Module 10 - The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Bibliography:

Yolen, Jane. (1988). The Devil's Arithmetic. New York: Viking Kestrel. ISBN: 0670810274

Summary:

Hannah is a young Jewish girl, living in present day New York who feels forced to participate in the Jewish holidays and traditions. She feels that her family is weird; they act out, especially the older ones, and always talk about remembering. But Hannah is tired of remembering, especially with the boring traditions, and only wants to have fun. But, during Seder, Hannah gets transported into the past as a young Jewish girl named Chaya during the time of WWII. The people there believe her to be Chaya, and with no one believing her when she protests, she finally lets it be and goes with it, thinking eventually she will get back home. On the day of her "cousin's" wedding, the Nazis come and force all the Jews into vans to relocate them. Hannah finally figures out what is going on, and tries to warn everyone, but they do not listen. They are forced onto cramped trains, where many die, and finally come to a concentration camp where they are forced to separate from the men, forced to strip, shower in a huge room together, shave off all their hair, and given a tattooed number on their arm: their new identity. They are forced to work everyday. Weak workers or sick workers are killed in the ovens. Hannah and the others concentrate on surviving one day at a time. A lot of her friends die, including some that tried to escape and instead were caught and made to line up, then shot. Caught gossiping one day with three of her friends, a guard forces the three friends with Hannah to follow him to the ovens, but Hannah takes the place of her friend Rivka and tells her that she must remember before walking away to die. Upon walking into the ovens, she realizes she is back at home. She notices that her Aunt Eva's number on her arm is the same that Rivka had. Her aunt and Hannah discuss what happen and what happened after Chaya saved her life. Hannah now understands the importance of all the remembering and the importance of her heritage and family.

Impressions:

Although the time travel is far-fetched, I didn't see a problem with it, and I really think it was played off well. Besides, how else would you get a girl from today's day and age to witness the holocaust? Readers are able to connect with her easier because of that fact. I think its a great book to go with teaching about the Holocaust. I think children will relate to the protagonist because she is a girl from our time and age who somehow gets thrown back in time. And with this connection to this girl, readers are also able to make the connection to the past, and the characters and events there. I loved being able to see impressions of this horrific event, that I know is based on facts. Reading something like this is one of the ways that readers today can help make sure that nothing like that ever happens again.

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 throughout history, today and tomorrow."

Harding, Susan. (November 01, 1988). Library Journals LLC.  [Review of the book The Devil's Arithmetic.]. School Library Journal. Available from booksinprint.com

"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."

 (October 14, 1986). PWxyz, LLC. [Review of the book The Devil's Arithmetic.]. Publishers Weekly. Available from booksinprint.com

Suggestions For Use:

I think this novel would be a great book to tie into the history lessons of the Holocaust, of WWII, of the Nazis, of the whole gruesomeness of the whole affair. With history books, people are left out, and only numbers and facts are written, but reading this while studying the same thing in history would help put things into perspective. Discussions could arise, and kids could begin to grasp the realness of it all. The book could either be read aloud or individually, with discussions as a group.