The Devil's Arithmetic

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Summary: Terrible ending!
Review: Although this is a powerful and memorable book, I disagree with some of the age guidelines of grade 4 - 8. I think a child should be over 12 to read this book, there are some graphic and disturbing descriptions of deaths in this book.

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Summary: The Devil's Arithmetic: A Holocaust Story
Review: By: Jane Yolen

This is a novel about the Jewish experience in concentration camps. There is a spoiled young girl by the name of Hannah. She hates her family's Seder meal, but when she goes to open the door for the prophet Elijah, she gets transported back in time to the year if World War II. Gitl and Shmuel are calling her Chaya instead of her real name. At Shmuel's wedding, the Germans come and take them away to concentration camps where they are starved, humiliated, and periodically killed. What will be Hannah's fate? Will she ever return to her normal life?
I genuinely enjoyed this book. I loved the plot, and the ending was magnificent. I liked how courageous Hannah was. She was a true hero to me even though she was only there in the pages of the book.
Right off the bat, the plot and storyline are some of the book's many strengths. Another good thing that Yolen gives you is the plain knowledge and facts about concentration camps. She tells about the different types of labor and the horrible conditions of the concentration camps. After reading this book, I had a whole other view of the insanities and inhuman conditions of the Nazis. I can really connect that to my life and appreciate every single thing I have, including time on this Earth.
My favorite part was during a scene with the midden:

"When they got to the midden, they skinned out of their clothes and dove naked into the dump."

I enjoyed this excerpt because it was funny how Hannah just stood there and watched. She was a true first-timer!
I think that the thing that the author would like me to take away from this book is just plainly the story of the Holocaust. She wants people to read her book and remember. Of course she wanted to tell a great story of survival and courage, but she only wants us to take away from this the story and knowledge of the Jewish experience.
This is one of the most memorable books I have ever read because of the fact that it was entertaining but still informing. The word choice that the author used really brought out clear pictures in my mind. The image was very powerful. You could not read this book and not be changed. It didn't have to be a big change. Only the way you look at your shoes. It is a meaningful book.
I recommend this book to people who really want to take something away from what they read and who care about their history. This book's theme is; if you don't appreciate what you have now, history has a way of showing itself to you! The evidence is the way Hannah was brought back in time. She was so changed by her experience and learned to appreciate life and what she had.

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Summary: Way cool Book!!!
Review: Do you like stories with death, loss, and torture? Well, The Devil's Arithmetic is the book for you.
A girl named Hannah is going to the Seder meal, a Jewish holiday that remembers the Holocaust. She doesn't like remembering. Once Hannah opens the door to welcome the prophet Elijah, she is transported back to the time of World War II. Hannah ends up in a Jewish concentration camp. She learns that remembering is important.
I really liked this book. One of the strengths of this book is the description and the word choice. The author writes words like, "screamed or "mumbled" instead of "said". The one thing I don't like is that there is a lot of death, and people lose loved ones. If you are a person that doesn't like death or torture, this is not the book for you. It is a good book with an interesting twist at the end.

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Summary: Facinating and historical book , a must read!
Review: I read the book The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. This book would be categorized as a historical fiction due to the fact that these types of things did happen but this story it was not necessarily true. This book 164 pages long and include an epilogue that is 6 pages long &
The novel The Devil's Arithmetic is a story about a young girl named Hannah who aged around her early teens. Hannah was a Jewish girl and had always been brought up that way. She was a very bright little girl who every day was reminded about her ancestors horrible past. Hannah does not like to be reminded about the hard times for the Jews and nor does she find it important or interesting. Hannah is told stories all the time about the horrible happenings during the Holocaust time but nothing like the stories she hears on Passover. Every Passover goes to her grandpa Will's and grandma Belle's house for Setter dinner. There they reminisce in the tragedies between the years of 1940 to about 1945. This year was different though. The tradition is to open a door to invite Elijah to have dinner with them but when she opened the door she did not see the hail way with all the doors to the rest of the apartments but a green field and a lowering sky.
Hannah was now in place that was not familiar to her and became quite scared. She was in some house that was not well kept and did not look like there was too much technology. She had met Gilt who was supposedly her aunt and then Shmuel Gitl's brother, Hannah's uncle. They referred to her as Chaya, which just happened to be her
name She learned to live with her new life and unfortunately started to forget about her old life in New Rochelle, She adapted to her new life quite quickly actually and was starting to carry out the acts that the people did around that time.
Hannah and her whole town was at her uncle's wedding when many trucks pulled up outside. It was the "malach ha-mavis" also known as the Angel of Death. The badchan in front of the crowd stated that it was the malach ba-mavis. Right then Hannah knew that this was SS men due to hearing her grandfather talks about that saying. She tried to warn all the others when the men tried to tell them that they had to move because all Jews were being resettled due to government policy. Then the majority of the town had agreed to go with the men, not that they had much choice.
They were all sent to a concentration camp just as Hannah had suspected. Hannah had met some friends that have been there for a while. She also lost some of her loved relatives and friends that she had met in her new life. Hannah had some rough times at the concentration camp. If Hannah made it through the concentration is for you to find out
I liked many things about this book. I was not necessarily able to relate to it but I was able to take into consideration how the characters v feeling. It makes you really look at the way life is and learn to appreciate it makes you thankful that you do not have to worry about what religion you believe in. I also liked how they put a young girl as the narrator. It was interesting to see what a child's point of view was.
There weren't many things that I disliked about the book. AM ugh, I did not care for the fact that the author did not give much historical information on the Holocaust I
I'd have enjoyed learning more about what the people were actually going through and how they handled it.
I would rank this book a five! The book overall had a great plot and was trying to teach a huge moral, not only for the character but also for the reader themselves. 1 suggest reading the book if you enjoy suspenseful and fulfilling novels, you won't regret it.


Rating:
Summary: The Devil's Arithmetic
Review: The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen is about a brave young girl trying to get through all the struggles of her heritage and the Nazi concentration camps. This story takes place in present day New-Rochelle and past day Poland. The main character in this book is Hannah Stern or Chaya Abramowicz. Hannah (Chaya) is caring and heroic. Chaya risked her life for her friends.
In this story Hannah is sent back in time to the time of the Nazi's. Hannah is now inn the body of Chaya, a young Jewish girl. Chaya's family is then taken away to a Nazi concentration camp where they are severly tortured because of their faith. The ending of the book was very strong and when in the concentration camp the emotions run high.
The author used many sensory images and descriptive words. The author also used a lot of diologue and voice. The author keeps you guessing throughout the book. The author used very simple language. When the Jews were in the camps you could really see what the author was saying and what the characters were doing and feeling.
The message Hannah Stern learned in this book was to appreciate her heritage and everything she has. In this book Hannah is tired of her relatives talking so much about the past, but when Hannah is sent back into the time of the holocoust she realizes all of the reasons her family makes such a big deal about it. Hannah then has a better respect for her religion and heritage. I would recommend this book for kids 10-13. I would not recommend this book for younger kids because the books topic is kind of mature. To younger kids the Holocoust can seem scary. I would also not recommend this book for older kids because even though the topic is mature the whole idea of time traveling is a little childish.