Jacob's Rescue [Hardcover]

Malka Drucker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1993 | Age Level: 10 and up

After escaping from the ghetto in which his family is imprisoned, Jewish boy Jacob Gutgelt lives for four years passing as a non-Jew, struggling through the daily terror of being caught.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Marissa squirmed in her seat with a stomach crying out for food," begins this fact-based novel about a Polish family that hides two Jewish brothers during WW II. Unfortunately, such prose frequently blunts the life-and-death urgency of Drucker and Halperin's subject matter as well as their evocation of the terror and courage of their protagonists. The most heroic gestures don't quite ring true--for example, Alex Roslan, the head of the Polish family, sells his apartment to the first person he meets when Jacob, one of the Jewish boys, needs an operation and a bribe is required to quiet the nurse. The authors, furthermore, often inject composition-class-style conclusions into their narrative ("The juxtaposition of amusement and death left him without words"). They are much better at the smaller moments: when Alex brings home a single white roll and gives it to Jacob, the boy avoids looking at Alex's little daughter ("She must hate me. . . . I guess I don't blame her"); one of Jacob's brothers joins him in hiding, and Jacob's relief quickly turns to jealousy. Enough of these moments exist to engage the reader's imagination, if not to infuse the story with unflappable authenticity. Ages 7-11.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-- The year that she is eight, Marissa asks a fifth question at the family Passover Seder. She wants to know who the two guests are who have been staying with her family; they are participating in and enjoying the Seder, and they're "not even Jewish." The response is what her father calls a story from the heart, the story of how Alex and Mela Roslan saved him and his brother during the Holocaust. The remainder of the book is that story, set in Poland between 1941-1945. Characters are well developed and multidimensional, and the story is a poignant one. While it might be difficult for today's readers to understand the kind of heroism and goodness demonstrated by the Roslan family, who risked their lives every day to protect children who were not even related to them, they will become immersed in another time and place. Powerful emotions are described and presented in an understandable format. This is a fictionalized account of a true story and real people; unfortunately, no mention is made of the relationship between the authors and the characters. --Susan Kaminow, Arlington County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 117 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553089765
• ISBN-13: 978-0553089769
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,005,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for fifth grade., May 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jacob's Rescue (Paperback)

As a fifth grade teacher I read Jacob's Rescue for the first time with my class after our reading teacher spoke so highly of it. She and I will continue to include it each year. It is a great book to spark an interest in fifth graders about the Holocaust. The fact that it is based on true events manages to hit home that this awful and tragic event ACTUALLY happened.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Holocaust was terrifying for young Jacob, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jacob's Rescue (Hardcover)

We are the most excellent and often noisy class of 5T from Holland Elementary School in Holland, MA. We read Jacob's Rescue for literature study in our unit on the Holocaust. The book we just read is about when a Polish family tries to keep alive three Jewish brothers during the Nazi occupation in World War II. The story is about a boy who was saved, along with his brother, from the Warsaw ghetto. They lived with a family, but they still felt scared of the Nazis. The book tells about the terrifying encounters with the Nazis. There are several reasons why we liked this book. It tells in great detail what happened to regular people during the Nazi occupation. We liked the part about when the family fled Warsaw because we were glad that they were able to escape to safety. We liked Jacob's Rescue because it was an emotional and realistic book. It made some of us cry when people died. It made some of us shout for joy when people got away from the Nazi invasion. Some of us had a few criticisms of the book. Because the book was so realistic there was a lot of violence and death. Some of us did not like that. People were blown up, people lay in puddles of blood, and a dead dog was dragged away to be someone's dinner. Some of us also felt the pace of the book was too rapid; the book lacked detail because it moved too quickly. At one point they skipped two years in Jacob's life. We got a little confused about characters' ages at different points in the book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jacobs Rescue, January 1, 2003

By 

allison (ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jacob's Rescue (Hardcover)

the true story about the holocaust was wonderful! the authors kept you interested through each chapter! since jacob is a jewish boy forced into hiding with the roslans who are polish, he is given the name genyek. many exciting events take place in the story inculding two deaths in alex's family. I love the book which i did a big report on . I found it made me understand the holocaust better than i did before!