The Devil's Arithmetic (1988 original; edició 1988)

Writing: 5.0; Theme: 5.0; Content: 5.0; Language: 5.0; Overall: 5.0; Wonderful writing by this popular youth writer. Hannah is a young ten year old girl who is bored by her Jewish upbringing, but her attitude changes when she experiences the Holocaust in a dream. She experiences the horrible treatment, along with her family, during her awful dream. Mrs. Yolen gives the reader as close to a first-hand experience as she can and does a wonderful job. To quote Winston Churchill about this period in our world's history he said, "There is no doubt that this is probably the greatest and most horrible single crime ever committed in the whole history of the world." He said it well. Highly recommend this small volume. ***September 20, 2020*** ( )

There are many semi-fictionalized accounts of the Holocaust. Yolen states at the end of the novel that she combined the atrocities from the far too numerous camps that the Nazi regime established at the end of the book. The length of the novel and some of it's fictionalized elements did not read well for me personally.

The time travel element and the condensed timeline were an issue. I felt that they almost detracted from the reality. At times, the writing was just disturbing event after disturbing event. Hannah's perspective did not emote enough personal fear - knowing that she was in the past, her quiet acceptance of the situation and the my assumption (and perhpas her own) that she would return to her modern day reality at the end of the novel, gave a detached observational feel. ( )

This is a book about the Holocaust, only the way it is approached is wonderfully interesting. Hannah (Chayah) is transferred back in time to the 1940's and is brought to a Concentration Camp. ( )

I read this book as a 12 year old and I remember loving it, but could not remember why. After reading it for the second time, I still love it. I’m not sure if it’s Yolen’s writing, making me feel what the characters are feeling, or if it’s the actual story line. Either way, I’m glad I read it again. It reminded me why I loved reading so much as a kid, and continue to do so now. I think this is a great read for younger kids, to remind them why remembering our world's past history is important. ( )