The Big Lie: A True Story

Rating:
Summary: Not as gripping as the adult account
Review: I got this book because I was interested in the childrens' version of the most haunting book I've ever read. It's unfair to compare this with the longer adult memoirs, but many things which make Isabella's adult memoirs so unforgettable and haunting are missing here. On the one hand, here the story starts on 20 March 1944, the day after Hungary is invaded by the Nazis, and the adult version begins on 28 May 1944, Isabella's birthday, the day before they're deported. So here we get to find out about what life was like for the Katz family under Nazi occupation, their move into the ghetto, and some of their neighbours who were thrown into the ghetto with them. We didn't get any of that information in the adult version. Though surprisingly there are some graphic things in here which were left out of the adult version, things which might give the intended audience, children, nightmares. We get much more detail here about the death train and their march towards it, for example, and how one night Mengele shot at Isabella and her three remaning sisters but missed in the dark. The adult version also never mentions how at first Isabella's two older sisters had to hold her nose and force the soup down her throat in the camp, since it looked and smelt terrible and she didn't want to eat it. And what was originally 'Saving the Fragments,' the three sisters' journey from liberation to America, barely gets any coverage in here. That book, later parts two and three of the combination of the two books, is a wonderful account of their return to life, their delight in how the Nazis didn't snuff out all love, hope, and life. The childrens' version also doesn't tell how they were joined in the house they escaped to by three Polish women, and they hid there for three days before the Russians liberated them; they weren't liberated right away after they ran into the house and began eating.

With only 79 pages of large print (including an afterward on the history behind the story), this doesn't come even close to conveying what the adult account does. Here I barely get any sense of the incredible bond of love, loyalty, and survival shared by the four, later three, sisters. It becomes merely another Holocaust account, supposedly watered down for children but also including some details which other reviewers have agreed aren't age-appropriate for someone of the intended audience. Some of the things that happen in the adult book are also changed here, probably to make children feel more comfortable-in the adult version, Isabella and her sister Chicha lose sight of the other members of their family when the cattle car opens, too busy looking for their cigarettes, and don't see or speak to their mother or youngest sister ever again. They don't find their other two sisters till they've had their heads shaved already. And from reading the adult book, we know it's possible the baby sister was burnt alive instead of gassed with the mother.

There are better and more age-appropriate books to start with for children, if they must read about this at all before the age of ten, but it still gets the Katz sisters' story across, even in a watered-down and edited format.

Rating:
Summary: True Lies
Review: The Big Lie explores the lies told by the Nazis and their takeover of Poland and Hungary. A biographical story of (at the time) a young woman thrown into cattle cars and taken to Auschwitz, this book gives a chilling look at the atrocities done to the Jewish people during the Jewish Holocaust. However, most adults have heard all of this before. There are better books on the subject out there and this one failed to have any sort of a personal grab. Because the girl was older than Anne Frank was, most children will not be able to identify with her as much. I don't want to be offensive in saying this either, but... it does tend to portray Jews as victims throughout - and the ONLY victims of such treatment, which is not true.

The subject material may be too much for younger readers. Despite the short length of the book, which can be deceiving when deciding on its difficulty, I would not suggest this book be used with children younger than 6th grade due to its graphic depictions. Children younger than that would most likely not be able to treat the story in a serious enough fashion that it deserves.

Why 4 stars?:
The book is graphic, and short. It should not be used with children in the elementary grades despite its appealing length. The story fails to grab the reader in a significant and so becomes just another retelling of a familiar account.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This story takes place in the Holocaust in Germany. This story is in the 1940's. At the beginning of the story, Nazi's gave strict orders to the Jews like every Jew has to be inside at 7:00PM. At the middle of the story, the Nazi's took all the Jews to a camp. The main characters in the story are Potyo, Chicha, Regina, and Isabella.

I thought this was a good book. I thought this was a good book because it makes you feel like you are in the Holocaust. This book has real people because it was a true story.

This book makes you feel like you are in the Holocaust because it is writen in first person. This book will make you depressed or saddened because Isabella Leitner was actually in the Holocaust.