The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)
by Jane Yolen
List Price:
Our Price: $3.47
You Save: $3.52 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.16 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jane YolenBrand: Dutton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-04-12
ISBN: 0142401099
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Puffin
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780142401095
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)
Book Review: Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Summary: 5 Stars
THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC by Jane Yolen is required reading at my school, as it is in many middle/junior high schools across the country. I've been meaning to read it for several years but never did, until my son read it this year as an eighth grader. He insisted I read it. How could I resist that?
Hannah is celebrating Passover Seder with her family. It's the same thing every year. Grandpa will get all worked up over old photos on TV, shaking his fist, screaming about the numbers on his arm, and Aunt Eva will calm him down as she always does, laying a hand on his arm, leading the same old Jewish prayers as Hannah mumbles along. But this year will be different. Hannah's brother, Aaron, will get to hide the afikoman, Hannah will get to taste real wine, and then she'll get to open the door to symbolically welcome in the prophet Elijah.
But when she opened that door, she had no idea just how different this year's celebration would be.
Instead of seeing the hallway in front of her as she expected, she sees a man coming her way, crossing a field. Confused, she turns back to her family and instead sees a strange woman, dressed even more strangely, kneading dough on a wooden table. Hannah's confusion grows as she hears herself referred to as Chaya, and discovers that these two people believe themselves to be her Aunt Gitl and Uncle Shmuel. More unbelievably, they talk about her parents' deaths, and that she herself had nearly died, sick for weeks.
Feeling like she's in a dream she can't wake up from, she finds herself pulled into wedding festivities, which includes walking to a nearby village for the celebration. There, her dream turns into a nightmare. Hannah is slowly disappearing as Chaya is loaded onto trucks with the other villagers. Then, later, they are prodded like cattle aboard boxed railroad cars with no ventilation, and they travel, standing, for four days and nights without food or bathrooms. What follows is days, weeks, maybe months, in a Jewish concentration camp.
Jane Yolen's telling of the Holocaust is chilling. She gathered information from survivors, those heroes who remember so that the atrocities of the past will never happen again. Ms. Yolen writes in her final pages to the reader, "That heroism - to resist being dehumanized, to simply outlive one's tormentors, to practice the quiet, everyday caring for one's equally tormented neighbors. To witness. To remember. These were the only victories of the camps."
This book is incredibly powerful. The way Ms. Yolen weaves the past and present together forces the reader to make personal connections. She makes the reader think and ask questions. How could society have allowed such a thing to happen? And, more importantly, how can we assure that it will never happen again? I truly hope THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC will remain required reading in schools. Each new generation must bear the weight of those lost souls upon their heart. They must believe that such devastating events can, and did, happen. Only in believing and remembering can we move forward to a better society.
Thank you, Ms. Yolen, for this riveting and thought-provoking book.
Reviewed by: Cana Rensberger
Summary of The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)
Hannah thinks tonight's Passover Seder will be the same as always. Little does she know that this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past where only she knows the horrors that await.
Holocaust Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Holocaust Books
Shoes for Amelieby Connie Colker Steiner
Lobster Press; Published: 2001-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Clara's War (Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)by Kathy Kacer
Published: 2008-08-11; Library Binding; Book
Price in other shops:
Daniel's Storyby Carol Matas
Audio Bookshelf; Published: 2008-02; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $39.95
Shanghai Shadowsby Lois Ruby
Holiday House; Published: 2006-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops:
Briar Roseby Jane Yolen
Tor Books; Published: 1993-11-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.20
Price in other shops:
One Candleby Eve Bunting
Demco Media; Published: 2004-10; Turtleback; Book
Price in other shops:
Waiting for Anyaby Michael Morpurgo
Demco Media Inc; Published: 1997-01; Hardcover; Book
Code Name Verityby Elizabeth E. Wein
Doubleday Canada; Published: 2012-05-15; Hardcover; Book
North to Freedomby Anne Holm
Harcourt Brace & Company; Published: 1990-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.94
Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaustby Eve Bunting
Harpercollins Childrens Books; Published: 1980-04; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamasby John Boyne
Oxford University Press; Published: 2007-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.62
A Single Shardby Linda Sue Park
Sandpiper; Sandpiper; Published: 2011-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.61
Price in other shops:
Bronx Masqueradeby Nikki Grimes
Speak; Published: 2003-12-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.23
Price in other shops:
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (Picture Puffin Books)by Margaret Musgrove
PENGUIN PUTNAM INC; Puffin; Published: 1992-07-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Feathersby Jacqueline Woodson
Speak; Published: 2010-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.19
Price in other shops:
The First Strawberries (Picture Puffin Books)by Joseph Bruchac, Anna Vojtech
Puffin; Published: 1998-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.39
Price in other shops:
Milkweed (Random House Reader's Circle)by Jerry Spinelli
Ember; Ember; Published: 2010-03-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.34
Price in other shops:
Number the Starsby Lois Lowry
Laurel Leaf; Sandpiper; Published: 2011-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.45
Price in other shops:
Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaustby Allan Zullo, Mara Bovsun
Grosset & Dunlap; Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2005-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.23
Price in other shops:
The Devil's ArithmeticShowtime Entertainment; Release date: 2004-09-21; DVD
Best price: $8.33
Price in other shops: