Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught In War And Conflict [Mass Market Paperback]

Laurel Holliday (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

True stories...
Real voices...

"The day for deportation arrived. We knew our end was near." -- Janina Heshele, Poland

From the centuries-old enmities of Northern Ireland, to the Holocaust and World War II, to the Israel-Palestine conflict, young people share their innermost secrets of growing up.

"I'm not allowed to go out with Neil, but the attraction is there between us. I realise that here in Northern Ireland relationships between Catholics and Protestants are strained. But should religion affect how you view a person?" -- Lisa Burrows, Northern Ireland

Unable to talk openly, these young people took refuge in writing. Often they had to hide their journals and set down their thoughts in secret.

"The Intifada -- that was the start of my grown-up life....The echoes, the ghosts, and the voices make me wonder: Will I ever be able to forgive and forget? Will time ever bury such a tragedy and help me to start over again as a normal human being?" -- Ghareeb, the West Bank

On these pages they vividly record their experiences and offer eyewitness accounts of fear and courage, tragedy and triumph.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-In a compilation of excerpts from three of her previous books, Holliday offers a cross-section of moving, thought-provoking, and sometimes heart-wrenching first-person narratives. They are reminiscences and diary entries of teens who endured persecution, war, and civil conflict. Each piece is introduced by a brief biographical sketch and, in cases where the author actually interviewed the person, her own thoughts and commentary. The conflicts included vary greatly in time and location: World War II and the Holocaust, the sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland beginning in 1969, and the Arab-Israeli conflicts beginning in 1948. Readers will be caught up by the immediacy of these narratives and impressed by the courage and emotional strength of youth coping with dangers over which they have no control. A simple black-and-white map shows where the writers lived during their experiences. Remembrances of Holocaust survivors and victims exist in abundance but this collection's value lies in its inclusion of voices and experiences from other conflicts as well. The entries in the "In Their Own Voices" series (Rosen) are briefer and tend to focus on the adjustment to life in the U.S.
Douglas Wooley, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Holliday has edited three adult books in which children speak of growing up in a war zone: one about children during the Holocaust and World War II; one about "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland; one about Israel and Palestine. In this paperback, she includes excerpts from those books, in three separate sections. Each section is complete in itself, with a thoughtful introduction to the history, politics, and moral issues of the region. The children speak in secret diaries, letters, essays, and memoirs. They are anguished, sometimes raging, sometimes hopeful, but there's no easy, upbeat solution. Of course, there's always the danger of calling every racial problem a holocaust, but having children's experiences from several places in one book opens connections for the Holocaust curriculum as well as for group discussion about tolerance in the neighborhood and on the international front. Hazel Rochman

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671034545
• ISBN-13: 978-0671034542
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,736,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest!, November 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught In War And Conflict (Mass Market Paperback)

I love this book. It has true stories about real kid'sstories in war. The stories are so sad with all the religousdiscrmination. It makes me feel that I take all things in life forgranted.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Was Great!, November 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught In War And Conflict (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was a great book! It's good for just reading and also for facts. I'm using it for a trem paper I have to do on the origins of conflict in Northern Ireland. It helped me alot. You can find out aboutThe Holocaust and World War 2, "The Troubles"in Noprthern Ireland, and The Isreli/Palestinian Confict. It was a great book. Allie

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, January 6, 2000

By 

David H. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught In War And Conflict (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this at our school book fair and it was great! If you liked "The Diary of Anne Frank," then you'd like this. It not only touched on the Holocaust and WWII, but the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Israel-Palestine Conflict. If you are interested in such things I would highly recommend this book. It won't take long to read but is worth all that is written.