The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (Cover image from Amazon.com)Bibliography: Yolen, J. (1988). The Devil's arithmetic. New York: Puffin Books. ISBN: 978-0142401095
SUMMARY
Hannah is annoyed and bored with her family's Passover Seders and doesn't understand why her relatives focus so much attention on the Holocaust. During their celebration, Hannah is magically transported back in time to 1940's Poland to experience the concentration camps firsthand. She learns what it took to survive daily life there and how precious both friendship and hope became in such dire circumstances. When she returns to her family's house in her own time, she finally understands the importance of remembering.
MY IMPRESSIONS
The Holocaust is a subject I normally avoid. The staggering number of Jewish (and other) casualties and the extreme cruelty that occurred during the War usually leave me too emotionally devastated and overwhelmed to think. I was more than surprised by the accessibility of The Devil's Arithmetic. It is a riveting novel that captures the reality and bleakness of the concentration camps without paralyzing the reader.
Hannah is a typical teen and serves as a compelling protagonist as she struggles to survive her boredom at her family's Seder and her time at the camp. Because she sees the events unfold through the filter of her modern life, she presents a fresh perspective on such bleak subject matter. Yolen's incredible ability to write such believable characters helps shape the story into more than a moralistic tale. All of them--from Hannah's family to the Jews at the camp--are not perfect. They are flawed and human, adding layers of depth and emotional growth throughout the story. Hannah in particular reaches the end of the book as a new person with an intimate understanding of her relative's experience during the Holocaust and their inner strength to have survived such a grueling time in history.
ACTIVITIES
The Devil's Arithmetic is a good introduction to the Holocaust for late middle schoolers and early high schoolers.
Discuss the major holiday traditions of different religions.
Study how the treatment of the Jews changed during the course of WWII. Write a brief report on the concentration camps and what was done with them after the war ended.
Read a memoir of a concentration camp survivor. How does her/his experience compare to Hannah's? How did their time at the camps shape the rest of their lives? What message do you take from their stories?
Select a personal story from one of the people listed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Write a fictional story from this person's POV about a scene in his/her life. It does not have to take place at the concentration camps.
National Jewish Book Award
Sydney Taylor Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries
The Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award
Nebula Honor Book
1992 Kentucky Bluegrass Master List book
1991/92 Florida Children's Book Award nominee
1994 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Master List Book
2008 Honor Book for the Phoenix Award (Children's Literature Association)
REVIEWS
"Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and the past, Yolen does a fine job of illustrating the importance of remembering. She adds much to children's understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, which will reverberate through history, today and tomorrow."
School Library Journal, November 1, 1988
"During a Passover Seder, 12-year-old Hannah finds herself transported from American in 1988 to Poland in 1942, where she assumes the life of young Chaya. Within days the Nazis take Chaya and her neighbors off to a concentration camp. The book's simplicity is its strength; no comment is needed because the facts speak for themselves. This brave and powerful book has much it can teach a young audience."
Publisher's Weekly, October 14, 1988
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