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Sunday, December 12, 2010
Through Mother's Poisiealbum, Levy Makes Holocaust Personal
1:00 AM
(Image from Indiebound)
For 12-year-old Jutta Salzberg, 1938 is a year of giggling with her classmates, exercising at the gymnastics club, and collecting messages from friends in her poesiealbum (like an autograph book). It's also a year of goodbyes. As Hitler's power grows, Germany's Jewish population diminishes, meaning Jutta's friends are disappearing one by one. Some escape to foreign lands, some simply vanish. While Jutta's family waits anxiously for clearance to travel to America, she turns to her autograph book for solace. Her friends may be gone, but she can still enjoy the sentiments preserved inside the pages of her album. The messages recall happier times, times Jutta hopes will come again soon.
In The Year of Goodbyes, children's author Debbie Levy uses real entries from her mother's poesiealbum to describe the older woman's experience as a Jewish girl coming of age in Nazi Germany. The story, told in verse interspersed with snippets from the album, captures the confusion, anger and abject terror felt by children grappling with a world that's become suddenly and horrifyingly hostile. The tale grows especially poignant when Jutta mourns her lost pals, not knowing that many of the girls are gone forever, brutally murdered in concentration camps. Equally as disturbing are the day-to-day occurrences suffered by Jutta and her friends - they are not allowed to eat at certain restaurants, patronize certain shops, play at some playgrounds or study at some libraries; they are segregated from their Aryan classmates; they are forced to change their names if they sound too Jewish; and, of course, they are forcibly removed from their homes, packed into trains and shipped off to certain death. Because Jutta avoids this grim fate, she's able to relate her history to her daughter many years later, giving us valuable insight into the plight of Jewish Germans during the Holocaust.
Still, because of the fact that Jutta and her family are able to flee Germany, escaping the kind of suffering that ripped others' hearts to shreds, her tale doesn't carry the same weight as, say, Anne Frank's. Compared to many Holocaust survivor tales, Jutta's is, in fact, rather anticlimatic. Still, the poesiealbum entries keep the account personal, reminding us of the delicate innocence the Nazis continually ground to dust under their shiny jackboots. Despite all that, the story also speaks of hope, of "feeling the Nazi hate/and laughing with your girlfriends anyway" (5). While the book didn't move me as much as other Holocaust memoirs, I found The Year of Goodbyes to be a quick, compelling read about friendship, fear and fortitude.
(Readalikes: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust by Lola Rein Kaufman with Lois Metzger; and Rutka's Notebook: A Voice From the Holocaust by Rutka Laskier)
Grade: C
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG; While stories about The Holocaust can never be rated anything less than R for senseless violence and abject horror, The Year of Goodbyes is written with a young audience in mind. It discusses mature themes, but they are described in a PG manner that should be suitable for children ages 8+.
To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of The Year of Goodbyes from the always generous folks at Disney/Hyperion. Thank you!
Friday, December 10, 2010
A Sniffly, Sleepy Friday Hop
11:18 AM
I usually don't post twice in one day, but I wanted to chat up the Book Blogger Hop before I crawl into bed. I've been (unsuccessfully) fighting a cold, so I'm officially admitting defeat and taking a nap. The baby's sleeping, the big kids won't be home from school for a couple of hours, the house is nice and quiet - yep, I'd say it's a solid plan.
This week's question is: What do you like most about reading book blogs?
- For me, it's all about camaraderie. I love interacting with people who love books as much as I do. It's fun to "meet" so many other readers, peek into their lives (and bookshelves) and swap comments, reviews and recommendations. It's just fun!
If you want to join the Hop, head over to Crazy for Books to get all the details. If you're visiting from the Hop, thanks for stopping by. Please leave me a comment so I can return the favor.
Happy weekend, everybody!
Labels:Book Blogger Hop | 10
bookworm(s) said...
Who Needs Candy Canes and Mistletoe When You've Got Zombies?
1:00 AM
(Image from Indiebound)
I don't know about you, but nothing gets me in the holiday spirit quite like ... zombies. Something about rotting flesh, vacant eyes and gaping, hungry mouths just says Christmas to me. Okay, maybe not, but I wanted to read Rot & Ruin, Jonathan Maberry's YA horror novel, before the year ended. Even if its content is more suited to October than December.
The story takes place in central California, 14 years after a zombie outbreak decimates the country's human population. Small enclaves of the living remain, their makeshift towns dotted throughout the state, probably the whole U.S., maybe even the world. Fifteen-year-old Benny Imura wouldn't know; he's lived inside the thick walls of Mountainside his whole life. He knows about the living dead, of course, but he's never been foolish enough to venture beyond the town into their territory. Although its littered with signs of human habitation - smashed cars, crumbling buildings, abandoned homes - the great Rot and Ruin no longer belongs to the living. Only armed bounty hunters journey out into the wasteland, and then only to scavenge for supplies or complete contracted zombie kills. Everyone else stays inside the walls. Safe.
Zoms really aren't Benny's problem. Sure, he collects the trading cards, listens to hired guns brag about their kills, and practices defensive maneuvers in Scouts, but he's content to keep his distance from the brainless monsters. Benny's got enough to worry about. If he doesn't find a job - and soon - his food rations will be cut. The prospect propels him to search for a fulfilling career, something other than the family zombie killing business. Only no one seems to be hiring scrawny kids with poor eyesight. Resigning himself to an apprenticeship with the most boring bounty hunter in town (who happens to be his big brother, Tom), Benny sets about learning the grisly art of executing zombies for cash. It wouldn't be so bad if his teacher was a celebrity hunter like Charlie Matthias, who's always swapping cool hunting tales down at Lafferty's General Store. But it's not. It's his goody-to-shoes older brother. The rest of the town respects Tom's gentle ways, but Benny knows something no one else does - despite his impressive sword-fighting skills, Tom's a coward, the last person on Earth who should be dishing out advice.
As little as Benny respects his brother, spending time with Tom opens his eyes to things he's never even considered before. He learns that things and people are not always what they seem; that zombies aren't the only creatures to fear in the Rot and Ruin; and that true heroes are those who don't let their nightmarish living conditions steal their humanity. What he sees outside of Mountainside will change him. Forever.
While most of Rot & Ruin can be described as typical horror novel fare, there is one thing that sets it apart - the characters' empathy for the zoms. Tom's idea of euthanizing zoms calmly and compassionately is not a concept I've seen explored before in zombie lit. It makes for an interesting aside. The main focus, though, is action, and there's plenty of it. Gore, too. The book's more than bloody enough to satisfy young horror fans without getting as graphic as, say, a Stephen King epic. Even still, the plot sags at times, the players have some cheesy interactions, and the writing's nothing special. All in all, though, it's a quick, enjoyable read. More ghosts and goblins than candy canes and Santa Claus, but still ...
(Readalikes: The Passage by Justin Cronin; The Enemy by Charlie Higson; I Am Legend by Richard Matheson; and The Forest of Hands and Teeth and sequels by Carrie Ryan)
Grade: C
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), gore, and some sexual innuendo
To the FTC, with love: Another library
finefind
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Quirky Debut Unique, Funny and Utterly Authentic
1:00 AM
(Image from Indiebound)When 15-year-old Lucas Swain meets 75-year old Violet Park, he feels an instant spark. Even though he has nothing in common with the elderly lady, it's like destiny has brought them together. He also gets the feeling that Violet's trying to tell him something, that she can't rest until she communicates it to him. The only problem? Violet Park died 18 months ago. The vibes Lucas feels are coming from her urn, which is gathering dust on the shelf of a minicab office in London.
Lucas has always been odd - he mumbles to himself and dresses in his father's old suits - but he's not crazy. He doesn't just go around talking to dead people and corpses don't usually start up conversations with him. Still, he can't deny the bond he feels with Violet. It's so powerful that he steals her urn, probes Violet's past, even visits the home where she used to live. When his obsession with the dead woman leads Lucas to a real, live connection between her and his missing father, he begins to think his crazy quest might not be so insane after all. He's been after the truth behind his father's disappearance for 6 years - now, it looks like Violet's going to help him find it. The only question is: Does he want to know the truth? And can he trust the voice of a dead woman to lead him to it?
Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine is a quirky book that's hard to define. It's not quite paranormal, but it's not entirely realistic either. I guess it's just its own thing. Unique and funny, the story is about grief, truth, and navigating one's own way through life's little messes. As unconventional as the novel is, I found it entirely appealing. The only thing that bugged me was Lucas' constant, casual references to using marijuana. It irritated me not only because I'm against illegal drug use, but also because the weed mentions seemed to be thrown in as an afterthought to make Lucas seem more relatable to teens. Ridiculous. Lucas Swain's voice is one of the most authentic I've encountered in recent YA literature. Other than that minor annoyance, I adored this funny little book about a boy, a ghost and a wacky, but poignant search for the truth.
(Readalikes: I really can't think of one. Can you?)
Grade: B+
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), sexual innuendo and references to illegal drug use
To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Me, the Missing, and the Dead from the generous folks at Harper Teen. Thank you!
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