Children of Bach [Library Binding]

Eilis Dillon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992 | Age Level: 11 and up

After the disappearance of their parents, renowned Jewish musicians, Pali, Peter, and Suzy join their aunt, a young friend, and an elderly neighbor in a desperate flight from Nazi-occupied Hungary. By the author of The Seekers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dillon, a prolific Irish author, uses the backdrop of WW II Budapest to stage a riveting drama about Jewish children who escape the Nazis. Peter, only 14, finds himself in charge of his younger brother and sister and the sister's friend when they come home from school and discover that their parents, famous musicians, have been arrested by the Nazis along with other Jews in the community. Aware of the perils that loom over them, the children at first seek refuge in music as they puzzle out their options. But when their Aunt Eva miraculously returns (she's outwitted her would-be captors), they enlist the help of a neighbor and hatch a daring plan. Courage coexists with human vulnerability, while the ironies of the title are exploited subtly and to excellent effect. Dillon may fail to suggest the extent of Jewish suffering at the hands of Germans and indifferent Hungarians--the enemy here is rather too easily deceived, the neighbors all willing to risk their own lives, the children all but unaffected by the disappearance and probable death of their parents--but she sustains the suspense so well and engenders such concern for her characters that their plight assumes paramount importance for the reader as well. Ages 10-13.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-- The adolescent children of a Jewish family in Hungary return home from school one day to find that their parents and aunt have been taken away by German soldiers. The aunt escapes and comes back to the apartment, but only after the youngsters have spent several days fending for themselves, shopping for food, and trying to carry on without attracting attention to themselves. A friendly neighbor arranges to send the group to a remote Italian valley. Dillon shows thorough research and neatly integrates background into the story. The plot develops slowly at first, but picks up once Aunt Eva returns, and suspense builds as they make their journey hidden in a moving van. However, the teenage characters may be somewhat difficult for many readers to relate to; they are obsessed with classical music and practicing their instruments, and show little rebellion or identity crisis. The horrors of the Holocaust are not really mentioned, and the group meet more friends than foes along the way as they must choose whom they will trust. No real sense of peril or imminent danger truly emerges, but the relationships between the characters are interesting. --Joyce Adams Burner, formerly at Spring Hill Middle School, KS
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Library Binding: 164 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684194406
• ISBN-13: 978-0684194400
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,044,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Holocaust Musicians, February 22, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Children of Bach (Library Binding)

The title of the book I read for my multicultural book report is Children of Bach by Eilis Dillon. The book was very interesting it was about a group of kids during the holocaust and how they had to hide from the Nazi soldiers. The book takes place during the 1940's in Germany. One day Peter, Pilo, Suzy and Jack are walking home from school when they see a large group of people walking down the street. They wonder to themselves who all the people were and what they were doing. But they do not ask questions. Once they get home they discover that the door is unlocked and that the house is completely trapped. When they call but no one is home they know immediately what has happened. They had heard their father talking about Nazi soldiers coming in to the city and that they were going to take all the Jews to a camp where they would be treated very well. They are very afraid and decide that they should stay out of school for the next few days and that they should keep to themselves. One evening their next door neighbor, Miss. Naggy, comes to visit. They let her in and tell her how they are all alone in the house and that they needed supplies. She tells them that she will get them supplies and try to find a way out of the city for them. They thank her many times and let her out. The next day Miss. Naggy comes over and tells them of a van that is leaving in a few days to smuggle Jewish children across the border into Hungary. They accept her invitation and the next day they leave in the van. At around the fourth day the van driver decides to betray them and he turns them over to the Nazi soldiers. The Nazi soldiers take them back to camp where they escape by taking a brick and throwing it at the chain-link fence that surrounded the brickyard/concentration camp. Once they are free they run for the border where a man picks them up and takes them to Hungary. Then they are free. Later on in the year their parents come for them after the Holocaust is over.