The Devil's Arithmetic

 

Author:	Jane Yolen
Title:	The Devil's Arithmetic
Illustrator:	N/A
Readability Score:	Grade Level: 5.1  Guided Reading: X   DRA:60    Lexile Measure: 730L
Genre:	Fiction
Subgenre:	Historical
Theme:	Holocaust WWII
Primary and Secondary Characters:	Hannah, Holocaust Survivors
Awards: Nebula Award 1988, Jewish Book Council Award & Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award 1989, Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award 1997
Publishing Company:	Puffin trade paperback
ISBN Number:	0-14-034535-3
Summary and How would you use the book: The book begins with Hannah not wanting to attend another Passover meal with her family. She is tired of the same stories year after year. This year when she opens the door to symbolically greet Elijah, she is transported away to a rural village in Poland during WWII. After trying to explain who she is, she gives up and accepts that she is now Chaya, a Jewish peasant girl. As the book continues, she realizes she is in the year 1942 and about to be taken to a concentration camp. Hannah ends up offering her life to save another girl. Then, she finds herself back at home staring blankly out the door she had opened for Elijah. She now understands the heartache and pain her grandfather had experienced.
Picture of Book Cover:
Description of how you would use the book: Maybe use this to introduce the Holocaust to younger children and help them paint the picture of times from then without being so graphic.