he has been very interested in history since then. "Do you have anything else I can read?", he asked, and I started browsing my shelves for something suitable. He had already consulted our nonfiction, so I looked for something to make the era come alive.
Wanting him to understand what life was like for people before the catastrophe occurred in Europe, I gave him this wonderful account of Nobel Prize Winner Singer's childhood in Poland, before he sensed the danger of the growing power in Nazi Germany and emigrated to the safe haven America in 1935.
I had read several of Singer's tales and short stories aloud with my children before, so they are well acquainted with the author and his realistic, yet magical portraits of family and village life, told in humorous language.
This book offers a different perspective however: it tells the background story of Singer's own imagination, shows the seeds that started growing in his childhood, the different influences that shaped his storytelling. It is a real life adventure, not a made-up story, lovingly illustrated with old photographs, showing little boys going to cheder school, busy Jewish quarters in Warsaw, markets, apartments and other settings that play a major role in Singer's early life, evidence of the Jewish traditions before the war destroyed that way of life.
As opposed to the novel he read in school, my son will now be exposed to the reality of that time instead of fictionalised war events, and he will learn about everyday historical life in excellent, masterly prose.
It is very important to me that the Second World War and the Holocaust are not treated as a kind of historical horror movie, but as something that really happened to normal, everyday people, step by step, slowly getting worse while they lived their regular lives, having everyday worries and pleasures.
I have nothing against The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and I am of course grateful that children learn about history in school, but sometimes I worry that they lose the sense of reality if all they see are showy documentaries or simplified fiction.
Reading Singer's story is a way to break the pattern of violence voyeurism while keeping memories and compassion alive. I think a balance between war report and description of the life that preceded the destruction is necessary in order to generate a true historical understanding in our children. They need to learn that history is part of what we are, and something that can be repeated if we are not taking care of our world.
Apart from the educational aspect of the stories, they offer a wonderful introduction to Singer's fiction, and an enjoyable excursion into a lost world, not only for children. I read the book with great pleasure myself.
Singer ends his memories with a visit to his childhood village before leaving Poland to start a new life in America, and he listens to the familiar sounds of the past:
"We were both silent again, and suddenly I heard the familiar chirping of a cricket. Could it be the cricket of my childhood? Certainly not. Perhaps her great-great-great-granddaughter. But she was telling the same story, as ancient as time, as puzzling as the world, and as long as the dark winter nights of Warsaw."
Needless to say, I am eagerly following my son's reading...
September 24, 2025
childhood in a bygone time
In his inimitable style, Singer wrote a series of short stories about growing up in Warsaw before, during and just after World War I. Perhaps they were aimed at younger readers, perhaps not. They don't deal with much mystery, love, sex, or death, but instead with daily life, poverty, Jewish and Polish characters around him, and with childhood explorations. They are as smooth and effortless as the rest of his work, wonderful evocations of a time gone by, and of the Hasidic culture that has disappeared from Europe and has been transformed in America and Israel. You meet rabbis, washerwomen, schoolboys, and goose dealers. The divide between those who wanted to stick to tradition and those who wanted to modernize had already opened. Singer's father belonged to the former, his older brother to the latter. The great political changes that swept Poland in those years are seen from a child's point of view, a child who moved from the country to 10 Krochmalna Street in Warsaw, and then ultimately to Austria-Hungary to avoid hunger during WW I. You will appreciate the many photographs of Polish Jewish life taken by Roman Vishniac in the 1930s, before the Holocaust swept the world of my ancestors away forever.
In his inimitable style, Singer wrote a series of short stories about growing up in Warsaw before, during and just after World War I. Perhaps they were aimed at younger readers, perhaps not. They don't deal with much mystery, love, sex, or death, but instead with daily life, poverty, Jewish and Polish characters around him, and with childhood explorations. They are as smooth and effortless as the rest of his work, wonderful evocations of a time gone by, and of the Hasidic culture that has disappeared from Europe and has been transformed in America and Israel. You meet rabbis, washerwomen, schoolboys, and goose dealers. The divide between those who wanted to stick to tradition and those who wanted to modernize had already opened. Singer's father belonged to the former, his older brother to the latter. The great political changes that swept Poland in those years are seen from a child's point of view, a child who moved from the country to 10 Krochmalna Street in Warsaw, and then ultimately to Austria-Hungary to avoid hunger during WW I. You will appreciate the many photographs of Polish Jewish life taken by Roman Vishniac in the 1930s, before the Holocaust swept the world of my ancestors away forever.
January 10, 2021
I read and loved this little booklet about 2 years ago. Did not get around to review it at the time. Yet I just found a very fitting review of this book on Goodreads. Here is the link to this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 8, 2022
Lovely memoir of growing up in Warsaw in the very early years of the twentieth century. This is a glimpse of a world that is long gone, destroyed during World War Two. The photos interspersed throughout the book from around that period create atmosphere. It is classed as a children’s book, but Singer’s writing style is certainly suitable for adults, as well, and may be even more suitable.
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October 24, 2018a book rich i details , enlightening to the jewish culture and to a life in warsaw just before/after war world 1 broke out , throughtly enjoyed the author style and seeing what a brillant kid he was , you would have no doubt that one day he will win the nobel prize for literature !
March 23, 2014
Una favola che si snoda attraverso una ventina di racconti ambientati all'interno della Varsavia ebraica dei primi del '900.
In quel microcosmo che è il ghetto si avvicendano personaggi che superano le poche pagine nelle quali vengono narrati, per arrivare a costruire un universo yddish, con le sue tradizioni, i suoi miti e le sue leggende, il tutto visto attraverso gli occhi di un bambino.
Questo e' un libro che riesce a raccontare alcune tra le situazioni piu' tristi, grottesche e paradossali che possono capitare nella vita, con una dolcezza sconcertante. Forse questa e' la ragione per cui quando lo lessi 20 anni fa pensai che era uno tra i libri piu' belli al mondo, pur non contenendo extraterrestri, vampiri o strabilianti storie d'amore.
E anche adesso che l'ho riletto, forse tremila libri dopo, la penso ancora cosi'.
In quel microcosmo che è il ghetto si avvicendano personaggi che superano le poche pagine nelle quali vengono narrati, per arrivare a costruire un universo yddish, con le sue tradizioni, i suoi miti e le sue leggende, il tutto visto attraverso gli occhi di un bambino.
Questo e' un libro che riesce a raccontare alcune tra le situazioni piu' tristi, grottesche e paradossali che possono capitare nella vita, con una dolcezza sconcertante. Forse questa e' la ragione per cui quando lo lessi 20 anni fa pensai che era uno tra i libri piu' belli al mondo, pur non contenendo extraterrestri, vampiri o strabilianti storie d'amore.
E anche adesso che l'ho riletto, forse tremila libri dopo, la penso ancora cosi'.
March 13, 2021
Although it is classed as a children's book, I read it with great interest and pleasure. Gives an accurate, lively picture of life in Jewish communities in the city and to a lesser extent in a village from the early 20th century till just before WWII. The conflicts and difficulties are brought out as well as the good times. The author really is able to embody the mindset of his younger self.
November 24, 2024
"Eunuch or not, sane or insane, a Jew is a Jew"
August 14, 2023
This is a memoir written by Isaac Bashevis Singer and illustrated with photos by Roman Vishniac (1963). It's a collection of fourteen stories about Singer's childhood, most of which were also published in his 1956 collection In My Father's Court (which is much longer). He regales the readers with tales of when he was a poor Chassidic kid with an enormous imagination. The book starts and ends with train journeys – first when his family moved from the small town of Radzymin to the big city of Warsaw, and later when they left Warsaw to move to his mother's family's town of Bilgoray (right before it was hit by the Enlightenment).
The stories bring to life a vanished world – a phrase which Vishniac would later use in the titles of two of his books with photos of European Jews in the 1930s. Even though Singer's stories take place in the early 1900s and predate Vishniac's photos by two decades, the photos still complement the stories pretty well.
Singer hadn't yet won the Nobel Prize for Literature when this book was published, but it did win the National Book Award.
The stories bring to life a vanished world – a phrase which Vishniac would later use in the titles of two of his books with photos of European Jews in the 1930s. Even though Singer's stories take place in the early 1900s and predate Vishniac's photos by two decades, the photos still complement the stories pretty well.
Singer hadn't yet won the Nobel Prize for Literature when this book was published, but it did win the National Book Award.
August 9, 2024
📚A Day of Pleasure, Isaac Bashevis Singer
🤓Opinión:
Con qué delicadeza, ternura e ingenuidad están escritas cada una de las aventuras del autor. Cada capítulo supone una nueva andanza de un niño brillante y con inquietudes, que observa a los aferrados a la tradición, a los modernos y, por suerte y sobre todo, a su madre Bathsheba. Cuánto he aprendido sobre las costumbres y la comunidad en la que el autor creció. La sensación de no querer que el libro se desarrolle, para no querer que el niño crezca y que siga siendo un ser puro y curioso, vamos, ¡como la vida misma! Puede que esté catalogado como literatura juvenil pero qué bueno ha sido leerlo cuando ya eres mayor.
💫Lluvia de Estrellas:
⭐Por Varsovia.
⭐Por los viajes en tren.
⭐Por los gansos.
⭐Por el lechero.
¿Ya lo has leído?
#adayofpleasure #isaacbashevissinger #clubdelectura #reseñalibros #bookreview
🤓Opinión:
Con qué delicadeza, ternura e ingenuidad están escritas cada una de las aventuras del autor. Cada capítulo supone una nueva andanza de un niño brillante y con inquietudes, que observa a los aferrados a la tradición, a los modernos y, por suerte y sobre todo, a su madre Bathsheba. Cuánto he aprendido sobre las costumbres y la comunidad en la que el autor creció. La sensación de no querer que el libro se desarrolle, para no querer que el niño crezca y que siga siendo un ser puro y curioso, vamos, ¡como la vida misma! Puede que esté catalogado como literatura juvenil pero qué bueno ha sido leerlo cuando ya eres mayor.
💫Lluvia de Estrellas:
⭐Por Varsovia.
⭐Por los viajes en tren.
⭐Por los gansos.
⭐Por el lechero.
¿Ya lo has leído?
#adayofpleasure #isaacbashevissinger #clubdelectura #reseñalibros #bookreview
September 26, 2021
Singer describes his childhood detailed and very vividly, so vivid, you'd ask yourself how he's able to remember all of these things, I mean I can't even remember what I did this morning. "A Day of Pleasure" is a chronological collection of short stories, which are mostly written in a descriptive style, but Singer doesn't fail to excite, as his stories deal with childhood memories and impressions (pure nostalgia), but also with literary, religious, social, and political topics. It's fine.
January 11, 2018
Kleine Erinnerungen, oft nicht einmal Kurzgeschichten, aber voller Kraft. Am besten die Erinnerung an die alte, christliche, Wäschefrau, die todkrank wird. Keiner weiß wo sie wohnt, und die Wäsche ist weg. Aber die alte Frau wird noch einmal kurz so gesund, um die Wäsche zurück zu geben. Dann stirbt sie.
July 19, 2020
Excellent childhood memoir. What a good boy Singer was, even when he told a few lies. He was a good listener, though, sensitive to the most beautiful details in an otherwise bleak ghetto, always coveting imaginative stories and hungry for knowledge. This book would be a good companion to Robert Cormier’s Frenchtown Summer. Both have that youthful sense of longing in the shadows of war.
October 8, 2020
I am ashamed that I have not read Singer's books before. Wonderful reading full or humor and life. Despite the world for Polish jews falling apart in WWII and the conditions of the time, life can be happy and curious and full of discovery. A great read that I read in Swedish but his books have been translated all over the world.
December 27, 2020
This was an incredible book. I loved reading about the author's life- it was just overall very interesting and gave me a window into a life that I haven't been really exposed to. While I usually read fantasy/middle grade fiction, I decided to read this, and boy was I not disappointed. I highly recommend!
February 23, 2021
This book was the personal account of Isaac Bashevis Singer, who grew up in Poland. His account of life in Poland was very interesting to read, and so sad to think about how all of these beautiful places and things were destroyed in World War II. Childhoods were never the same after World War I and World War II in this region. I thought this was a great read.
May 31, 2021
Teilweise sehr kindlich anmutender Schreibstil. Oftmals weitschweifige Erzählung, die in einer anderem Thematik mündet, als zu Beginn des Kapitels (wirkte alles nicht ganz stimmig). Es schien mir der Autor ständig seine eigene Neugierde, Intelligenz, Frömmigkeit und Überlegenheit gegenüber den Gleichaltrigen hervorheben zu wollen. Insgesamt für mein Empfinden eher langweiliges Buch.
December 8, 2021
Cada uno de estos relatos autobiográficos (en su gran mayoría, si no enteramente, también incluidos en "En el tribunal de mi padre") son piezas narrativas perfectas, muy bien compaginadas con hermosas fotografías en blanco y negro. Destaco Shosha, el último y tristísimo idilio de la calle Krochmalna para Isaac Bashevis Singer. Una delicia de libro.
February 16, 2022
Reading about life as he was growing up gives the reader a good picture of where Singer’s later writing came. You read about the coal man, the goose lady, the baker all told through the eyes of this young cheder attending child. The stories provide a picture of the communal life before WWII. WWII and hitler destroyed it all.
September 3, 2018
I enjoyed reading this with my 13 year old son for part of a literature analysis class. He loved the memoir format and thoroughly got many laughs from the main character’s descriptions and charades. I can’t wait to share this book with my twin girls when they are older.
November 19, 2021
This was a collection of the author’s memories of being a boy, but it was engagingly written and didn’t just feel like the ramblings of an old man. It’s fascinating to step into the world of a different culture at a different time, and he did a good job capturing it.
December 14, 2017
History at its best - engaging vignettes from growing up in Warsaw as WWI broke out, punctuated with superb black and white photos. I hope future generations will be interested.
March 22, 2021
A child's imagination is wonderfully depicted in Singers memoires.
May 11, 2022
Berättarglädje. Fängslas av Singers raka språk där han utan lull-lull lyckas återge så mycket innebörd.
November 5, 2024
Stories from the author's childhood.
November 23, 2024
Read aloud with Liam for 8th Grade Literature
December 19, 2024
Verkligen en älskansvärd bok! Och intressant!
July 23, 2025
It was kind of boring, but there were some interesting parts. I enjoyed the story about him using the ruble he earned all in one day.
April 28, 2015
A Day of Pleasure, is an autobiographical Holocaust novel. The author Isaac Bashevis Singer tells stories from his life as a Jew, living in a ghetto in Poland. He tells about moving to the ghetto, where and how he lives, and moving away. I believe the author wrote this book to inform people of how his life was, living as a Jew, during WWII. I honestly think that the author did a good job in explaining how he grew up. In the book he talks about going to Cheder, his school. He also writes about walking on his street and buying candy as a kid. The book also tells about his family and their struggles in earning income, buying food, and his parents arguing with the author’s siblings. The book tells about how Isaac gets a new outfit, they buy a new apartment, and he enjoys studying. I have to say my favorite thing about the book is that the book isn’t organized into chapters, it’s organized as stories. I also enjoy that the author writes the stories in chronological order of how the events happened in his life and how he grows up throughout the book. I enjoyed the book for the most part. I just didn't like that it drug on in some parts. I would recommend this book to readers who like learning true stories about people, or for those who want to know how Jewish people lived during WWII in Poland. The book, A Day of Pleasure, is written by Isaac Bashevis Singer about his life and living in a ghetto as a Jew in Poland.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews