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The Devil's Arithmetic
by
Hannah thinks tonight Passover Seder will be the same as always. But this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past. Only she knows the horrors that await.
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Paperback, 170 pages
Published
April 12th 2004
by Puffin Books
(first published October 1st 1988)
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This semester I am requiring my students to read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, a novel takes place in Poland during World War II. The good news is that my students love the book; in fact, several of them are reading ahead.
The shocking fact, the bad news, is what they don’t know. It is not just knowledge of history that they lack; it is knowledge of basic geography.
God bless PowerPoint and blackboard.
To be fair, my students do ask intelligent questions, yet the lack of basic knowledge i ...more
The shocking fact, the bad news, is what they don’t know. It is not just knowledge of history that they lack; it is knowledge of basic geography.
God bless PowerPoint and blackboard.
To be fair, my students do ask intelligent questions, yet the lack of basic knowledge i ...more
I wish I could say I liked this book. I thought I would. I know it's critically acclaimed and a well-known story. But it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
The book is meant to educate young people about the Holocaust, but it had a lot of historical inaccuracies. The idyllic shtetl world at the beginning of Chaya's story would have been long gone by 1942 -- by that time, all the Jews left alive in Poland were in ghettos, in concentration camps or in hiding. Lublin, the place Chaya supposedly c ...more
The book is meant to educate young people about the Holocaust, but it had a lot of historical inaccuracies. The idyllic shtetl world at the beginning of Chaya's story would have been long gone by 1942 -- by that time, all the Jews left alive in Poland were in ghettos, in concentration camps or in hiding. Lublin, the place Chaya supposedly c ...more
I was 14 when I read my first holocaust book – Leon Uris’ Mila 18 and was in much distress for very long because of the Nazi savagery and Jewish despondency I was exposed to in the book. Although I have since been drawn to literature from that period, I feel that the gory in The Devil’s Arithmetic is too harsh for anyone under 12. The heart rending portrayal of children in Mapping the Bones, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Anne Frank’s Diary, The Book Thief, The girl in the red coat in Schindle
...more
Sep 16, 2007
Lisa (not getting friends updates) Vegan
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everybody at least 12 and up
This is a marvelous book for young adults, although I wouldn’t recommend it as their first introduction to the holocaust because it portrays the atrocities committed in a starkly realistic way. And, unlike some young adult books that I enjoyed as young as nine or ten years old, I wouldn’t give this to kids until they were at least 12.
It is a wonderful story and, because the main character, an American Jewish girl who’s 12 years old, is from the present time (even though the book was written twen ...more
It is a wonderful story and, because the main character, an American Jewish girl who’s 12 years old, is from the present time (even though the book was written twen ...more
Jul 29, 2008
Becky
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone -- but especially teenagers that think they are the center of the universe! ;)
Recommended to Becky by:
Thrift store find
I wasn't really sure what to make of this book when I first saw it, but after having read it, I would say that I am glad that I did.
This is one of those books that really makes you look at things from a different perspective. I can relate to Hannah, because I remember being 13 and having little patience with traditions and customs, and just wanting to hang out with my friends.
But given the experience Hannah had, she was able to see things in a new way, and was granted a gift, even though it wa ...more
This is one of those books that really makes you look at things from a different perspective. I can relate to Hannah, because I remember being 13 and having little patience with traditions and customs, and just wanting to hang out with my friends.
But given the experience Hannah had, she was able to see things in a new way, and was granted a gift, even though it wa ...more
Hannah and her family are celebrating Passover. When Hannah opens the door to look for Elijah, she is transported back in time to 1942 Poland, as the Nazi's are rounding up the Jews for the final solution. Chaya (Hannah) tries to warn her family and friends what is happening, but to no avail as history marches ahead anyway. This book is primarily aimed at younger readers. Yolen's afterword is a highlight.
...more
Summary: When Hannah opens the door during Passover Seder to symbolically welcome the profit Elijah, she suddenly finds herself in the unfamiliar world of a Polish village i the 1940's. Hannah had always complained about listening about listening to her relatives tell the same stories of the Holocaust over and over, but now she finds herself in terrifying situation. The Nazi soldiers have come to take the villagers away, and Hannah can guess where they are going.
Response: I loved this book. Bei ...more
Response: I loved this book. Bei ...more
My son came home last week and said “mom can you believe my language arts teacher is making us read a book this close to the end of the school year?” Being the book nerd I am I became excited and asked what’s the name of the book and he says “The Devils Arithmetic” well I had never heard of the book and decided to read up on it. After reading the synopsis I immediately put the book on hold to pick up the following day. I read it in one fell swoop! I cried like baby snot cried! I read everything
...more
Twelve year old Hannah is sick of spending Passover 'remembering' the past with her relatives. During the Passover Seder, she is transported to 1942 Poland, where she becomes Chaya (her Hebrew name), the girl she was named for. In this time, she is eventually sent to a concentration camp, where the bulk of the story takes place. Throughout the book, she struggles with memory - which memories are real (the future or the now), remembering anything b/c of the trauma of the camp, futilely trying to
...more
Nov 14, 2008
Lindsey
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Lindsey by:
My children's lit professor
Anyone and everyone should read this book! It's a very fast read because it was written for children but it tells a beautiful story and has a great twist in the end. The Devil's Arithmetic is about a young Jewish girl who doesn't quite understand her family's past. She finds Jewish holidays and celebrations to be boring and is unappreciative of the hardships Jews have faced. She is mysteriously transported to the past and ends up in a concentration camp. Here she suffers the hardships first hand
...more
Apr 04, 2020
Abigail
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Readers Looking for Middle-Grade Fiction About the Holocaust
For me, picking up a book about the Holocaust is a bit like plunging into an icy-cold lake, on a warm summer day. Not because the experience is refreshing - far from it! - but because there is this sense, while standing on the edge, poised to take that fateful step, of drawing back. An instinctive recoiling from what I know will be a sudden and shocking submersion in a different world - one that I'm never entirely prepared to enter, that I fear will swallow me whole, as I sink like a stone, down
...more
I usually read to avoid hearing about depressing subjects but I went ahead and read this one even though it was about a Jewish girl living during WW2.
It was a good book, and I got choked up in the end. Then I couldn't get to sleep at night because I was too busy pondering how civilized societies are capable of butchering millions of people. It seems so impossible, and yet it's happened more than once in history.
It makes you look at your friends and neighbors and wonder what sort of hearts of da ...more
It was a good book, and I got choked up in the end. Then I couldn't get to sleep at night because I was too busy pondering how civilized societies are capable of butchering millions of people. It seems so impossible, and yet it's happened more than once in history.
It makes you look at your friends and neighbors and wonder what sort of hearts of da ...more
Yolen employs a "Magic Tree House" trope to move her main character, Hannah, a bored American thirteen-year-old at her family's Seder dinner, through time, space and language, and it comes off as hokey. Once Hannah becomes Chaya, an orphan living in a Polish village in 1942, though, this tale grabs onto the reader and doesn't let go. Hannah opens the door of her family's apartment to welcome the prophet Elijah and is soon crammed into a crowded cattle car with other Jews on a train destined for
...more
Five stars for the plot device used to tell this story. This is aimed at very young readers and so the grisly subject matter must be presented in a way that allows them to read it without ruining their sleep. Having the main character, a modern day, young Jewish girl, living in New Rochelle, transported back in time does this splendidly.
My three star review is because I didn't feel the story was written very well after that initial stroke of genius. I must admit that part of this could be that I ...more
My three star review is because I didn't feel the story was written very well after that initial stroke of genius. I must admit that part of this could be that I ...more
Mar 05, 2018
Agnė
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
for-class,
audiobook,
realistic-fiction,
fantasy,
historical-fiction,
time-travel,
fiction,
young-adult
The Devil’s Arithmetic is a moving and heartbreaking young adult fantasy/historical fiction novella grounded in the real events that happened during the Holocaust. However, I found the first half of the book to be tortuously slow and boring.
This book really showed what it was like to be in a concentration camp to me. It was interesting to see how Hannah changed throughout the book after being transported back in time to when she came back home. I did find the book to be a little slow, but it was overall a good book.
Short story ....Hannah begins to revaluate her heritage when she has a supernatural experience that transports her back to a Nazi death camp in 1941.
This book was good but at some points, I got confused about what was going on but it leads to an interesting ending. I liked the ending because it had a twist that was very unexpected. I like how the book kept me wondering about what was going to happen next.
So, during school (L.A) we're learning about World War II and the Holocaust, I've always wanted to learn more about both topics. My teacher suggested this book to me, and I'm happy that she did. I've never, so far, read a book like this in my life. First of all, this was the first Holocaust book I've read. I just love how this book starts and ends, sort of like a circular ending. Most books wont make me shed tears but this one did. I think it was amazing that Hannah the main character, got to go
...more
This wasn't one of my favorite books at all. There were only a few parts that I liked and found interesting. I thought that the book was pretty boring and confusing in parts. Between switching characters, settings, and timelines, the book got confusing and a little annoying to read. However, I did enjoy the historical aspect of it, even though it does not teach very much.
...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Hannah dreads going to her family's Passover Seder—she's tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village in the year 1942. Why is she there, and who is this "Chaya" that everyone seems to think she is? Just as she begins to unravel the mystery, Nazi soldiers come to take everyone in the village away. And only Hannah knows the unspeakable horrors that await. A critically acclaim
...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A poignant story of life in a concentration camp through the eyes of a young girl. Amazing writing for this part of the story! I did not like the "time travel" aspect of the book, but the historical portions were very well done.
...more
Giving this book a star rating and a review feels…strangely inappropriate. No piece of literature is above critique, of course, but after I finished this one, I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me a little. Though it wasn’t flawless, but deconstructing it for a full-fledged review didn’t feel like a constructive exercise. . There are undoubtedly small inaccuracies which older readers, in particular, might find frustrating, but the spirit of the book matters more to me given the themes and
...more
Since tonight is the first night of Passover, I thought I would review a book that is appropriate to the season. I chose The Devil's Arithmetic because, like the Passover story, it is also about the importance of remembering who you are and where you came from.
Hannah Stern, 12 but almost 13, is a happy girl living in New Rochelle with her parents and little brother, except that she doesn't want to go to her family's Passover Seder. Bored and apathetic, Hannah is tired of hearing her grandfather ...more
Hannah Stern, 12 but almost 13, is a happy girl living in New Rochelle with her parents and little brother, except that she doesn't want to go to her family's Passover Seder. Bored and apathetic, Hannah is tired of hearing her grandfather ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Dec 04, 2008
Sara
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Heather, Susan
Recommended to Sara by:
Elizabeth
Shelves:
i-love-these-books-so-much
This was really sad and scary. But so REALISTIC!! It's terrifying to think that it acually would happen! (Not the time traveling, the concentration camp.)
It is about a Jewish girl, Hannah, who is at a passover dinner, when she goes through a door and finds herself in 1942. Everyone knows who she is except herself. They think she is an orphan girl called Chaya, which is what her name is in some language. She makes five friends; Rachel, Shirfre, Ester, Yente, and Rivka. Rachel and Yente die on t ...more
It is about a Jewish girl, Hannah, who is at a passover dinner, when she goes through a door and finds herself in 1942. Everyone knows who she is except herself. They think she is an orphan girl called Chaya, which is what her name is in some language. She makes five friends; Rachel, Shirfre, Ester, Yente, and Rivka. Rachel and Yente die on t ...more
This book is a bit like the Chronicles of Narnia, but with a dark twist. A modern, American Jewish girl opens a door and is magically transported back in time into the body of another Jewish girl, just before that girl and her entire village is transported to a Nazi concentration camp. All of a sudden the Holocaust, instead of tiresome stories drummed into her by her older relatives at holiday gatherings, becomes very horrifically real. Having read quite a few nonfiction accounts of the concentr
...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA historical concentration camp novel, confusing ending. Spoilers ahead. | 4 | 15 | Mar 19, 2020 11:18AM | |
| Historical fiction | 1 | 2 | Oct 07, 2019 08:50AM | |
| Historical Fiction | 1 | 1 | Oct 02, 2019 02:19PM | |
| UCAS English 11 R...: February Book Review | 3 | 14 | Mar 04, 2019 10:18AM |
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Jane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachuset
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“You are a name, not a number. Never forget that name, whatever they tell you here. You will always be Chaya—life—to me.”
—
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“We all have such stories. It is a brutal arithmetic. But I - I am alive. You are alive. As long as we breathe, we can see and hear. As long as we can remember, all those gone before are alive inside us.”
—
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