Let Sleeping Dogs Lie [Hardcover]

Mirjam Pressler (Author), Erik J. Macki (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

Johanna's family owns the largest clothing store in town. Her grandfather founded it and built it up with his own hands - at least that's the family legend. But when Johanna travels to Israel on a class project in 1995, she finds out that the Lewin family originally owned the store. She learns that in the course of "aryanization" during the Nazi regime, her grandfather legally acquired the company according to the anti-Semitic laws of the Third Reich. Joanna is worried: her family's wealth is obviously founded on injustice. Should she keep silent, or can she wake the sleeping dogs?

Her grandfather's sudden death follows soon after her discovery, and so she embarks on a further investigation, discovering that he was an enthusiastic Nazi supporter! Johanna confronts her aggressively defensive father, their arguments escalate, and it almost comes to a falling-out. Yet, it is an eye-opening fight and marks Johanna's entrance into adulthood as she is left with many questions and with her own life to sort out.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

There are shelves of Holocaust books about victims, perpetrators, rescuers, and bystanders; but what about those who profited from the genocide? What happened to the property the Jews left behind? Pressler takes a look at the question through the viewpoint of a contemporary German 18-year-old, Johanna, who is shocked to discover that her wealthy family’s prosperous clothing store was confiscated from Jewish owners and given to her Nazi grandfather more than 50 years ago.When her grandfather hangs himself, leaving her a large sum of money, her furious father refuses to talk about it. Should she give the money to the elderly Holocaust survivor she meets in Israel, whose family once owned the store? The story, originally published in German, is long and ruminative, but the translation stays true to Johanna’s viewpoint as she fights with her dad, has sex with her boyfriend, and realizes that, while she must do something about the past, she can never put things right. The history and the issues will spark discussion. Grades 8-12. --Hazel Rochman

Review

It's 1995 in Germany, and eighteen-year-old Johanna has been changed irrevocably by a school trip to Israel for a history project that involved interviewing old alumnae of their school. Since then her grandfather has committed suicide (as did his wife thirty years previously), and Johanna is struggling with new revelations about her family history: the family store was bought cheap in 1938 from oppressed Jews seeking to flee the country, and her grandfather had the opportunity to buy it because of his established status in the Nazi party. The story is deliberately paced and the exposition is elliptical, realistic in the way that characters rarely bother to explain references that eventually become clear to the reader through greater exploration and consideration, and the result is a gradual teasing out of Johanna's familial history that keeps pace with our deepening knowledge of the family. Johanna's quandary is a gripping one, and it's explored with sensitivity but also fairness and sad practicality: the narration acknowledges the impossibility of reparation even as it condemns the refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing - even though that acknowledgment is only a start, not a solution. Characters are clear and rounded, with the book speaking skillfully in specific, individual terms; even Johanna's sexual experience involves a personification of the political when she has an encounter with the grandson of the woman whose store her grandfather conveniently acquired. Books for young people have rarely directly addressed the moral issues surrounding the legacy of historical sins; this thoughtful and provocative volume will elicit plenty of discussion about American historical heritage as well as European. --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 207 pages
• Publisher: Front Street Press (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932425845
• ISBN-13: 978-1932425840
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Insights, Nicely Written, December 3, 2009

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s.5 "spenceronehalf" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (Hardcover)

Young adult literature dealing with serious historical themes can be hard to find, but this book does an excellent job. The style caught me immediately as new and different, and I loved the characters. This book would be a great addition to any social studies curriculum, I'm guessing, as it fills out personal aspects of history that sometimes get lost.