Along the Tracks (Hardcover)

by Tamar Bergman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Rarely is YA historical fiction this immediate and involving. Yankele, a Jewish boy in Lodz, is six years old when the Nazis invade Poland, and his parents take him and his sister on a weeks-long, dangerous trek into the Soviet Union--so vividly rendered that the reader can sense the hero's exhaustion, share his fear as bombs explode on the swarming route. The family finds safety from the Nazis if not a genuine haven: they suffer in a mining camp in the Urals for almost two years before Yankele's father is drafted to serve in the Russian army. As the war grows closer, Yankele's mother takes him and his sister on a refugee train bound for Kazakhstan. Then a catastrophe occurs that separates Yankele from the rest of his family. His ensuing odyssey leads him through the eastern Soviet republics, living among child gangs, in state orphanages or with kind strangers, and he is forced to develop hair-trigger reflexes. Carefully weaving historical details into this unforgettable adventure, Bergman, an Israeli who based this work on a true story, achieves a cinematic scope. Ages 11-14.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-- Escaping German persecution during World War II, eight-year-old Yankele and his Jewish family leave their Polish homeland to seek safety in Russia. Fleeing on foot, then by train, they find refuge in the Crimea, only to be displaced again when the Nazis invade the Soviet Union. Yankele is separated from his family, and begins an exhausting journey through villages and countryside, walking and riding on freight trains, trying to locate his mother. He befriends other "abandoned ones" who are trying to survive, and finds temporary shelter with another Jewish family, but remains determined to find his own family. Yankele's aching hunger is vivid, as is the moral dilemma he feels in justifying the need to steal to survive. Wartime experiences, which naturally mature a boy, are described in an honest manner without dwelling on particular scenes. Translated from Hebrew and based on a true story, the narrative shifts from third to first person a third of the way into the book. At first jarring, this switch makes sense as it starts when Yankele finds himself alone, resulting in a more personal, intense narrative. There are instances when the passage of time is unclear (to readers as well as to Yankele). Like Ephraim Sevela's We Were Not Like Other People (HarperCollins, 1989) and Yoko Kawashima Watkins' So Far from the Bamboo Grove (Lothrop, 1986), Bergman poignantly shows the pain of separation and the remarkable determination of youth to survive. --Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395553288
• ISBN-13: 978-0395553282
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,714,407 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Along the Tracks, March 1, 2001

By A Customer

In my opinion, Along the Tracks is a good book. You find yourself on the edge of your seat numerous times, not to mention not being able to put the book down. Along the Tracks also has a very happy ending, which I happen to like.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Along the Tracks, December 10, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Along the Tracks (Sandpiper paperbacks) (Paperback)

Along the Tracks is a book about a boy named Yankele, and he also is called Yasha through the second half of the book. It starts out Yankele and his family living in Lodz, where the German army had invaded after conquering Poland. Yankele's family started moving on, trying to get to Russia. When they finally got to the border, the Nazis wouldn't let them in, so they had to stay outside for a while. Soon, all of the Jewish people there had flooded the Nazi guards, and Yankele's family got inside Russia. They lived there for a while, and Yankele's father joined the Red Army, and he fought in the war against the Germans. Soon Russia was taken over and Yankele's family was forced to leave, taking a train to Warsaw. After they got there they had to take yet another train out, and Yankele and his mother and sister got separated when someone bombed the train. A man helped Yankele for a while, until the next train station, then they left each other. Yankele was on his own for a very long time, staying with a group of thieves and stealing to live.
After a while, Yankele was helping an old lady who couldn't get certain things, like coal from coal piles at the train tracks. Soon, the old lady told him of a lady who lost a boy - one that would be thirteen, which Yankele was. Yankele was thirteen years old, and he looked like he was seven. That was his mom in the black market, and he stayed with her for a while. Eventually, he would get tired of staying in one place and would wander, then come back and stay with his mother. This was a very good book, I liked it a lot and it went by very fast. It was by Tamar Bergman, and translated from the Hebrew by Michael Swirsky.
Nick, Madison OH.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever!!!, May 24, 2001

By	Eileen Manusos "talktoem" (Elk Grove Village, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Along the Tracks (Sandpiper paperbacks) (Paperback)

I loved this book! It totally sucked me in from the moment I opened it. It's about a young boy's experiences being separated from his family during the Holocaust. His adventures are amazing! He has to overcome his friends dying, hunger, disease, poverty, separation, and even love. And I can't believe it all really happened to a real person!!!