Customer Reviews: Read 266 more reviews...
 The Great Book November 26, 2008
Hi,
I just read this book and thought it should get 4 stars. There were a lot of mysterious events. The mysterious events were like when Hannah got transported into the past. It is an incredible book. This Jewish tale tells the horrifying tale of the Nazis.
 Not Just another Holocaust Story November 9, 2008
This is not just "another book on the Holocaust." A few years ago I had seen the movie "The Devil's Arithmetic," while I watched in incredulity and horror as the events unfolded. Now, as a high school teacher who studies Holocaust history and remembrance, it was time to read the book by Jane Yolen from which the movie was made.
Modern day Hannah Stern is once again bored to tears at the Passover seder, where her older relatives and grandparents reminisce about the times of the persecutions of the Jews, and the horrors of the camps during WWII. Suddenly Hannah is transported back in time to the shtetl (Jewish enclave)in Poland where these same relatives came from. Somehow she has become Chaya Abramowicz, is speaking yiddish,is the orphaned niece of the family, and is fully involved in that alternate reality. With some vague memories of the future and what is to come, we accompany Chaya as she is transported via cattlecar to a camp (which closely resembles Auschwicz)where life is lived one day at a time, one hour at a time, and finally one minute at a time (if you are alive for that day, that hour, that minute, you are still alive and there is hope for survival).
This moving novel is fast-paced and thought-provoking. For young readers and adults alike, it is a story of hope, survival, and remembrance. We must never forget the past, and it must never be allowed to happen again!
Excellent book. September 22, 2008
I have been trying for YEARS to remember the name of this book, and have failed only because I could only remember the plot and the book cover, but not the title.
I read this book in the fifth grade. It was sitting on my teacher's bookshelf collecting dust, but the picture on the front of the ghostly girl and her bald counterpart haunted me. I asked to borrow it. I read it in two days (I was ten at the time) and the story has stuck with me for nearly ten years. I'm so relieved and excited to find this book and will definitely be adding it to my collection ASAP.
This should definitely be required reading for all age groups. It has such a powerful message.
Great book goes well with the DVD movie, August 11, 2008
The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)
The book is very easy to read, goes pretty well with the DVD movie. I used this book The Devil's Arithmetic, DVD movie, and the downloaded study guide in my English high school and middle school classes in my World War II Holocaust unit with: Night by Elie Wiesel, and Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death Excellent resource for students to get a personal connection to World War II via the main character Hanna who is an high school teen ager who travels back to Poland and experiences the death camp.
Excellent book!!!! July 13, 2008
This book gives the reader a very brief view of history and how the evils of this world has a domino effect on us all. It also reminds us that we [humans] can survive in the worst of times with the help of family and friends. It is well written and gives you a good mental image of what you are reading.
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