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Biography & Autobiography. History. Juvenile Nonfiction. Religion & Spirituality. HTML: The twentieth-anniversary edition of Marion Blumenthal Lazan's acclaimed Holocaust memoir features new material by the author, a reading group guide, a map, and additional photographs. "The writing is direct, devastating, with no rhetoric or exploitation. The truth is in what's said and in what is left out."â??ALA Booklist (starred review) Marion Blumenthal Lazan's unforgettable and acclaimed memoir recalls the devastating years that shaped her childhood. Following Hitler's rise to power, the Blumenthal familyâ??father, mother, Marion, and her brother, Albertâ??were trapped in Nazi Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was occupied by the Nazis. For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps, including Westerbork in Holland and Bergen-Belsen in Germany, before finally making it to the United States. Their story is one of horror and hardship, but it is also a story of courage, hope, and the will to survive. Four Perfect Pebbles features forty archival photographs, including several new to this edition, an epilogue, a bibliography, a map, a reading group guide, an index, and a new afterword by the author. First published in 1996, the book was an ALA Notable Book, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and IRA Young Adults' Choice, and a Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and the recipient of many other honors. "A harrowing and often moving account."â??School Library… (more)
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Told in simplistic detail, the story contains the Blumenthal family of four who are moved on Hitler's chess board, forward, backward, sideways, down hill, uphill, on trains, in camps, with hope,
The author tells the tale of the Blumenthal journey that lasted six and 1/2 terrifying years.
Trapped in Hitler's Germany, the Blumenthal family were temporarily lucky to flee to Holland, but shortly thereafter that country was not safe. Through a series of unfortunate missed opportunities, they were sent to various refugee camps, and then back to Germany to Bergen Belsen. Six days before the British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen, the Blumenthals were transported like cattle to another location. Riding the typhus infested death train for two weeks, eventually they were liberated by Russian troops.
At the beginning of the Nazi occupation young Marion Blumenthal collected three perfect pebbles, superstitiously she believed if she found the fourth it would be a sign that their four family members would survive. Alas, Marion never found the fourth pebble.
I don't know that any book about the Holocaust is something I want young readers to read. It's too huge and too vile a topic to make me feel comfortable introducing it to those whose lives are still in the vulnerable and bendable stage. I wouldn't let my child read this book, far better she should read the Marquis de Sade than this kind of material.
But the world disagrees with me. So I am renewedly glad that I have no young children. But I think this story is one that makes the idea of the Holocaust, its especial and unique evil in human history, more painfully poignantly real than any other literary work I've ever seen: This is the story of a child who went through the system with her family intact, until the bitter horrifying end of the tale. This is what the horrible, vile, evil, disgusting Germans wanted to destroy: A little girl, her mama, her papa, and her big brother.
Because they were Jews.
I found this book a bit lackluster. The story alternates from Marion’s point of view and third person. Such intertwining of narration and first-person voice makes the story a bit bland and unemotional. Overall, this book lacks the intensity of other holocaust books.
In a society that is quickly becoming more divided and more intolerant, Marion’s message of hope, faith, and family strength, is even more important than it was when she first started discussing her experiences a couple decades ago. While most may brush off the striking similarities to the current president’s rise to power and the Nazis, it is hard for those who truly know their history to ignore. It is even harder for those who know that atrocities of WWII still ring loud in their older generation’s ears, and yet their younger generations engage in racist and destructive behavior.
Marion’s story is one of compassion and hope during one of the world’s worst times. My only reason for giving a less than superb rating is that brevity of the book. While written with young children (9-11 years old) in mind, there is only so much that one can remember about those years themselves, particularly 50 years later, as was the case when Marion & Lila wrote Four Perfect Pebbles and Marion recounted her childhood to Lila. Everyone always wants more from a good book, but at 160 pages, Four Perfect Pebbles is incredible concise.