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Publishers Weekly, March 20, 2006 (*
Starred Review) |
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In February 1940,
four-and-half-year-old Syvia (later Sylvia) Perlmutter, her mother,
father and 12-year-old sister, Dora, were among the first of more
than 250,000 Jews to be forced into Poland's Lodz Ghetto. When the
Russians liberated the ghetto on January 19, 1945, the Perlmutters
were among only 800 people left alive; Syvia, “one day shy of ten
years old,” was one of just 12 children to survive the ordeal. The
novel is filled with searing incidents of cruelty and deprivation,
love, luck and resilience. But what sets it apart is the lyricism
of the narrative, and Syvia's credible childlike voice, maturing
with each chapter, as she gains further understanding of the events
around her. Roy, who is Syvia's niece, tells her aunt's story in
first-person free verse. “February 1940” begins: “I am walking/
into the ghetto./ My sister holds my hand/ so that I don't/ get
lost/ or trampled/ by the crowd of people/ wearing yellow stars,/
carrying possessions,/ moving into the ghetto.” The rhythms,
repetitions and the space around each verse enable readers to take
in the experience of an ordinary child caught up in incomprehensible
events: “I could be taken away/ on a train,/ .../ and delivered to
Germans/ who say that nothing belongs to Jewish people any-/ more./
Not even their own children.” Nearly every detail – a pear Syvia
bravely plucks from a tree in the ghetto, a rag doll she makes when
her family must sell her own beloved doll – underscores the wedded
paradox of hope and fear, joy and pain. |
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School Library
Journal, July 2006
(*
Starred Review) |
| * "Gr
5-9 -In thoughtful, vividly descriptive, almost poetic prose, Roy
retells the true story of her Aunt Syvia-s experiences in the Lodz
Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The slightly
fictionalized story, re-created from her aunt’s taped narrative, is
related by Syvia herself as a series of titled vignettes that cover
the period from fall, 1939, when she is four years old, until
January 1945-each one recounting a particular detail-filled memory
in the child’s life (a happy-colored yellow star sewn on her
favorite orange coat; a hole in the cemetery where she hides
overnight with her Papa). The book is divided into five
chronological sections-each with a short factual introduction to the
period covered. An appended author’s note tells what happened to
Syvia’s family after the war. A time line of World War II, beginning
with the German invasion of Poland, is also included. This gripping
and very readable narrative, filled with the astute observations of
a young child, brings to life the Jewish ghetto experience in a
unique and memorable way. This book is a standout in the genre of
Holocaust literature."-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library,
OH |
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Booklist, April 15,
2006
(*
Starred Review) |
* "Syvia
is four years old in 1939, when the Germans invade Poland and start
World War II. A few months later, her family is forced into the
crowded Lodz ghetto, with more than a quarter of a million other
Jews. At the end of the war, when Syvia is 10, only about 800 Jews
remain—only 12 of them are children. Syvia remembers daily life:
yellow stars, illness, starvation, freezing cold, and brutal abuse,
with puddles of red blood everywhere, and the terrifying
arbitrariness of events ("like the story of a boy / who went out for
bread / and was shot by a guard / who didn’t like the way the boy /
looked at him"). When the soldiers first go from door to door,
"ripping children from their parents’ arms" and dragging them away,
her father hides her in the cemetery. For years thereafter, she’s
not allowed to go outside. In 1944 the ghetto is emptied, except for
a few Jews kept back to clean up, including Syvia’s father, who
keeps his family with him through courage, cunning, and luck. As the
Nazis face defeat, Syvia discovers a few others hidden like her,
"children of the cellar." When the Russians liberate the ghetto, she
hears one soldier speak Yiddish, and the family years of the
genocide, the trains that went to death camps. At last they learn of
the enormity of the tragedy: neighbors, friends, and cousins—all
dead.
Both books will add much to the school Holocaust curriculum. Readers
older than the target audience, including some adults, will find
them excellent if harrowing reads to think about and talk about as
the words bring the history right into the present. Hovering in the
background is a stunned child’s question about the perpetrators:
"What makes them do it?" That elemental issue is our focus even
now." STARRED REVIEW
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VOYA, June 2006
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"This
wonderfully written first novel is based on the experiences of Syvia
Perlmutter, one of only twelve children who survived the Lodz ghetto
in Poland during World War II. Roy interviewed Perlmutter, who is
actually her aunt, in 2003. Short "poems" and simple language
appropriate for Syvia’s age make the book a quick but poignant read.
Syvia was four years old when her family reported to Lodz along with
more than 270,000 others. In 1942, the Nazis began deporting
children from Lodz to the Chelmno extermination camp. Parents were
told that their children were being taken to safety, but Syvia’s
father suspected that the children would be killed and sought ways
to hide her. The most inconspicuous hiding place was a graveyard
where Syvia and her father lay in a shallow grave. When the final
train departed Lodz headed for Auschwitz-Birkenau, only 1,200 Jews
were left behind to clean the ghetto. Among them were twelve
children whom they smuggled into a cellar. The survivors huddled
together in 1945 while Russian soldiers bombed Lodz, but they were
eventually liberated when the soldiers saw the reflection of their
yellow stars of David. After five and a half years in the ghetto,
Syvia spent her teen years in Paris and then later moved to Albany,
New York. She now volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Washington, D.C.
Social studies teachers and general readers will find the author’s
note, time line, and brief historical details prefacing each of the
five parts of the book invaluable. This book is an essential
purchase for school, public, and classroom libraries." |
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The Bulletin of the
Center for Children’s Books, May 2006 |
| "The
author’s grandmother, Syvia Perlmutter, was one of only twelve
Jewish children who survived the Lodz ghetto in Poland. This
free-verse novel based on her memories is a moving, harrowing tale
from the limited, often uncomprehending perspective of a child.
First sent to Lodz with her family at the age of five, Syvia spends
most of the next six years in hiding, as the Nazis systematically
root out and take away as many children from their parents as they
can. After digging a hole in a nearby cemetery, Syvia and her father
hide inside it while the Nazis raid their neighborhood. Later, when
the less able-bodied (including any remaining children) are sent
away on trains to so-called work camps, Syvia and other children are
sequestered in a cellar by their parents; they manage to survive in
hiding until they are liberated by the Russians in 1945. While
periodic lapses into a more adult sensibility sometimes disrupt the
child’s-eye view and reveal what is, in fact, a distance of many
years from story’s events, other moments—such as Syvia’s wondering
whether or not her doll is Jewish—are poignant in their naïveté. For
the most part, the free-verse format suits the young narrator and
subject matter well; the poems can either be read as snapshots of
life in Lodz or as one continuous lyrical narrative that
nevertheless clips along at a brisk pace. Readers searching for an
accessible Holocaust novel will be absorbed by this haunting story
based on true events. An introduction detailing the historical
events and the author’s relationship with her grandmother is
included, and a timeline is appended." |
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AJL Newsletter
Children’s Books Reviews, May/June 2006 |
"Yellow Star is the
story of Jennifer Roy’s aunt, Sylvia (Syvia) Perlmuuter Rozines, who
was one of twelve children to survive the Lodz ghetto. The book is
written using a free verse form, and recounts Ms. Rozines’ memory
from the time she was about five, in 1939, until the ghetto was
liberated in 1945, when she is almost ten. An author’s note at the
end is actually an epilogue, and there is also a time line.
The free verse form works well, as it mimics Ms. Rozines’ snippets
of memory and her perspective as a frightened child in the ghetto.
One can see the quiet heroism of her family and friends and sense
the daily struggle to remain hopeful and productive. Although
there is a plethora of Holocaust materials and personal accounts, I
would recommend this book for Grade 5 and up, and for any library
that collects Holocaust materials. It captures a child’s
perspective eloquently." |
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Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2006 |
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Syvia – the author's
aunt – is too young to know what's happening, but she and her family
have been evicted from their home and, with the other neighborhood
Jews, have been relocated to the Lodz ghetto at the start of WWII.
This novel-in-verse tells how Syvia and her family struggled to
survive the war and describes their lives in the ghetto, Syvia being
one of only 12 children who walked out at the end of the war.
Poetry blends fact and fiction in a powerful format that helps make
this incomprehensible event in history comprehensible for children.
The fictionalized story is given context by brief nonfiction
chapter introductions and is personalized by vivid characters who
speak to a young-adult audience. Young readers will find this
gripping tale that reads like memoir textured with the sounds, smell
and sights of children in captivity. By telling this story so
credibly and convincingly through the eyes of a child, the terror of
the experience is rendered fresh and palpable for even the most
jaded child reader. Classroom teachers might want to partner this
book with Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed (2003). |
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A NY
Public Librarian and Member of the 2007 Newberry Committee: |
| "So when the
buzz began ah-hummin' around, "Yellow Star", I wasn't exactly primed
to listen. First one librarian began to sing its praises. Then
another. Then a whole chorus of on-pitch clever librarians in
syncopated rhythm. I couldn't help but hear what they had to say.
Apparently the book was so good that it sucked away about 20 minutes
of discussion during a committee meeting in which we had
seventy-some other books to talk about....
"...Normally when a book garners
buzz of this nature, it has a very hard time living up to it.
Jennifer Roy, however, should fear no such feeling. Her book has all
the reality, depth, intelligence, and sheer compelling narrative to
grab the attention of any child who is required or enticed to read
this tale. Worth the hype, to say the least..."
"Maybe it was the fact that
this was a real story or maybe it was Roy's first-person narrative,
but there is something about this book that feels more true than any
other children's Holocaust novel I've ever encountered..."
"...there are moments of
levity to it. Rather than depressing, the book plays out like a
thriller...I don't want to label this book an action-novel, but when
this puppy moves, it MOVES. And the sheer heroism coupled against
pure unvarnished evil is written in such a way that kids everywhere
will not only be able to read it but understand it on a truly
immediate level. All this makes, "Yellow Star", one of the strongest
children's books I've ever had the pleasure to read.
"You hand this book to a kid.
The kid glances at the cover, glances at the title, then tells you
that they don't like books like this. When they say this to you,
insist that they read it...do whatever you can to get this book into
the child's hands. It's an amazing story and an even better read.
Strength is in its bones."
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Children's Literature Book Club Review
- October 19, 2006 |
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For
more reviews, please see:
Amazon.com-Yellow Star, Jennifer
Roy
http://motherreader.blogspot.com/2006/08/yellow-star.html
(8/4/06)
http://semicolonblog.com (12/5/06)
http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2006/08/twin-authors.html
http://www.tennesean.com
(9/16/2006)
Interview:
http://misserinmarie.blogspot.com/2007/02/interview-jennifer-roy.html
(2/21/07) |
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