Under the Domim Tree [Hardcover]

Gila Almagor (Author), Hillel Schenker (Translator)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up

In a youth village on Israel's coastal plain, just after World War II, Aviya and her friends, Yola and Mira, share the common sorrow of longing for lost families and struggle together to make new lives for themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Almagor, a celebrated Israeli actress, draws on her own adolescence for this absorbing, deeply moving novel set in an Israeli "youth village" in 1953. Most of the other young people at Udim are orphans of the Holocaust; Aviya, the narrator, still has her mother, but she is so traumatized by unstated wartime experiences that she cannot care for her daughter. Despite their unimaginably painful pasts, Aviya and her friends are sturdy and optimistic-even in the face of shocking new developments. Timid, withdrawn Yola becomes a type of conduit for everyone's innermost longings after her father is discovered in Warsaw; when he dies from overexcitement before their reunion, Yola summons up unexpected resources of grace and courage. Mira, the only hostile girl in the group, receives the community's wholehearted support when she denies the claims of two Auschwitz survivors who say they are her parents. Sensitively related in Aviya's fresh voice, the extreme nature of these events seems fully believable. It is impossible to come away from this novel without added insight into the impact of war-and admiration for those who endure its horrors. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8?Nine years after the end of World War II, the residents of Udim, a youth village in Israel, are emotionally vulnerable but working to build a new life. As survivors of the Holocaust, they still dare to hope that a missing parent will be found or a sibling restored to them. What happens to one effects them all so that when Yola's father is miraculously found alive in Warsaw, the whole community prepares for her trip and mourns with her when tragedy strikes. A new girl alienates the group when she refuses to cooperate with her roommates, a necessity if communal living is to work. When she is threatened by a couple falsely claiming to be her parents, the community rallies to her support and she, in turn, learns to trust again. Except for the narrator, a sabra whose mother suffers from severe depression and whose father is dead, the characters are not explored in depth. The translation is sometimes rough and awkward. What comes through loud and clear is the emotional truth of simple, but important, things such as knowing where your father is buried and witnessing the blossoming of hundreds of bulbs given to the village by the Dutch government.?Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671890204
• ISBN-13: 978-0671890209
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,489,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Very nice book, March 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Under the Domim Tree (Hardcover)

This book by Gila Almagor is a very nice book.It is about a youth village in Udim, Israel and it takes place after World War II.It is mainly the story of three girls who undergo either a tragic event or a very close one. The only problems I had with the book were the names, that are very hard to pronounce and I couldn't remember who was who. It is an easy read, you'll like to read it, even if you are not jewish. But I strongly recommend it to jewish people since they can relate to the book. But I am not jewish and I liked it.