Customer Reviews

Eli Remembers

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This picture book is a wonderful introduction to the holocaust. It begins with Eli wondering why his great-grandmother lights candles for the Jewish New Year. In order for him to understand, his family takes him to the Lithuanian village were his great-grandmother lived as a child. Then, they drive through the forest to the pit, where 80,000 Jews, including her father and siblings, were shot dead by the Nazi's. Well illustrated, the pictures contrast the boy's home life with the bleak forest. Overall, this is a wonderful book, appropriate for all ages.

I purchased Eli Remembers intending to use it as part of a unit on the Holocaust that my 6th grade homeschoolers will be doing this fall. The book is beautifully illustrated, the text gentle. This book is wonderfully appropriate for the 6 to 9 year old child who has Holocaust survivors in his family.

Unfortunately, as a teaching tool for children in the suggested 9-12 age group (4th to 7th grade) Eli Remembers does not fit the bill. The book provides few details about or explanation of the Holocaust other than the single event that has caused Eli's great grandmother such distress for so many years and there is no first hand testimony to make up for that lack.

All in all, beautifully done, but a book that most educators will want to skip in favor of Hana's Suitcase

Who will tell the story when the survivors are gone? Although there is a Second Generation group, not all are able or willing to be messengers, which is why this book will affect readers of all ages. Ever since young Eli can remember, the first evening of Rosh Hashanah, a happy holiday, included the lighting of seven, not two candles, and then tears--first from his great grandparents, later, from his grandparents; and even in his own home -always the same thing. No one ever answered his question: "Why?" Finally, his parents told him that they were all going to visit the town where great-grandmother Gussie had come from, in Lithuania. It was at that time, in that place, in good time, that the reason for the tears is revealed to him--and he, Eli, promises to assume the obligation to tell their story. The text is spare and sensitive; the illustrations are so powerful, so tuned to the momentum of the story--that I can truthfully say that they are perfect. This is a wonderful book. Ages 10 - adult. Reviewed by Marcia Posner

When Eli's family lights seven candles at Rosh Hashanah, he wonders why his great-grandmother is so sad. Upon his repeated inquiries into the cause of her tears, his mother replies, "Some things are too difficult to talk about." The year after his great-grandparents died, the Jewish New Year is celebrated at his grandparents' house - with the seven candles and tears. When the dinner is finally celebrated at his house, Eli still finds the family puzzlingly sad. His family ultimately takes a trip to Lithuania, his great-grandmother's childhood home. After pleasant experiences, Eli is taken to the Ponar Forest to the place where his great-great-grandfather and six great uncles and aunts were killed by the Nazis.

Eli performs a small, touching ceremony and promises his grandfather that he will always remember.


This is a picture book for older children about the Holocaust. The subject matter is much too difficult for younger children, but young people from the age of eight can begin to learn from it gradually as the young protagonist does. Both the text and gray-toned, lovely watercolors are understated. This book deals with a terrible subject with sensitivity.