Common Sense Media Review
Intense Holocaust tale makes history real for young readers.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 14 parent reviews
Based on 68 kid reviews
Kids say this book is a powerful and educational exploration of the Holocaust, presenting a moving narrative that emphasizes the importance of remembrance and cultural heritage. While many enjoy its vivid storytelling and emotional depth, some find the beginning slow and suggest it might be too intense or graphic for younger readers.
- educational
- emotional depth
- slow start
- age-appropriate
- cultural heritage
- graphic content
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
As THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC begins, 13-year-old Hannah detests attending her family Seder. All the talk about remembering the Holocaust bores her until she finds herself transported to a Polish shtetl in 1942. There she joins the inhabitants as they're taken to a concentration camp. Through Hannah, readers find themselves in a grim four-day journey by boxcar to the concentration camp. In all that time Hannah gets one cup of dirty water to drink; she's packed in so tightly she can't move; with no toilet facilities, people simply soil themselves, adding to the intolerable odors. On the way, a child dies in her mother's arms and one of Hannah's new friends dies too. And that's just the beginning of the horror.
Is It Any Good?
This time-travel story, an excellent introduction to the Holocaust, has great power for young readers. In The Devil's Arithmetic, author Jane Yolen uses that attitude, and an intriguing time-travel plot device, to place a modern teen in a traumatic historical event, helping to bring history to life and directly connecting past events to the character's life.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about details of the Holocaust shown in The Devil's Arithemtic. Why do people still read and write about this horrible event? Why is it important to read stories like Hannah's?
This book was made into a movie starring Kirsten Dunst. If you've seen the movie, which is more powerful, the book or the film? If you haven't seen it, do you want to? How do most movies made from books fare?
What other stories of the Holocaust have you read or seen? How does this one compare?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Historical Fiction
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Penguin Group
- Publication date : January 1, 1988
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 10 - 14
- Number of pages : 70
- Last updated : July 28, 2020
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