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72nd out of 402 books
—
1,450 voters
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
If she could find four perfect pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape, it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and papa and she and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen. The four of them might even survive the Nazis' attempt to destroy every last Jew in Europe.
Paperback, 130 pages
Published
November 3rd 1999
by Greenwillow Books
(first published 1996)
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I have been reading a lot of books about Jews during WWII lately. This book provided a different perspective than those I have been reading. The Blumenthal family realized the danger they were in and planned to get away to the U.S. First they moved to Holland and were scheduled to depart for the U.S. with all of their papers intact when they were rescheduled to leave later. In the time before they were to set sail, the harbor was bombed and Hitler's men had moved in and transported them to a con...more
Marion has an amazing story and I was able to hear it first-hand! We are fortunate to be one of the last generations to hear the accounts from the authors! Her lesson of tolerance is remarkable.
A straightforward account of Marion Blumenthal Lazan's experiences as a German Jew in the 1930's and 40's. The title refers to her family -- Father Walter, Mother Ruth, brother Albert, and herself -- and how they escaped from Germany to Holland only to be overtaken there once the Nazis invaded Holland. Considerably luckier than, say, the Wiesels in NIGHT who wound up at Auschwitz, the Blumenthals served time at Bergen-Belsen (also no picnic). Much less graphic than Elie Wiesel's account, FOUR PE...more
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl is a nonfiction memoir written for young adults. Even though this book targets a young audience, this book has touched thousands of people no matter their age.
Marion Blumenthal Lazan says that if she can find just four perfectly identical pebbles with the same shape and size, her family will remain whole. As the Lanzan's try to escape the Germany that has now been taken over by Hitler, they soon realize that they are not safe anymore. Forced into living in ref...more
Marion Blumenthal Lazan says that if she can find just four perfectly identical pebbles with the same shape and size, her family will remain whole. As the Lanzan's try to escape the Germany that has now been taken over by Hitler, they soon realize that they are not safe anymore. Forced into living in ref...more
Book: Four Perfect Pebbles
Author: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazen
Genre: Biography
Length: 128 pages
Time Finished: 12/22/12
Four Perfect Pebbles is about Marion Blumenthal, Albert Blumenthal, their mother, and their father; who are all Jews that get trapped in Nazi Germany. Marion and Albert were born in Hoya, Germany. Later on, Hitler became chancellor of Germany. He ordered a boycott on all Jewish owned businesses. The Blumenthal family thought about moving away, but Oma and Opa could not...more
Author: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazen
Genre: Biography
Length: 128 pages
Time Finished: 12/22/12
Four Perfect Pebbles is about Marion Blumenthal, Albert Blumenthal, their mother, and their father; who are all Jews that get trapped in Nazi Germany. Marion and Albert were born in Hoya, Germany. Later on, Hitler became chancellor of Germany. He ordered a boycott on all Jewish owned businesses. The Blumenthal family thought about moving away, but Oma and Opa could not...more
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but for only 130 pages, it sure packs a powerful punch to the senses. The content is a frank and devastating account of one family's determination to survive the holocaust. It's written as it was experienced by the young Marion Blumenthal and it's not often that holocaust accounts (or at least those I have read) are written through a child's eyes. The conditions that the Blumenthals and many other families had to endure are unimaginable and devastatin...more
Marion and her family are all jewish people that get caught up in the mix of the Holocaust. Her and her family have all been separated and sent to many different concentration camps. And in the beggining of the book it starts off telling us about Marion and the four perfect pebbles. That if she can get four perfect (identical) pebbles she and her familly will always be together no matter what. This book is an amazing read filled with exciting and terrifying expirences of the blumenthal family. T...more
Rating: 4* of five
In the annals of man's cruelty to man, the Holocaust stands out for its sheer, industrial-scale coldness and horror. There is ample literature attesting to the awfulness of being condemned to death for the mere accident of being born to a Jewish parent. This book, another entry into that corwded segment, is aimed at young readers.
I don't know that any book about the Holocaust is something I want young readers to read. It's too huge and too vile a topic to make me feel comfortab...more
In the annals of man's cruelty to man, the Holocaust stands out for its sheer, industrial-scale coldness and horror. There is ample literature attesting to the awfulness of being condemned to death for the mere accident of being born to a Jewish parent. This book, another entry into that corwded segment, is aimed at young readers.
I don't know that any book about the Holocaust is something I want young readers to read. It's too huge and too vile a topic to make me feel comfortab...more
This is a story of frustrating missed opportunities. This is a story of hope. This is a story of courage.
Told in simplistic detail, the story contains the Blumenthal family of four who are moved on Hitler's chess board, forward, backward, sideways, down hill, uphill, on trains, in camps, with hope, with little hope, with denial and then with realization that to be stuck in Germany when your life is meaningless to the master holding the rule book equates to a harrowing game that you never agreed...more
Told in simplistic detail, the story contains the Blumenthal family of four who are moved on Hitler's chess board, forward, backward, sideways, down hill, uphill, on trains, in camps, with hope, with little hope, with denial and then with realization that to be stuck in Germany when your life is meaningless to the master holding the rule book equates to a harrowing game that you never agreed...more
There are a number of books in my department's bookroom that I have not read....so this summer I took a pile of them to read while I had time to actually breathe. We have A LOT of books about the Holocaust...and I do believe it is important to teach this part of history, I do not think my students should only read about this time in history.
This book is short, but interesting...and well written. I loved the idea from the title...but was disappointed to not hear the end of the story. You never l...more
This book is short, but interesting...and well written. I loved the idea from the title...but was disappointed to not hear the end of the story. You never l...more
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
Lila Perl, Marion Blumenthal Lazan
130 pages
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book about a Jewish girl, Marion, who tries to keep her family together during the Holocaust.It takes place in a camp in Bergan Belson where if Marion, the protagonist, could find four pebbles almost exactly the same size and shape, her family would be free from the camp.This book tells the true story of a family living through the Holocaust. Their story is told mainly from the points of...more
Lila Perl, Marion Blumenthal Lazan
130 pages
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book about a Jewish girl, Marion, who tries to keep her family together during the Holocaust.It takes place in a camp in Bergan Belson where if Marion, the protagonist, could find four pebbles almost exactly the same size and shape, her family would be free from the camp.This book tells the true story of a family living through the Holocaust. Their story is told mainly from the points of...more
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book about a Jewish girl, Marion, who tries to keep her family together during the Holocaust. There is accurate content in this book because it is written by Marion herself. This is a very good, well designed book with a good plot. After every couple of chapters there are a few pages with pictures. These pictures show what happened to the Blumenthals in the couple of chapters. I think by having the pictures in the book it helps the reader to be able to better understand...more
This was a good survivor memoir, but it saddened me that her immediate family survived until her father's death just before liberation. At least three of them lived through it all without having gone into hiding or using false papers. They were still living in the Dutch opened refugee camp of Westerbork after fleeing from Nazi Germany, and therefore they were in at the time a worse position than the Dutch Jews; they were still in the camp when it was taken over by the Nazis and used as a transit...more
Feb 27, 2012
Kaitlin
added it
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal is a nonfiction book her life in the Holocaust. It is a devastating account of one’s family’s determination to survive. The story mostly takes place in the notorious Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. As Marion retells her life, many themes are shown, the biggest one being, “Never to give up Hope.” The story is in 3rd person point-of-view. Marion and her family are main characters that are real people that fell and think. It is a very engaging and as a re...more
Individual stories of the Holocaust haunt me. It is horrifying to think the world just turned Its back. Four Perfect Pebbles is the story of the Blumenthals, a hard working Jewish family who owned a department store in Hoya, Germany. It is their story of flight and of keeping one step ahead of being "taken". They applied for immigration to the United States and waited and waited. Time ran out and the Blumenthals were captured and sent to Westerbork then Bergen-Belsen. They were prisoners of thes...more
I would give the book five stars if it were written by Marion Blumenthal Lazan from her personal perspective. Instead, it is written by Lila Perl and has more of a documentary feel to it. Actually, it would make a great documentary.
Otherwise, I thought it was a fantastic book. Though it was only 128 pages, it was very complete in detail and history. Most holocaust memoirs are mostly about the personal experiences of the author, but this book gave the history of Hitler, the Nazi Party and other e...more
Otherwise, I thought it was a fantastic book. Though it was only 128 pages, it was very complete in detail and history. Most holocaust memoirs are mostly about the personal experiences of the author, but this book gave the history of Hitler, the Nazi Party and other e...more
Four Perfect Pebbles
There were this family called Blumenthal’s they were Jew’s and the mother work cooking and the kitten and the father work as a slave for a well. The kids went to school but they didn’t learn because the teacher would teach them nothing because of them Jew’s so the big brother drop out of school and became a slave like his father. So they got tried of begin a slave a the mother got tried begin and the can’t eat unless the people that’s and charge of the camp told them to so th...more
There were this family called Blumenthal’s they were Jew’s and the mother work cooking and the kitten and the father work as a slave for a well. The kids went to school but they didn’t learn because the teacher would teach them nothing because of them Jew’s so the big brother drop out of school and became a slave like his father. So they got tried of begin a slave a the mother got tried begin and the can’t eat unless the people that’s and charge of the camp told them to so th...more
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Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan did and excellent job on this book about a girl and her family trying to find hope during the Nazi Holocaust in WWII. The main character, Marion Lazan, is trying to survive with her loved ones in the hell that is World War two. Especially since her family is Jewish. The true story takes place mostly at a concetration camp in Germany during Hilter's reign. I really ejoyed this book, even though it can be intense and violent at sometimes. The experiences of th...more
Four perfect pebbles
Lila Perl
Biography
This book was the story of a jewish girl inprisioned in a nazi concentration camp with her family. She was intent on the idea that if she could find for pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape, her family would survive the war. The book tells of her lifetime up until the war, how her life had changed after the war, and how strange america seemed when she finally arrived.
I think this book was a good one for those who like history and biographys. I f...more
Lila Perl
Biography
This book was the story of a jewish girl inprisioned in a nazi concentration camp with her family. She was intent on the idea that if she could find for pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape, her family would survive the war. The book tells of her lifetime up until the war, how her life had changed after the war, and how strange america seemed when she finally arrived.
I think this book was a good one for those who like history and biographys. I f...more
In the wake of Hitler's rise, Marion Blumenthal Lazan suffered many tribulations. She suffered not only physical pain, but both emotional and spiritual. Marion saw people that were filled with anguish and sorrow. She could only think to herself that through hope and faith, she and her family would make it out alive. For her sake, she could only hope for survival. With the hope of finding four perfect pebbles that look the exact same, she knew there was soon to be hope in the near future, which s...more
Four Perfect Pebbles is a first person narration. The main charecter Marion is also one of the authors she was also alive during this time. So she had her parents and siblings go to a camp with her. Her moms name is Ruth and her dads name is Walter. The protagonist is Marion and her life can go in many directions she can choose to be weak or strong at this camp what will she choose and where will her life go? Thats for me to know and you to find out. This book is more for young adult readers the...more
Four Perfect Pebbles, by Lila Perl, is about Marion Blumenthal's childhood during the Holocaust. Marion and her family managed to stay together throughout the concentration camps which gave them lots of hope. This story takes place in multiple concentrations camps, the main one being Bergen Belsen. It described the concentration camps very realistically. Furthermore, the theme of this book is to never give up hope. The characters were real people with real thoughts and feelings. Told partly fro...more
This story is about Marion and her family's journey from Germany to Holland and back. One of the things that struck me in this book was that she was actually thinking about which one was worse: hunger or the cold. She decided the cold was worse because her stomach shrank after being hungry for so long. Can you imagine?
Once she thought she saw a truck load of firewood at her camp-it was just a truck with dead bodies on it.
At her time of liberation in 1945 Marion was 10 1/2 years old and weighed o...more
Once she thought she saw a truck load of firewood at her camp-it was just a truck with dead bodies on it.
At her time of liberation in 1945 Marion was 10 1/2 years old and weighed o...more
This book is the one of the worst haulacost books. This book starts out with a girl in the camp Bergen-Belsen who wants to survive as a family. Her goal is to get four perfect pebbles a pebble for each member of her family whil in this cold food deprived place where they are all staving slowly. This book is very reliable even though it is very boring and has a very beilivable setting as the main character recites the memories of her childhood in the consentration camp when they are in the small...more
I now have an autographed copy of Four Perfect Pebbles as granddaughter, Kristin, and I attended the presentation last night at Ottawa HIgh School. Kristin is studying the holocaust as a freshman in high school. Marion Blumenthal Lazan gave a wonderful, inspirational talk - supported by her husband. I would like to hear more of his story also. Marion spent some time living in Peoria, IL and graduated from high school there. The evening was well attended and Marion seems like a very professional...more
It does an astonishing job at portraying the struggle for a child to be a child. Before, i was incredulous about kids not being kids, I was ignorant and thought only that growing up is inevitable, but by reading this book I felt the ineffable struggle to keep one's innocence, to laugh with gievous realities all around, and the helplessness that a parent feels when they see theirr child unable to be just that, seeing them suffer and being much less than vulnerable when they can not not only take...more
Four Perfect Pebbles is a nonfiction Holocaust novel written by Marion herself. It takes place in a camp in Bergan Belson where if Marion, the protagonist, could find four pebbles almost exactly the same size and shape, her family would be free from the camp. Marion has three other family members at the camp. An older brother named Albert, her father whos name is Walter, and her mother Ruth. Marion and Ruth loved are in the all girls part seperated from her father and brothere in the boys camp....more
Jul 24, 2009
Eva Leger
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Holocaust survivor story readers
Recommended to Eva by:
found it on BookMooch
This edition is apparently only available through the school market by Scholastic. I can't, even knowing how important this knowledge is, see giving this to a young child. Maybe a teenager but even with this, I believe younger children still need to be shielded...while they can. I might hand this to my daughter as a teenager or older but not any younger and it depends on her maturity.
I was surprised to see one or two of the pictures in this also- shocking pictures that I've seen before, as an ad...more
I was surprised to see one or two of the pictures in this also- shocking pictures that I've seen before, as an ad...more
I had the privilege of hearing the author of this amazing novel tell her story at the IRC last year. I value that experience because I am in one of the last generations that will hear first-hand accounts of this story. It was amazing to me that a little game she made up in her head could distract her from all the horrible events surrounding her in a concentration camp. I read this book in less than an hour because I was so intrigued. I got to meet her after her presentation and she also autograp...more
I originally expected this to be a memoir like the other Holocaust books I'd read. It tells the story of one of the authors and her experience in the Holocaust, but it seems to me that either she wrote from a third-person point of view to get some distance, like Elie Wiesel did, or the other author wrote most of the book but included Marion Blumenthal Lazan because she provided so much information.
Either way, it's not written like a memoir or a narrative so much as an article in a history book....more
Either way, it's not written like a memoir or a narrative so much as an article in a history book....more
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