The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics) Paperback – April 12, 2004

I first read this book in jr high school. It was a captivating way to introduce preteens/young teens to WW2. I recently saw that it was on a “banned” list, while I could remember all the details, I remembered really enjoying it. So I bought it. It came today, and I finished it within a few hours. I will be giving it to my 11 and 12 year olds to read as well.This book reminds us how important it is to remember the past, even if it is ugly and uncomfortable.The authors not at the end says it perfectly“ Today, a lifetime later we can echo Winston Churchill who wrote: ‘There is no doubt that this is probably the greatest and most horrible single crime ever committed in the whole history of the world’ And yet it is STILL impossible, unimaginable, difficult to grasp. Even with the facts in front of us, the numbers, the indelible photographs, the autobiographies, the wrists still bearing the long numbers, there are people in the world who deny such things actually happened”

Bought this for my daughter's ela class. Is a good book

A required read for our curious youth. A young man offered this to me, "I read it in the fifth grade!" He will never forget, as I have not, and will not. And now I pass it on to my curious grand children as a first glimpse into what humans are capable of, and what should be destroyed whenever found.

Although there are many Holocaust books out there that are in the young adult genre (Elie Wiesel’s Night and The Diary of Anne Frank come to mind), I had not heard of The Devil’s Arithmetic until a friend mentioned it.In the novel, Hannah, an American Jewish teenager who is indifferent and apathetic towards her Jewish family’s past, is transported back to the 1940s to experience one of the most tragic, painful, and horrific points in history.I felt like this book was an immensely powerful read, one that moves very quickly and one in which the reader can get into the head of the protagonist as she travels back into a dark time in history. As one from the future, Hannah knows all too painfully the horrors that await the Jewish people and those in the concentration camps.The Devil’s Arithmetic works and fits into several genres. It is a fantasy in which a young girl must travel back in time to witness and be part of her family’s suffering to fully understand and to never forget. But, obviously, the book, while tame in its graphicness, is a very realistic portrayal of such atrocities experienced. And, while the names of the places have been changed, this does not deter from the powerfully realistic images: the awful conditions in the cattle cars, the dehumanization of individuals, the shaving of heads, the separation of loved ones, friends, and families, the lack of necessities like food, water, and proper clothing, the selection of victims.I highlighted a quote in the afterward by the author Jane Yolen that I believe eloquently sums up the entire experience of this book:“Fiction cannot recite the numbing numbers, but it can be that witness, that memory. A storyteller can attempt to tell the human tale, can make a galaxy out of chaos…”This point is illustrated in Hannah’s physical and emotional journey, and spiritual transformation that she must go through.This edition also contains an extremely helpful glossary for Jewish terms and expressions as well as an afterward by the author.In my opinion, The Devil’s Arithmetic is powerful portrayal of a dark time in history, and it is definitely a book for anyone interested in young adult books about the Holocaust.

This is a moving work of fiction about the Holocaust that is geared towards the middle school age reader but will hold the interest of even adults, such as myself. It tells the story of a thirteen year old girl from New Rochelle, NY who is at a family Passover Seder and bored by her grandfather’s rants about the Holocaust, which he personally experienced.While playing a game during the Seder, she suddenly finds herself pulled back in time to a shtetl in 1942 Poland, where she will discover for herself, firsthand, just what the Holocaust was like, as well of the meaning of the numbers tattooed on one’s arm. It is a voyage that will prove to be unforgettable , as well as instructive.Where Hannah’s voyage of discovery takes her, and what it will mean to her, will keep the reader turning the pages of this book. This book is a voyage of discovery for the reader, just as much as it is for its protagonist. Just enough information is provided to the young reader to give them a basic understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust and instill in them a desire to learn more.

My son needed this book for advanced classes. I found it for the right price & in good condition and it came on time.

This historical fiction tells the story of a young disinterested Jewish girl, Hannah, who is tired of hearing her Grandfather's personal stories of the Holocaust. During the celebration of the Seder, without any warning she finds herself living in the past with family in Poland. The present and the past blur - she has knowledge that no one is willing to believe. As a result she and others are put in a concentration camp where Hannah learns first hand of what her Grandfather had been speaking for so long. The young girl returns to the present Seder dinner just as abruptly as she had left, but now with a greater appreciation of her Jewish heritage and religion, and with an understanding of the significance of the numbers tattooed on the arms of her older relatives. This is well written, with an unusual telling of the Holocaust. It is not so graphic as other books covering this subject, so is appropriate for children as young as 11 or 12; but because of the subject matter, it is important to engage them in conversation and discuss the events of the Holocaust. This is a book to be shared with our younger generation - it is important not only for the Jewish people to remember this time in their history, but also for the rest of us to remember and learn.

As an adult reader, I must admit to not expecting great things, as the story opens with a modern American Jewish family celebrating Seder. "Passover.. is about remembering," Mama tells her bored, slightly spoilt daughter Hannah - the horrific WW2 losss of the older generation wash over the girl, who has heard it all before.Then, in a deft bit of time travel, Hannah finds herself living in a Polish shtetl in 1942 with an unknown family. It's the eve of a wedding and everyone is happy, but the Nazis are close at hand... As she experiences the horrors of life in a concentration camp, she understands the desperate yearning to survive:"Everyone knew that as long as others were processed, THEY would not be. A simple bit of mathematics, like subtraction, where one taken away from the top line becomes one added on to the bottom. The Devil's arithmetic."With a touching ending, I thought this would be an ideal book for around the 11 - 12 age-group (but this adult liked it too!)

I read this book after seeing the film (which was great), and found the book to be even better! The prominence of the young inmate who lets the newcomers know how to survive, the midden where the underage inmates hide - all here in the book and missing from the film - all in all a most worthwhile read.

Holocaust is one of the terrifying facts which has happened in world history & this book has depicted the same through a girl who didn't knee the gravity of the incident & had to relive her past by going through the same .This book is worth the buy & it's my 2nd time in reading it.

Very well written. A good insight into the plight of the prisoners in the concentration camps.

As advertised