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RE:DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC correction
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From: Lisa Von Drasek <lisav_at_bankstreet.edu>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:27:32 -0500
Never was a novella. Always the YA book.
There was no doubt in my mind that it was a "time travel" story. It is one of the most searing graphic depictions of "what it was really like" in the camps and not for every child. There are many thoughts of how to share horrific experiences with children and at what age they are ready for them. Often I have heard an arbitrary, ten and up but doesn't that depend on the individual ten-year-old.?
Lisa Von Drasek Children's Librarian Director-Center for Children's Literature Bank Street College of Education School for Children Pre-K- 8 610 West 112th St NY NY 10025
lisav_at_bankstreet.edu
212 875 4452
Fax 212 875 4558
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_1335_at_yahoo.com writes:
I must respectfully say that this is not a fair reading of Jane Yolen's
Newbery 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. There is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of time travel
fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experienced this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary epiphany. Of
course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this book was about trying to explain that experience to a generation that thankfully did not have to live through it, and was often confused by the fact that those
who had were reluctant to speak. I do believe this book would have gotten
Newbery gold - but that year, Lois Lowry's "Number the 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)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:27:32 -0500
Never was a novella. Always the YA book.
There was no doubt in my mind that it was a "time travel" story. It is one of the most searing graphic depictions of "what it was really like" in the camps and not for every child. There are many thoughts of how to share horrific experiences with children and at what age they are ready for them. Often I have heard an arbitrary, ten and up but doesn't that depend on the individual ten-year-old.?
Lisa Von Drasek Children's Librarian Director-Center for Children's Literature Bank Street College of Education School for Children Pre-K- 8 610 West 112th St NY NY 10025
lisav_at_bankstreet.edu
212 875 4452
Fax 212 875 4558
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_1335_at_yahoo.com writes:
I must respectfully say that this is not a fair reading of Jane Yolen's
Newbery 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. There is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of time travel
fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experienced this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary epiphany. Of
course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this book was about trying to explain that experience to a generation that thankfully did not have to live through it, and was often confused by the fact that those
who had were reluctant to speak. I do believe this book would have gotten
Newbery gold - but that year, Lois Lowry's "Number the 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)
---Received on Mon 21 Nov 2011 04:27:32 PM CST
