Customer Reviews

The Number on My Grandfather's Arm

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In "The Number on My Grandfather's Arm" a young girl tells the story of her grandfather. He's a quiet, thoughtful man, and obviously kind, but he has the strange habit of always wearing a long sleeved shirt, even during the heat of the summer.

One night when her parents go out for the evening and grandpa is washing up the dishes, the girl notices a large set of numbers tattooed on his forearm. When she asks him what they are, he quickly covers the numbers up. "It's time you told her", the girl's mother says, coming into the kitchen.

Grandpa leads her to the living room and carefully begins to tell her the story of where those numbers came from. He explains about Hitler: "he was a wild man. He waved his arms and shouted about the Jews. And, when he shouted, thousands of people shouted, too." He tells her how the Jews were beaten, sometimes killed, forced to wear yellow stars, and-- most monstrous of all-- how they were shipped off to concentration camps and labled as "enemies of the state." With tears in his eyes, he tells her how the Jews were often tortured, beaten or killed. "'I was one of the lucky ones,' Grandpa said. `I survived.'" In the end, the little girl tells her grandfather that it is the Nazis who should be ashamed of what happened, not him, and he re-rolls his sleeves up to go back and take care of those dinner dishes.

"The Number on My Grandfather's Arm" is a powerful story, made all the more so because it is illustrated with B&W photographs not only of the girl and her grandfather, but of Hitler and of the persecuted Jews. One very powerful photo is of a disheveled, clearly hungry man with his fingers laced through a chain-link fence and a yellow star sewn to his jacket. For an adult, it is a haunting image and for a child I imagine it would provoke many questions.

The book is short and sparsely illustrated, but will undoubtedly pose many questions for the young reader than it will answer, chief among them "how did this happen?" (a question a good many scholars and academics are STILL asking today). Mr. Adler does not answer this Big Question for us, presumably leaving it up to the parents/families of the reader to explain in their own way man's cruelty to other men and how an atrocity like the Holocaust could happen in the first place. The history of the persecution of the Jews and WWII is very short and simplified in this short book, but this is to be expected considering that the book is written for very young children.

If I have any criticism about the book it is with the illustrations. For a work of this magnitude-- that is, one that will inevitably ask more questions than it answers and is clearly about the Big Issues-- I would have expected more photographs and for them to be in color. The story, while well written, seems much more sparse and almost dated by the use of the B&W photos. Still, it's an important work and one that is highly recommended for sparking discussion about this terrible and pivotal period in world history.

A grandfather responds to a young girl's inquiry about the number that is tatooed on his forearm. Includes actual black and white photos from the Jewish Holocaust. Get your hands on an earlier edition, if possible !!! This new edition has been censored. The editors removed an extremely provocative photo that added to the impact of the story : A Nazi soldier pointing his rifle at an anguished young woman clutching her baby !!! We shelve this book in the Non-fiction with other Holocaust materials. It is NOT intended for "Picture Books." An example of the typical underestimation of kids' intelligence.

I used this story in my classroom to introduce the Holocaust. It was hard to get through because I got so emotional when I read it. It really is a strong, emotional story. It is a great story to use for introducing students to the Holocaust.

This is a 27-page picture book. A grandfather explains tohisgranddaughter how he received the tattooed number on his arm duringhis internment at Auschwitz. True story of a Polish holocaust survivor. Brief but good description of the holocaust and treatment of the Jews. Photographs illustrate this book, some from WWII.

How do you "explain" something like the Holocaust? Something so hard to understand, evil too monstrous to imagine.... How do you explain that to a child? Yet "telling the story" is powerful and important. This book is a wonderful start to the conversation. It's very honest, very real, and it doesn't pretend to have more answers than it has. It's a tool to open the discussion, and it gives a "first hand" telling of the events to children. The child will identify with the grandaughter and can share her experience of trying to process such wretched truth. Childlike truth does rise up as the little girl declares, "It's the Nazi's that should be ashamed." So true. Tell the tale; honor the deceased as you share truth, history, and compassion with another generation. This book is a wonderful aid for that important step.