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| '''''The Devil's Arithmetic''''' is a ] novel written by American author ] and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah, a ] girl who lives in ]. During a ], Hannah is transported back in time to 1942 Poland, during ], where she is sent to a ] and learns the importance of knowing about the past. | '''''The Devil's Arithmetic''''' is a ] novel written by American author ] and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah, a ] girl who lives in ]. During a ], Hannah is transported back in time to 1942 Poland, during ], where she is sent to a ] and learns the importance of knowing about the past. | ||
| ''The Devil's Arithmetic'' won the ] (in the category for ]) in 1989<ref></ref> and was also nominated for the ] in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://janeyolen.com/awards/ |title=(Awards & Nominations) |publisher=Jane Yolen |date=May 18, 2003 |accessdate=April 29, 2012}}</ref> The script for ], a 1999 Showtime |
''The Devil's Arithmetic'' won the ] (in the category for ]) in 1989<ref></ref> and was also nominated for the ] in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://janeyolen.com/awards/ |title=(Awards & Nominations) |publisher=Jane Yolen |date=May 18, 2003 |accessdate=April 29, 2012}}</ref> The script for ], a 1999 Showtime ] starring ] and ], was also nominated for a Nebula Award.<ref>{{cite web|title=Year 2000 Nebula Nominations (Press Release)|publisher=SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America)|url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:L5uEHqjPVMcJ:www.sfwa.org/members/nebula/NEBPub1.doc+Devil's+Arithmetic+site:http://www.sfwa.org/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com|date=April 15, 2000|accessdate=February 21, 2011}}</ref> | ||
| ==Summary== | ==Summary== | ||
Revision as of 09:29, 16 November 2012
The Devil's Arithmetic is a historical fiction novel written by American author Jane Yolen and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah, a Jewish girl who lives in New Rochelle, New York. During a Passover Seder, Hannah is transported back in time to 1942 Poland, during World War II, where she is sent to a Nazi concentration camp and learns the importance of knowing about the past.
The Devil's Arithmetic won the National Jewish Book Award (in the category for children's literature) in 1989 and was also nominated for the Nebula award for best novella in 1988. The script for The Devil's Arithmetic, a 1999 Showtime television film starring Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy, was also nominated for a Nebula Award.
Summary
Hannah Stern is a young Jewish girl living in the present day. She is bored by her relative's stories about the past and not looking forward to the Passover Seder and is tired of her religion. While at it She says she is tired of remembering. When Hannah symbolically opens the door for the prophet Elijah, she is transported back in time to 1942 in Poland of World War II. At that time and place, the people believe she is Chaya Abramowicz, who is recovering from cholera, the fever that killed Chaya's parents a few months ago. The strange remarks Hannah/Chaya makes about the future and her inability to recognize her "aunt" Gitl and "uncle" Shmuel are blamed on the fever. At her "uncle's" wedding, the Nazis come to transport the entire population of the village to a concentration camp near Donavin, and only Hannah knows all the terrors that they will face: starvation, mistreatment, forced labors, and finally execution. She struggles to survive at the camp, with the help of a girl named Rivka. At the concentration camp, Aunt Gitl, Hannah, Uncle Shmuel, and some other men try to escape. The men are caught and are shot in front of the inmates, except for Gitl and Hannah who return to their barracks and Yitzchak who escapes. Fayge, Shmuel's girlfriend, is also killed because she runs to Shmuel when he is about to be shot. Later, when Hannah and the girls from Viosk are talking, while waiting for water, they are caught by a new Nazi soldier, who sends Esther, Shifre, and Rivka to the gas ovens. As Rivka is about to leave, Hannah takes Rivka's place and tells her to run, since the guard doesn't know their faces. Then, after she walks into "Lilith's Cave" to be gassed, she is transported back to her family's Seder. She notices Aunt Eva's number was the same as Rivka's, and while recounting her experience to her aunt, the aunt reveals that when she was in the concentration camps, she was called Rivka (and her brother was called Wolfe, which was Grandpa Will) and was saved by a girl named Chaya Abramowicz while in a concentration camp.
References
- National Jewish Book Award Winners
- "(Awards & Nominations)". Jane Yolen. May 18, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- "Year 2000 Nebula Nominations (Press Release)". SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America). April 15, 2000. Retrieved February 21, 2011.