From: Janeyolen <janeyolen_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:17:21 -0500 (EST)

Have tried to stay silent throughout this, but need to say a few words.

For the record, "Number the Stars" won the Newbery the next year. The year that "DA" came out, the winner was "A Joyful Noise," Paul Fleischman's book of poems about bugs for two voices.

My editor on the book was a rebbitzim. The book won both the Jewish Book Aw ard, and the Jewish Libraries award, and Elie Weisel praised it highly. I h ave heard from a huge number of Survivors who say I told their stories in a way that their children and grandchildren could finally understand.

I am sorry if Ms. Gordon dislikes the book. That is her privilege. But I am satisfied that I told the book to the best of my ability. And--by the way- -I think Hannah/Chaya DID go back in time! And it was not a dream.

Jane Yolen


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From: Lbhcove To: grace_1335 ; Druthgo ; ccbc-ne t Sent: Sat, Nov 19, 2011 11:35 am Subject: RE:
 DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC

For the record, THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC was not a Newbery Honor Book.

Lee Bennett Hopkins

Visit my site at: www.leebennetthopkins.com

In a message dated 11/18/2011 8:14:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, grace_133 5_at_yahoo.com writes:

I must respectfully say that this is not a fair reading of Jane Yolen's N ewbery Honor, "The Devil's Arithmetic." In this very sensitively written book, the young protagonist is resentful of her family's traditions, has no awareness of what they have experienced. When she is transported back in time, she comes to understand why they feel and act the way they do. Th ere is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of tim e travel fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experience d this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary e piphany. Of course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this book was about trying to explain that experience to a generation tha t thankfully did not have to live through it, and was often confused by t he fact that those who had were reluctant to speak. I do believe this boo k would have gotten Newbery gold - but that year, Lois Lowry's "Number t he Stars"- another Holocaust novel- trumped it.

Grace Oliff, Librarian Ann Blanche Smith E.S 1000 Hillsdale Ave. Hillsdale, N.J. 07642 Library Web Page- http://home.earthlink.net/~david916 Part time Lecturer, Children's and Young Adult Literature Rutgers SCILS William Paterson University

From: Ruth I. Gordon To: CCBC Net Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 5:46 PM Subject:
 How much...?

Concerning Claudia Pearson's note about truth-telling and the Holocaust; I remind readers of Jane Yolen's book of several years ago in which the girl wakes up from a Holocaust "dream" experience. So...none of it happened-right? Unfair and untruthful and a mean trick.

Ms Yolen should have known very well that people did not wake up from the Nazi experience. And her editor, publisher and reviewers should also have realized it.

Ruth Gordon, MLS, Ph.D. Sonoma Valley, CA (Big Grandma)

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Received on Sat 19 Nov 2011 01:17:21 PM CST