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Available
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Publication
Scholastic Press (2013), 272 pages
Description
Historical Fiction. Young Adult Fiction. HTML: A gripping novel based on the astonishing true story of a boy who survived ten concentration camps. Based on the true story by Ruth and Jack Gruener. Ten concentration camps. Ten different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner�??his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will�??and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside… (more)
Library's review
"Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz is a young adult novel, based on a true story: the experiences of Yanek Gruener, a young Polish Jew. It is the story of his determination to survive the horrors to which he is subjected as he is captured by the Nazis and moved from concentration camp to concentration
This book is probably one of the best introductions around for youngsters to acquaint them to this period of history. No punches are spared and the reader can not help but get involved. The feeling of relief that permeates the soul as the Americans advance and finally liberate the hapless prisoners is shared by the reader. - Betty S.
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camp. It is grim, it is a picture of what thousands of Jews went through as they struggled - both mentally and physically - to survive. It is well-done.This book is probably one of the best introductions around for youngsters to acquaint them to this period of history. No punches are spared and the reader can not help but get involved. The feeling of relief that permeates the soul as the Americans advance and finally liberate the hapless prisoners is shared by the reader. - Betty S.
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Awards
Nebraska Golden Sower Award (Nominee — 2015)
Georgia Children's Book Award (Finalist — Grades 4-8 — 2016)
Parents' Choice Book Award (2013)
Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Nominee — 2016)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2015)
Iowa Teen Award (Nominee — 2015)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — 2016)
Truman Readers Award (Nominee — 2016)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (Middle School — 2018)
Virginia Readers' Choice (Nominee — Middle School — 2016)
Golden Archer Award (Nominee — 2015)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Middle School — 2016)
Skipping Stones Honor Award (2014)
Isinglass Teen Read Award (Winner — 2015)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2014)
CCBC Choices (2014)
Young Adult Favorites Award (2014)
Tome Society It List (2014)
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
The Nazi atrocities towards anyone they believed to be their inferiors is something that students must continue to learn and study if we hope to avoid something similar in the future. Yet, it is such a tricky subject to approach when children are younger. The need to protect a child’s innocence
Geared towards children through grade nine, Prisoner B-3087 is written in such a way that readers of all ages can appreciate Yanek’s story and learn varying lessons from it. For those older readers, including adults, the full horrors of Yanek’s experiences are difficult to believe and to stomach. Yet, for younger readers, they will be able to gloss over the more morbid details and focus on Yanek’s personal narrative about keeping his sense of identity and his will to survive. Each element of his story is important and vital for starting discussions, but it allows those discussions to be age-appropriate in a way few novels about the Holocaust are.
This is not to say that Yanek’s narrative is not without its sense of the macabre. No story about the Holocaust can be without discussions of the gas chambers, the chimneys, the starvation, the cattle cars, the humiliation, and the sense of isolation that the Nazis utilized so well. Yanek witnesses and experiences things no one person should ever have to see in his or her life time, and he does not hide those experiences. Yet, as If to ease the emotional turmoil of his story, it is Yanek’s profound sense of identity and his all-encompassing drive to survive upon which a reader focuses his attention. It is this desire to live which leaves a reader filled with hope rather than despair.
One grows up learning about the atrocities of various concentration camps – Birkenau, Bergin-Belsen, Dachau, Auschwitz, and too many more to name. The thought of someone surviving one of those locations is difficult to imagine, but to have survived living in ten different labor and death camps is unfathomable, which makes Yanek’s story so effective. If anyone has a complete understanding of the Nazi methodology and mindset, it would be someone who understood how to play their games and did so to survive almost unbeatable odds. Even though Mr. Gratz mentions that there is a fictional element behind his tale, Yanek’s story is still one of profound courage and strength of mind. The facts remain that Yanek Gruener survived not only the Krakow ghetto, he survived not one but two death marches, multiple journeys by overcrowded cattle car, labor camps, death camps, sadistic camp commandants, fellow prisoners, total starvation, and the mental and physical games the Nazis employed to further subjugate their prisoners. He not only survived but continues to share his story with others as a lesson in fortitude and human depravity. This is ultimately what makes Prisoner B-3087 so effective for readers of any age.
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wars with the need to inform. Often this can result in a story that only hints at what happened, forcing children to infer the truth, if possible, or leaving the tougher questions for their teachers and parents to answer. Alan Gratz’s Prisoner B-3087 is one of the few novels that fully informs but does so without scarring or scaring its young readers.Geared towards children through grade nine, Prisoner B-3087 is written in such a way that readers of all ages can appreciate Yanek’s story and learn varying lessons from it. For those older readers, including adults, the full horrors of Yanek’s experiences are difficult to believe and to stomach. Yet, for younger readers, they will be able to gloss over the more morbid details and focus on Yanek’s personal narrative about keeping his sense of identity and his will to survive. Each element of his story is important and vital for starting discussions, but it allows those discussions to be age-appropriate in a way few novels about the Holocaust are.
This is not to say that Yanek’s narrative is not without its sense of the macabre. No story about the Holocaust can be without discussions of the gas chambers, the chimneys, the starvation, the cattle cars, the humiliation, and the sense of isolation that the Nazis utilized so well. Yanek witnesses and experiences things no one person should ever have to see in his or her life time, and he does not hide those experiences. Yet, as If to ease the emotional turmoil of his story, it is Yanek’s profound sense of identity and his all-encompassing drive to survive upon which a reader focuses his attention. It is this desire to live which leaves a reader filled with hope rather than despair.
One grows up learning about the atrocities of various concentration camps – Birkenau, Bergin-Belsen, Dachau, Auschwitz, and too many more to name. The thought of someone surviving one of those locations is difficult to imagine, but to have survived living in ten different labor and death camps is unfathomable, which makes Yanek’s story so effective. If anyone has a complete understanding of the Nazi methodology and mindset, it would be someone who understood how to play their games and did so to survive almost unbeatable odds. Even though Mr. Gratz mentions that there is a fictional element behind his tale, Yanek’s story is still one of profound courage and strength of mind. The facts remain that Yanek Gruener survived not only the Krakow ghetto, he survived not one but two death marches, multiple journeys by overcrowded cattle car, labor camps, death camps, sadistic camp commandants, fellow prisoners, total starvation, and the mental and physical games the Nazis employed to further subjugate their prisoners. He not only survived but continues to share his story with others as a lesson in fortitude and human depravity. This is ultimately what makes Prisoner B-3087 so effective for readers of any age.
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LibraryThing member hemlokgang
10 concentration camps! He survived! And it is true. The horror of the Holocaust never ceases to amaze and horrify. Yet, the human spirit is resilient beyond belief! Good book.
LibraryThing member librarybrandy
Fictionalized account (based on a true story) of a boy who survived 10 concentration camps in 4 years. This book was hailed as "the boys' Anne Frank" but had none of the heart. It's engrossing--not realizing it was based on fact I was waiting to see how it turned out--but reads as a factual
Still, I'd push this a hundred times over if I could make Boy in the Striped Pajamas go away forever.
Thanks, Netgalley.
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accounting of time rather than an emotional story.Still, I'd push this a hundred times over if I could make Boy in the Striped Pajamas go away forever.
Thanks, Netgalley.
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LibraryThing member skstiles612
I have read a lot of Holocaust books. I enjoy learning the history. It makes me grateful each day for what I have and the great country I live in. I am not sure I would have the courage and hope to survive the atrocities that Yanek had to survive. When all he saw around him was death, he chose to
This book was recommended to me by a student. I am so glad I listened to him. Our eighth grade team does a Holocaust unit each year. I am recommending this to them as a book to add to their unit. This is a definite must read for young and old alike.
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survive.This book was recommended to me by a student. I am so glad I listened to him. Our eighth grade team does a Holocaust unit each year. I am recommending this to them as a book to add to their unit. This is a definite must read for young and old alike.
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LibraryThing member ewyatt
Had a great discussion with book club students about Yanek's journey during the Holocaust. He just went from ghetto to camp to camp to death march to camp on his quest to survive the Nazis. The story is compelling and based on the story of a survivor. The journey is harrowing and Yanek at times
A moving story about a boy's ordeals during the Holocaust.
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waffles between wanting to survive and wanting it to end. A moving story about a boy's ordeals during the Holocaust.
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LibraryThing member Bookman1954
"Based on the true story by Ruth and Jack Gruener." | "While the story of Jack Gruener is true--and remarkable--this book is a work of fiction. As an author I've taken some liberties with time and events to paint a fuller and more representative picture of the Holocaust as a whole."--Afterword. |
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Includes a biographical afterword (pp. 257-260). Show Less
LibraryThing member Sullywriter
A Holocaust novel based on the real life experiences of survivors Ruth and Jack Gruener, Polish-Jews who were young adolescents at the time of the German invasion. Yanek, the protagonist manages to survive multiple death marches and at least ten camps, including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau.
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At times, the story seems like a macabre tour of the most infamous sites of Holocaust horrors. A vividly detailed, gripping, fast-paced narrative. Show Less
LibraryThing member christopher.kyle1706
BLURB: Survive. At any cost.
10 concentration camps.
10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.
It's something no one could imagine surviving.
But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.
As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken
He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.
Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?
Based on an astonishing true story.
RATING: 5 stars for Prisoner B-3087 By:Alan Gratz
STARTED: APRIL 18,2014
FINISHED: APRIL 20,2014
REVIEW: OMAGOSH.
-That was my reaction when I first started this book. I knew I would like it due to my more advanced interest in the Holocaust- typically what happened, and what kind of stories there was about this particular event. I was hooked on one of the first several pages because it was so fascinating. Alan Gratz writing styles are the best, and it definitely deserves him some recognition. I felt so horrible for Jack Gruener, and all he went through, because his survival was so fascinating, and i'm glad he was here to tell the story :) This book was heartwrenching, and hear about all the violence they put again Jews in their concentration camps, and to work in labor camps. Jack survived 1 ghetto, 10 concentration camps, and 2 death marches, and it tells the story of him. I liked going through the almost dead experiences with Jack, and just love to learn more, and see how he did it!
10 concentration camps.
10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.
It's something no one could imagine surviving.
But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.
As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken
Show More
over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087.He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.
Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?
Based on an astonishing true story.
RATING: 5 stars for Prisoner B-3087 By:Alan Gratz
STARTED: APRIL 18,2014
FINISHED: APRIL 20,2014
REVIEW: OMAGOSH.
-That was my reaction when I first started this book. I knew I would like it due to my more advanced interest in the Holocaust- typically what happened, and what kind of stories there was about this particular event. I was hooked on one of the first several pages because it was so fascinating. Alan Gratz writing styles are the best, and it definitely deserves him some recognition. I felt so horrible for Jack Gruener, and all he went through, because his survival was so fascinating, and i'm glad he was here to tell the story :) This book was heartwrenching, and hear about all the violence they put again Jews in their concentration camps, and to work in labor camps. Jack survived 1 ghetto, 10 concentration camps, and 2 death marches, and it tells the story of him. I liked going through the almost dead experiences with Jack, and just love to learn more, and see how he did it!
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LibraryThing member susiesharp
This was a very interesting story it is fiction but the author says at the end that it was inspired by the true events of one man’s life. I chose this book because of the description saying he had survived 10 different concentration camps which fascinated me; however there were times when the
In Birkenau when Yanek is taken straight to the showers but only water comes out because the Nazi’s like playing games, I’m just not sure if this is something that really happened often? Also he says that he was in Birkenau for a couple months but this section is only about 20 pages.
In Auschwitz when he is getting into the train station and sees the new prisoners still in their own clothes and carrying luggage, still believing that everything will be ok, this was a powerful visual of the prisoners who were dirty and skeletal and these new people thinking that would never be them.
Once he is leaving Auschwitz to walk to the next camp, they are hearing more allied troops getting closer hoping they will come rescue you but seeing things just get worse and worse.
Yanek was told by his Uncle Mosche to be invisible and to not show caring for anyone lest it be used against you Yanek held that belief throughout all the camps only going against it a couple times and it seemed that every time he went against it something awful happened. I also can’t help but wonder how those words followed him throughout his life after surviving the camps.
I think this would have been an even more compelling book if the author had gone into more detail of each camp, as it is, it is one story from each camp, like that is the only thing that happened the whole time he was there. But I did learn new things I never realized they moved prisoners so often (or at least this book makes it seem like they do). Also this is a book for young people so maybe the shorter stories are better but I still wish there had been a little more to it.
In the afterward we find out that Yanek now Jack survived, went to America and was drafted into the Korean War all I could think was wow hasn’t he been through enough you’d think he’d be exempt! Luckily he survived another war and went on to be married and have children and grandchildren and he and his wife speak about their experiences in the Holocaust , I will be doing some more research to find out more about Yanak/Jack.
Recommend for middle grade readers.
3 ½ stars
Full disclosure I received this book from netgalley and the publisher for a fair and honest review.
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descriptions of these different camps left a lot to be desired the first camp we got more of a feel of what he went through. Then the salt mines was only 7 pages long and it never really says just how long he was there, it felt like this section was only there to tell you what happens to Judenrats.In Birkenau when Yanek is taken straight to the showers but only water comes out because the Nazi’s like playing games, I’m just not sure if this is something that really happened often? Also he says that he was in Birkenau for a couple months but this section is only about 20 pages.
In Auschwitz when he is getting into the train station and sees the new prisoners still in their own clothes and carrying luggage, still believing that everything will be ok, this was a powerful visual of the prisoners who were dirty and skeletal and these new people thinking that would never be them.
Once he is leaving Auschwitz to walk to the next camp, they are hearing more allied troops getting closer hoping they will come rescue you but seeing things just get worse and worse.
Yanek was told by his Uncle Mosche to be invisible and to not show caring for anyone lest it be used against you Yanek held that belief throughout all the camps only going against it a couple times and it seemed that every time he went against it something awful happened. I also can’t help but wonder how those words followed him throughout his life after surviving the camps.
I think this would have been an even more compelling book if the author had gone into more detail of each camp, as it is, it is one story from each camp, like that is the only thing that happened the whole time he was there. But I did learn new things I never realized they moved prisoners so often (or at least this book makes it seem like they do). Also this is a book for young people so maybe the shorter stories are better but I still wish there had been a little more to it.
In the afterward we find out that Yanek now Jack survived, went to America and was drafted into the Korean War all I could think was wow hasn’t he been through enough you’d think he’d be exempt! Luckily he survived another war and went on to be married and have children and grandchildren and he and his wife speak about their experiences in the Holocaust , I will be doing some more research to find out more about Yanak/Jack.
Recommend for middle grade readers.
3 ½ stars
Full disclosure I received this book from netgalley and the publisher for a fair and honest review.
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LibraryThing member Susan.Macura
This is the story of young Yanek who spent 6 years of his life in captivity at various concentration camps in Hitler’s Germany. He is the only survivor of his immediate Jewish family and the horrors he endured are beyond belief. What makes this story so compelling is that it is based on the real
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lives of Ruth and Jack Gruener, Holocaust survivors. This is a great book for young people studying WW II. Show Less
LibraryThing member edspicer
This book had many descriptions of the holocaust and its horrors, but same of the ideas are similar to other books, although based on a true story. I choses this book based on the cover art and the idea of the book.
LibraryThing member courtneygiraldo
Yanek Gruener is 10 when the Nazis come to occupy his hometown of Krakow, Poland. Slowly but steadily over the next two years the Nazis strip the Jews of rights, close their shops, steal their valuables, until finally sending them off to the dreaded "relocation centers" or concentration camps. Over
Like the previous novels, this read was absolutely heartbreaking but infused with a strength and resilience that is undeniable. I found another strong character in Yanek, facing not only the brutal fight to survive in what is arguably the most horrific experience in modern history, but the battles he wages with himself between keeping and loosing his own humanity in his fight to survive. Gratz's ability to depict such harsh subject matter in a way which is so layered and nuanced with other important lessons is truly remarkable, making his reads that much more powerful.
Gratz is for sure on my auto-buy list, and I HIGHLY recommend you do the same!
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the next four years, Yanek is shuffled between 10 concentration camps. He is starved, beaten, separated from loved ones, and worked almost to death; but still he survives. This harrowing tale gives the readers a first hand look at horrors no person, let alone child should endure; based on the true story of Jack Gruener.Like the previous novels, this read was absolutely heartbreaking but infused with a strength and resilience that is undeniable. I found another strong character in Yanek, facing not only the brutal fight to survive in what is arguably the most horrific experience in modern history, but the battles he wages with himself between keeping and loosing his own humanity in his fight to survive. Gratz's ability to depict such harsh subject matter in a way which is so layered and nuanced with other important lessons is truly remarkable, making his reads that much more powerful.
Gratz is for sure on my auto-buy list, and I HIGHLY recommend you do the same!
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LibraryThing member JRlibrary
Sensational book detailing the horrific experiences of Holocaust survivor Yanek Gruener, a Jewish boy in Poland in the 1930s who becomes prisoner B-3087. Yanek survives multiple concentration camps and eventually changes his name to Jacob Gruener. This is based on the true story of Jack Gruener.
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Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carlathelibrarian
A gripping story of how one boy survived the Holocaust. Beginning with his home in Krakow that was turned into a Polish ghetto he was moved through ten different camps. As far as he knows, all the rest of his family have been killed and he is the last remaining Greuner to carry on his family name.
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His resolve to live without giving up his humanity is amazing. As Yanek, now called Jack, Greuner said no one can understand if you did not live through it, but this book enlightens. A must read for anyone wanting to know more about WWII. Show Less
LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
Based on a true story, "Prisoner B-3087", was a hard-hitting tale of a young Jewish boy who survived ten concentration camps. To survive one was miracle enough, but to survive ten . . . !!! Although it showed the atrocities the Nazis enjoyed serving out to the Jews, the book did have some
There was little plot development throughout the book, just Yanek moving to another camp over a six year span. However, I liked Yanek's narration. It was simple, straightforward and compelling, and didn't spare the reader from the brutalities he and the others had to endure.
For younger readers, especially those who enjoyed the "Once" series, "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" and "The Diary of Anne Frank", "Prisoner B-3087" is another book that will appeal to those who enjoy this dark period in history.
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heart-warming moments between the prisoners.There was little plot development throughout the book, just Yanek moving to another camp over a six year span. However, I liked Yanek's narration. It was simple, straightforward and compelling, and didn't spare the reader from the brutalities he and the others had to endure.
For younger readers, especially those who enjoyed the "Once" series, "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" and "The Diary of Anne Frank", "Prisoner B-3087" is another book that will appeal to those who enjoy this dark period in history.
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LibraryThing member jothebookgirl
I couldn't put this one down. I didn't realize the survival instinct could be so strong. How did this ten year old boy survive starvation, freezing weather filth, abuse and abject inhumanity for 6 years? The book details the cruelty of the guards and the games they played with the prisoners simply
The events i have listed below are described in the book and did in fact happen to Jack in his 6 years of horror.
Jack did in fact; survive he harsh conditions of the Krako ghetto by living in a pigeon coop with his parents, He baked bread under cover of night with his aunt and uncle, had his bar mitzvah in a basement under threat of execution and watched as his parents were deported by the Nazis, never to see them again.
At Plaszow, Jack hid under the floorboards from Amon Goeth and was spared by the madman when he emerged. Jack actually worked for Oskar Schindler in his factory, but sadly he was transferred a mere three months before Schindler began protecting his workers form the Nazis. He went on to survive nine more concentration camps. At Auschwitz, Jack came face to face with the infamous Nazi monster Josef Mengele and lived. Jack endured slavery and starvation, death marches and cattle cars, Allied bombings and Nazi beatings. Of the more than 1 1/2 million Jewish children living in Europe before the war, Jack was one of only a half million to survive.
The last chapter will bring tears to your eyes after they are rescued by the Americans.
Read the Afterward to learn where Jack is today.
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for their pleasure and way to further administer torture. The book is a work of fiction, but based on the life of (Yanek), Jack Gruener, (his Americanized name), son of Oskar and Mina. The events i have listed below are described in the book and did in fact happen to Jack in his 6 years of horror.
Jack did in fact; survive he harsh conditions of the Krako ghetto by living in a pigeon coop with his parents, He baked bread under cover of night with his aunt and uncle, had his bar mitzvah in a basement under threat of execution and watched as his parents were deported by the Nazis, never to see them again.
At Plaszow, Jack hid under the floorboards from Amon Goeth and was spared by the madman when he emerged. Jack actually worked for Oskar Schindler in his factory, but sadly he was transferred a mere three months before Schindler began protecting his workers form the Nazis. He went on to survive nine more concentration camps. At Auschwitz, Jack came face to face with the infamous Nazi monster Josef Mengele and lived. Jack endured slavery and starvation, death marches and cattle cars, Allied bombings and Nazi beatings. Of the more than 1 1/2 million Jewish children living in Europe before the war, Jack was one of only a half million to survive.
The last chapter will bring tears to your eyes after they are rescued by the Americans.
Read the Afterward to learn where Jack is today.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
This was a very well done and intriguing “based on a true story” book about how one boy survives six years bouncing from concentration camp to concentration camp during the Holocaust. My son bought this at a book fair and then gave it to me to read because he loved it so much. While Holocaust
This was very different from other Holocaust stories that I have read in that Yanek goes through so many different situations and camps. It's amazing that he survives everything he went through and his will to survive throughout it impressive.
This book is a great read for middle grade and older. The story really drives home the horror and terror of the Holocaust without getting into super gory details (the detail is there, it's just not dwelt on).
If I have one complaint about this book it's that it reads a bit dry at times, there's just not much emotion. However, this style works pretty well for this book and I think Yanek's toughness is part of the reason he survives. I also think you would get emotionally numb to horrific things after being exposed to them over and over again.
Overall this is a very well done historical fiction novel about the Holocaust. Definitely a must read especially for those who haven't read much about the Holocaust before. I found it very engaging and easy to read despite the awful things that happened to Yanek.
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books are never fun reads, I am still glad I read it.This was very different from other Holocaust stories that I have read in that Yanek goes through so many different situations and camps. It's amazing that he survives everything he went through and his will to survive throughout it impressive.
This book is a great read for middle grade and older. The story really drives home the horror and terror of the Holocaust without getting into super gory details (the detail is there, it's just not dwelt on).
If I have one complaint about this book it's that it reads a bit dry at times, there's just not much emotion. However, this style works pretty well for this book and I think Yanek's toughness is part of the reason he survives. I also think you would get emotionally numb to horrific things after being exposed to them over and over again.
Overall this is a very well done historical fiction novel about the Holocaust. Definitely a must read especially for those who haven't read much about the Holocaust before. I found it very engaging and easy to read despite the awful things that happened to Yanek.
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LibraryThing member Jessika.C
This book is based on a true story about a holocaust survivor that managed to come out alive from ten concentration camps.
The story starts simple enough. There's a first-person narration recalling the night that changed everything. A Jewish family is gathered together when they are told that the
It's hard to gush about this book when there's nothing really memorable about it. However, what I could appreciate was the character of Yanek because he was very consistent throughout the book. He was a nice kid in the start and he was still a nice kid in the end. There were some interesting details that I had never heard of before that were mentioned in the author's note about the holocaust that I liked to read about but other than that it's kind of a bummer how empty I felt after finishing it.
The story starts simple enough. There's a first-person narration recalling the night that changed everything. A Jewish family is gathered together when they are told that the
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Germans have reached Poland and wonder what they should do. Yanek Gruener is only 13 years old when the Nazis send him off to a series of concentration camps with only his will to survive. The story touches upon the different types of prisoners and the treatments they received but only a teensy bit. It's hard to gush about this book when there's nothing really memorable about it. However, what I could appreciate was the character of Yanek because he was very consistent throughout the book. He was a nice kid in the start and he was still a nice kid in the end. There were some interesting details that I had never heard of before that were mentioned in the author's note about the holocaust that I liked to read about but other than that it's kind of a bummer how empty I felt after finishing it.
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LibraryThing member brennarich
This book is about a 10 year old boy, Yanek, who has been taken by the Nazis to a concentration camp. Here he is tortured and encounters plentiful amounts of evil. He fights death a few times within the book but is able to make it out alive in the end.
ISBN
054545901X / 9780545459013