A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw [Paperback]

Isaac Bashevis Singer (Author), Roman Vishniac (Photographer)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

An ALA Notable Book.

 

A Day of Pleasure is the winner of the 1970 National Book Award for Children's Books.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a collection of 19 episodes from Singer's boyhood life on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw. "Singer has written an extraordinary book that will give many days of pleasure to adults as well as children," PW stated. "These are sensitive, youthful and observant portraits of what Jewish life was like in Poland."
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"At a time when in children's literature the power of the imagination is frequently lost sight of or diluted, it is fortunate that we can honor a great storyteller. Mr. Singer has created out of remembered fragments of his own childhood a place instantly familiar where life is not neat and orderly, where the adventures of a boy throw into sharp and recognizable focus those resistant elements of the ever-troubled human condition."--From the judges' citation, National Book Award for Children's Literature

"Singer's memories of his youth in Poland make a powerful, brilliant children's book. The author lays out a panorama of Jewish life in the city-- the rabbis in black velvet and gabardine, the shopkeepers, the street urchins and schoolboys, the poverty, the confusion, the excitement of the prewar time. But even more, the author reveals himself; and the torments and mysteries that plagued him as a child will make his stories fascinating to other children....Reflecting a bygone world, the photographs add a further note of realism and power."--The Horn Book

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (May 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374416966
• ISBN-13: 978-0374416966
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Religions > Judaism
  • #16 in Books > Children's Books > Religions > Judaism
  • #16 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Europe

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grandfather telling stories..., May 9, 2000

By 

Esther Nebenzahl - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw (Paperback)

To enjoy listening to stories told by grandfather, you don't necessarily have to be a child! As a matter of fact, it is a life virtue to enjoy these stories told by Isaac Bashevis Singer, regardless of age. They are set in the now vanished Hassidic community of pre-II World War, but their moral content transcends time and space, and although they are soaked in Jewishness they equally appeal to the open-minded reader. Beware that out of the seventeen tales in this editon, 14 are included in "My Father's Court," by the same author.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Autobiography by Far! by Sammy K. 4th Grade, April 19, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw (Paperback)

I am Jewish, and I learned a lot from this book. I learned about life in Warsaw, and about the time period around World War I. It shows how that time compares to this, and how much more we have now than back then. Lots of people take electric lights for granted. This book shows what it was like to live through freezing weather, hunger, and stress about war.

I don't exactly like autobiographies, but this one really, really hit the spot!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appreciation of Culture, May 8, 2009

By 

L. Michalek "zard92" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw (Paperback)

This is a book about Singer's early life and his family. This book is about Singer's childhood in Poland and draws on that experience. Singer was very interested in sharing his culture with people, a culture that time and WW II have largely erased. Singer was part of a Yiddish-speaking Jewish community that was existing as a subculture to the larger Polish community. Through gaining understanding and sympathy with other cultures and the people in them, we gain greater insight. Through reading writers like Singer, we gain the opportunity to explore cultures that we would never have the chance to otherwise.