Mara's Stories: Glimmers in the Darkness [Hardcover]

Gary Schmidt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001 | Age Level: 10 and up

A testament to the power of stories, and how they may bring hope even in times of darkness.

"Everyone gathers around, and from her lips to their ears the stories go, and for a little while the camp disappears, and for a little while they are all free."

As night falls, the women gather their children to listen to Mara tell her stories. They are stories of light and hope and freedom, stories of despair and stories of miracles, stories of expected pain and stories of unexpected joy--all told in the darkness of the concentration camp barracks.

Through extensive research noted in the back of the book, Gary Schmidt has skillfully woven together stories from such sources as the Jewish religious scholar, Martin Buber, Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel; and folklorists, Steve Zeitlin and Yaffa Eliach.

Combining lore of the past with tales born in the concentration camps, Mara's stories speak to us from a time that must never be forgotten.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-This collection framed as tales told within the concentration camps by a young woman named Mara is not completely successful as a cohesive whole. The book includes holocaust tales as well as traditional rabbinical stories set at that time. The selections range from accounts of escapes from being put into the camps to finding hope within the camps to betrayals and choices. Some are truly transcendent while others are simply filler. The use of Mara as a storyteller seems artificial and takes away from the power of the stories. Most of them could be used in a classroom situation, although they may be more useful in a religious setting than in a secular one. Schmidt includes extensive source notes for each story, giving the origins and explaining how he has changed some of them for this book. Hazel Rochman and Darlene Z. McCampbell's Bearing Witness: Stories of the Holocaust (Orchard, 1995) remains the best collection for children, but libraries with a strong Jewish patronage and a need for additional Holocaust literature may want to add Mara's Stories.

Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-8. In the barracks of a concentration camp, a girl named Mara tells stories at night to the women and children to help push back the darkness. The deceptively simple tellings draw on the Hasidic tradition and range from legends of magical realism and trickster tales of escape to simple prayers. Some are folktales that actually grew up in the camps, with settings that include the roundups, the selections, even the gas chambers. The writing occasionally verges on the sentimental ("And he will always weep, my children. He will always weep"), but Mara's voice keeps things quiet, and for readers who want more background, Schmidt provides many pages of fascinating notes about the history and tradition he is drawing on. A few of the stories are unforgettable, rooted in the Yiddish idiom and in folklore and faith. With dark humor, the story "A Globe," barely two pages long, about the refugees who can't find a country to take them in, will make a powerful read-aloud for the Holocaust curriculum. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805067949
• ISBN-13: 978-0805067941
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,065,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary D. Schmidt is the author of the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. His most recent novel is The Wednesday Wars. He is a professor of English at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.