The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

The Devil's Arithmetic

By Jane Yolen

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2004

170 pages, paperback

Date Finished: 11/7/2011

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Fantasy

Hannah thinks tonight's Passover Seder will be the same as always. Little does she know that this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past where only she knows the horrors that await.
~from goodreads.com~

~First Line: " 'I'm tired of remembering,' Hannah said to her mother as she climbed into the car."
~Last Line: "Life."
~Last Line (of author's "What is True about this Book"): "And can remind us that the swallows still sing around the smokestacks."

Review: The first time I'd even heard this title, we were studying World War II in English. Unfortunately we didn't get to read the book; I was glad that I found the book, though! The movie was really good, and the book was even better! :)

Our main character, Hannah Stern, is tired of remembering about what happened during World War II. She doesn't see why it's all so importaqnt to keep remembering every year. She gives all of her wine willingly (when you're only supposed to pour part of it) and is given the task of opening the door for Elijah. Voila. Somehow twenty-first century Hannah Stern is sent back in time to 1962.

I loved the plot of this. Since I'd already seen the movie, it was definitely easier to picture the characters. Still, everything that happened was, in a way, new to me all over again. I can understand why Hannah didn't want to remember every year. To her, it was boring and in the past. Why bother with it; it's not like you can go back and change it. But I think once she went back in time and actually lived it, she realized why they work so hard to remember it, and to make sure that the children know it.

Hannah definitely became appreciative of her family's past. I became more educated on what really happened in the camps. I think everyone can learn something from this book, and maybe even the movie. Recommending this one to anyone and everyone! :)

Plot Rating: 4.5
Character Rating: 5
Cover Rating: 3.5


Overall Rating:
and a half :)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver (the Giver, #1)
By Lois Lowry
Pulisher: Bantam Books, 1999
180 pages, paperback
Date Finished: 9/11/2010
Genres: Futuristic, Young Adult, Adventure, Coming of Age (sort of), Modern Classic

~First Line of Book: "It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened."
~Last Line of Book: "But perhaps it was only an echo."

Review: This was a great book to reread. It's futurisitic, in a place that's secluded and stricter than any place on present-day Earth. There is no color (everything is like a tan, emotionless shade), and at the Ceremony of Twelve, each person is given an Assignment, which is basically their job for the rest of their life. The main character, Jonas, gets a very important Assignment: the Assignment of Receiver. It's very difficult, and he's the only capabel person for the job right now; the last capable, 10 years before, had resulted in a failure. Jonas's life is changed forever....

This is a wondeful book! It was first recomended to me by a teacher, and is now one of my all-time favorites. I recommend this novel to everyone :).

Rating:


Quotes from the Book:

"Now there were three Assignments gone, none of them ones that Jonas would have liked -- not that he could have been a Birthmother, anyway, he realized with amusement."

"Jonas reached the opposite side of the river, stopped briefly, and looked back. The community where his entire life had been lived lay behind him now, sleeping. At dawn, the orderly, disciplined life he had always known would continue again, without him."


--Zakiya, the walking butterfly

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi: A Novel
By Yann Martel
Publisher: Harvest Books, 2001
401 pages, paperback
Date Finished: 5/2/2010
Genres: Young Adult, Adventure, Modern Classic, Realistic Fiction

First Line of Book: "My suffering left me sad and gloomy."

Review: Yann Martel has greatly succeeded in bringing together the life of a boy who goes by the name Pi. Martel has not only included humor points in the book (one of my favorite's being about Pi's name), but has explained the hardship that Pi went through while stranded on a lifeboat with zoo animals for 227 days in the Pacific Ocean.

Piscine (pronounced pea • seen) Molitor Patel grew up as a young boy in India, and when he was sixteen, his familey decided it would be good for them to move to Canada. So off they went, and soon, the ship sinks and everyone is dead, save for a hyena, orangutan, rat, zebra, Bengal tiger, and Pi himself -- all of which, besides Pi and the tiger, die early into their Pacific journey.

From then on, Pi is trying to train the Bengal not to eat him. From a whistle to a raft, the boy comes up with very many ideas. At one point, they even come upon an acidic island. This is an amazing book that I would love to read again, but not any time soon because I still remember the story line. I will definitely be thinking about reading more of Martel's work.

Rating:


Quotes from the Book:

"Immobilizing darts don't bring on sleep gently, like a good cup of tea; they knock out like a bottle of hard liquor straight up."

"Ignorance is the worst doctor, while rest and sleep are the best nurses."

"Do not drink urine. Or sea water. Or bird blood. Do not eat jellyfish. Or fish that are armed with spikes. Or that have parrot-like beaks. Or that puff up like balloons."

"Do not urinate in your clothes. The momentary warmth is not worth the nappy rash."

"No one who was called 'Pissing' in his childhood would be caught dead with a cup of pee at his lips, even alone in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific [Ocean]."


--Zakiya, the walking butterfly