The Devil's Arithmetic

The Devil's Arithmetic 

Author: Jane Yolen 

Grade Level: 7-8

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Awards: National Jewish Book Award

Summary: This book is about a girl named Hannah Stern.  Hannah is a Jewish girl living in New York during the Passover Seder.  During this time, all of Hannah's family is home to celebrate this important time of year for their faith.  While they are over, Hannah keeps getting frustrated with her grandparent's constant talk of what life use to be like for them during WWII.  During this celebration, Hannah is tasked to open the door in hopes of seeing the prophet Elijah.  When she opens the door, Hannah is transported to Poland in 1942.  She doesn't know anyone around her, but they all seem to know her and call her Chaya.  They are soon taken to a concentration camp.  It is here where Hannah witnesses events that took place in the concentration camps.  The more time Hannah spends in the camp, the more she forgets her life as Hannah.  One fateful day, a Nazi soldier chooses three girls to send to their death.  Hannah is the only one he decides to spare.  Instead of saving her own life, she offers herself in the place of Rivka.  As Hannah is led to her death, darkness surrounds her.  She is then back in her New York home awaiting the arrival of prophet Elijah.  Back at the dinner table, Hannah's aunt Eva asks if she is okay.  Noticing the tattoo on her aunts arm, Hannah asks about it.  She soon finds out that Rivka was her aunt Eva.  Hannah then tells her aunt what happened when she opened the door for the prophet Elijah, an event that changed her life and saved her aunt's.

Evaluation: I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The story is told in a way that makes reader feel as though they are there experiencing what the character is experiencing.  I plan to have this in my classroom because I think it is a book students need to be exposed to.

I put the readability between seventh and eighth grade.  Even though younger grades could read the text itself, I think the themes would be difficult for them to understand.  Even with older students, they will need some exposure to the vocabulary before they read this book. 

I plan to use this text during the Holocaust unit in my classroom.  Even though I may not have this book as a whole-class book club, I want students to have access to this book in my classroom.  The book gives a lot of information about what it might have been like for someone inside a concentration camp during the Holocaust.  This book could then be used to teach point-of-view and perspective.