Torn Thread [Hardcover]

Anne Isaacs (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

It is June 30, l943 in Bendin, Poland. Twelve-year-old Eva has been hiding in an attic with her Papa as Nazi's ravage what was once her safe, comfortable town. Now the store windows are boarded up and Nazi signs warn against buying goods from Jewish merchants. Three weeks ago, her sister Rachael was snatched from the street by German soldiers and forced to work in a Nazi labor camp in Czechoslovakia. Tonight, to save Eva from certain death in Auschwitz, Papa tells her he is sending her, voluntarily, to the labor camp where her sister is imprisoned. There the girls must live out the war years as prisoners, making clothing and blankets for the Nazis. How the girls find the strength and courage to keep going under these extraordinary circumstances makes for a moving and unforgettable story.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

HIn a noteworthy departure, Isaacs (Swamp Angel; Treehouse Tales) turns her considerable literary gifts to a painful subjectDher mother-in-law's experiences as a teenage prisoner of a Nazi campDand transforms it into a powerful work of fiction. Like most stories of survival, this one is marked by unlikely turns and conjunctions, which, taken together, preserve the protagonist's life. Eva Buchbinder, 12 years old in 1943, has recently been forced into the Jewish ghetto in Bedzin, Poland, along with her father and sickly older sister, Rachel. After Rachel is seized in a roundup, Eva's father (who has, like other Jews, been forced to work for the Germans without pay) asks the commandant at his worksite to find out exactly where Rachel has been sentDand to have Eva sent there as well. Soon Eva is transported to a slave labor camp in Czechoslovakia, where she indeed finds Rachel. The conditions are terrible: starvation rations, dangerous conditions at the textile factory where they work, rampant disease and, always, the threat of deportation to Auschwitz. Eva struggles internally as well, trying her best to protect the frail Rachel, keeping from Rachel the news that the Bedzin ghetto has been liquidated and weighing the invitation of a fellow-prisoner to join up with partisan fighters. Isaacs takes the measure of acts of casual cruelty or kindness and lets readers see the repercussions. Given its precise detail and sensitivity to unimaginable suffering, this gripping novel reads like the strongest of Holocaust memoirs. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-A riveting account of the experiences of two Polish-Jewish girls during World War II. Isaacs spares no details in describing the physical suffering and mental anguish of 12-year-old Eva and her 14-year-old sister Rachel during their two years in a labor camp in Czechoslovakia. Every day they worked 12 long hours in a hot, dusty mill spinning yarn for blankets and uniforms for Nazi soldiers, the clumsy machinery posing a constant threat to their safety. Exhausted by the hard work and suffering from malnutrition, inadequate clothing, severe weather, and frequent illness, the sisters manage to survive their desperate situation. Eva remembers her dear father's often repeated advice: "Try to stay alive for one more hour." She is resourceful and manages to secure extra bits of food by knitting for others. Despite almost starving, she remains obedient to her religious dietary laws. The prisoners help one another in time of need, and a kindly German supervisor in the mill protects girls who are too ill to work. These acts of kindness and friendship help to keep alive the hope that one day the war will end. And at long last the Soviet soldiers rescue them. After a time, the young women begin life anew in Canada. In a brief afterword, the author reveals that she heard the story from Eva herself, now her mother-in-law. This powerful testament to the human spirit provides much opportunity for discussion of this dark time in human history.
Virginia Golodetz, Children's Literature New England, Burlington, VT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590603639
• ISBN-13: 978-0590603638
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,789,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read It! It Will Open Your Eyes!, August 7, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Torn Thread (Hardcover)

I have always been interested in the holocaust. This is the first book that I have read about this subject. It is about a girl my age named Eva who lived through the holocaust. Her father sends her to a camp where she works in a factory. There at the camp she has to learn how to stay strong and not loose hope. She has to deal with starvation, illnesess and people dying all around her. After I read this book I couldn't believe how cruel people in the world can be. I won't tell you too much more because I don't want to ruin the book. I read this book and it opened my eyes and it will open yours too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling novel for young readers., September 19, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Torn Thread (Hardcover)

Eva has become used to life under Nazi rule in the Polish ghetto, and must face a new world when she and her sister are taken from their father and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp in Czechoslovakia. Forced to endure harsh conditions there, Eva's world revolves around keeping her frail sister alive and longing for their family's reunion. A compelling novel for young readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a review about the book Torn Thread, December 9, 2001

By 

Heather (Madison) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Torn Thread (Hardcover)

Torn Thread was a great book. It had so much details, I couldn't
put it down. It's about two sisters that get torn apart, then reunited. In the concentration camp they meet. When the Holocaust is over they stay at the camp, then find an apartment. They also find that their father has died. Evas hair also grows back when it gets caught inside the textile machine. She gets hospitalized for a few days. Then returns to the mill. They grow up and their daughter-in-law writes the book Torn Thread. That is my review of one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life.