The Devil's Arithmetic [Mass Market Paperback]

Jane Yolen (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; later printing edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590965786
• ISBN-13: 978-0590965781
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in New York City, Jane Yolen now lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College and received her master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts. The distinguished author of more than 170 books, Jane Yolen is a person of many talents. When she is not writing, Yolen composes songs, is a professional storyteller on the stage, and is the busy wife of a university professor, the mother of three grown children, and a grandmother. Active in several organizations, Yolen has been on the Board of Directors of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1986 to 1988, is on the editorial board of several magazines, and was a founding member of the Western New England Storytellers Guild, the Western Massachusetts Illustrators Guild, and the Bay State Writers Guild. For twenty years, she ran a monthly writer's workshop for new children's book authors. In 1980, when Yolen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the citation recognized that "throughout her writing career she has remained true to her primary source of inspiration--folk culture." Folklore is the "perfect second skin," writes Yolen. "From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world." Folklore, she believes, is the universal human language, a language that children instinctively feel in their hearts. All of Yolen's stories and poems are somehow rooted in her sense of family and self. The Emperor and the Kite, which was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1983 for its intricate papercut illustrations by Ed Young, was based on Yolen's relationship with her late father, who was an international kite-flying champion. Owl Moon, winner of the 1988 Caldecott Medal for John Schoenherr's exquisite watercolors, was inspired by her husband's interest in birding. Yolen's graceful rhythms and outrageous rhymes have been gathered in numerous collections. She has earned many awards over the years: the Regina Medal, the Kerlan Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Society of Children's Book Writers Award, the Mythopoetic Society's Aslan Award, the Christopher Medal, the Boy's Club Jr. Book Award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, the Daedalus Award, a number of Parents' Choice Magazine Awards, and many more. Her books and stories have been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Afrikaans, !Xhosa, Portuguese, and Braille. With a versatility that has led her to be called "America's Hans Christian Andersen," Yolen, the child of two writers, is a gifted and natural storyteller. Perhaps the best explanation for her outstanding accomplishments comes from Jane Yolen herself: "I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very moving account of the realities of the Second World War in Eastern Europe, December 30, 2007

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Devil's Arithmetic (Mass Market Paperback)

It continues to astound me that there are people who deny The Holocaust. In some sense I can understand it because it is so difficult to believe that such a thing could have been done as a part of official state policy. Nevertheless, the documentation is so overwhelming that the people who deny it look like pathetic fools.
This story describes the events in one of the camps, but from a unique perspective. Hannah is a young girl living in New Rochelle, New York in modern times. She is with her family and they are going to a Passover service at the home of her elderly relatives that survived the camps. Hannah is a bit rebellious, growing tired of the rituals and wishing she were elsewhere.
Everything changes when Hannah opens the door as a symbolic gesture to let the Prophet Elijah into their home to take part in the ceremony. Suddenly, she is now Chaya, a Jewish girl in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. Shortly after she arrives, the Jews in their shtetl are rounded up, packed into railroad cars and shipped off to a death camp. Her life then becomes a daily challenge to survive.
Like all the others in the camp Chaya is now being slowly worked and starved to death, looking over at the smoke rising from the crematoriums and knowing what it means. Her "time" at the camp ends when she is with four friends and a guard comes over and says he must select three of them to be killed. After all, he has a daily quota that must be filled.
Suddenly, she is Hannah once more and she looks at her Aunt Eva and she can explain the meaning of the tattoo on Eva's arm. Furthermore, she recognizes her Aunt Eva and Grandpa Will as people she knew in the camp. This realization changes her outlook on her Jewish heritage as she now has firsthand knowledge of what took place.
This book is very moving and descriptive of those terrible times. The perspective is always that of a young girl, although she grows up very fast once she arrives at the camps. It should be required reading for all middle school children. While some may object to the depictions of brutality, the history of the human race is not pretty, and the best way to avoid the ugliness is to understand the consequences.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Devil's Arithmetic, April 13, 2010

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Devil's Arithmetic (Mass Market Paperback)

I absolutely love this book. It is very sad, though, because you have to relive the Holocaust with the characters. Both the granddad and aunt survived the Holocaust with the loss of almost their whole family. The girl Hannah - which in Hebrew is Chaya - is invited to enjoy the festivities of Passover where Hannah's family also relived the horrid things that happened in the concentration camps/death camps. After Hannah opens the door to let the prophet Elijah in, she is in an alternate world! This is a great book because it has things that have most certainly happened, but the author adds a little twist to the book. This makes The Devil's Arithmetic very intriguing and gives a lot of suspense. I like it because it makes you think twice about what people have gone through. To conclude my review, I would like to say that this is a very good book, and I recommend it to anyone!

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Gift, July 25, 2011

By 

Christy Summerfield "none" (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Devil's Arithmetic (Mass Market Paperback)

A gift for my 12-year-old grandson who loves to read and thankfully had never heard of this book. That's always a challenge for me with a bunch of grands who read like crazy. He was pleased and intrigued so I'm a happy grandma! Book was in great condition.