Alan and Naomi [Paperback]

Myron Levoy (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up

When Naomi, a refugee child from Nazi-occupied Paris who acts ‘crazy,’ moves into Alan Silverman’s building in New York, he does his best to avoid her. They slowly develop a deep and touching friendship "[which] is a joy [in] this warming story with its heart-wrenching ending. One of the more honest approaches to the repercussions of WW II" —SLJ.

1978 Boston Globe—Horn Book Award Honor Book for Fiction
1978 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
1978 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Book
Children's Books of 1977 (Library of Congress)
1969-1992 Best of the Best Books for Young Adults

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Myron Levoy is the author of The Witch of Fourth Street and Other Stories, among many other books for children. . It was a National Book Award finalist and was an honor book for both the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards. It also won the Silver Pencil Award in the Netherlands.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperTrophy (November 20, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064402096
• ISBN-13: 978-0064402095
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Multicultural Stories > Other
  • #71 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Fiction > Holocaust

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books ever written for older children, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alan and Naomi (Paperback)

Alan and Naomi is among my favorite books ever written. It is beautiful, heartwrending, and expertly written in true to life prose. The story will haunt you and the message it teaches about true friendship amid the pains of life will leave you changed. It is that powerful.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was a great book!, March 19, 2003

By 

Laurel R. Gerard "gelrod" (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alan and Naomi (Paperback)

This was a fantastic book! It's about a typical boy living in the city, whose life is suddenly changed. A young girl and her mother move into the appartment building where he's living, and it rocks his world forever. She is one of the many people who have escaped Hitlar, and the memory of her father being beaten to death in front of her eyes has haunted her ever since it happened. Alan must help her out of these hard time, and within Naomi, he finds a friend he thought he could never have.

I loved this book, it was so touching I even cried. If you want to consider yourself a serious reader, read this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is exquisite!, March 27, 2002

By 

Monica (MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alan and Naomi (Paperback)

At our school we are required to tell about one extra credit book every six weeks. This was on my extra credit list, so I just ordered it from another library, not really expecting that much. But boy, was I wrong!
I was witness to young Alan trying to help Naomi, a terrified young girl who locks herself deep inside after her father is beaten to death in front of her for making maps that led Jews to freedom. I rejoiced with him as he slowly made progress until Naomi seemed to totally braek free of her shell and enter the big world. A little cautious, perhaps, but she was really there. It was totally easy to fall in love with Naomi. Her extremely intelligent, sweet mind was so refreshing. She is lively, and so much fun! "Crazy Cat" became Alan's best friend, caught up with the school year's class in only two weeks, and Alan and she shared everything. Alan learns why when she first came and wasn't quite in her right mind she spent all her time shredding paper. When her father had been killed, she and him had been shredding his secret maps and flushing them down in the toilet so that the Gestapo would have no reason to harm him. They failed to make it, and Naomi blamed herself. Then one day a cruel boy from school called Alan a "dirty Jew" and they got into a fight. What happened as a consequence to Naomi's mind was so sad it almost made me cry. Read it!
This book makes you really see the fear and loss that Hitler and the Nazis brought. It is really a touching story.