The Devil’s Arithmetic
By: Jane Yolen
Pages: 170
“Stop! They’re Nazis, I know. I’m from the future.” In the book The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen, 13 year old Jewish girl, Hannah, is transported to 1942 and a different life after welcoming Elijah the prophet at Passover Seder. She finds herself in a small Polish village, where it is her uncle’s wedding day. On their way to the shul they spot three old-fashioned cars and twelve military cars, Hannah immediately knows that they are German Nazis by the way they are dressed. The villagers are taken to camps where Hannah meets three friends. When they were talking to each other while working at the water pump, a guard comes and tells them that he was sent to find three more Jews to go in the smokestack. He picks Hannah’s three friends but Hannah tells Rivka, “I will go for you, he is a new guard. He won’t know the difference. Now, run.” When Hannah enters the smokestack she is remarkably back in her house at Passover. She sees her Aunt Eva’s arm and notices she has the same number her friend Rivka. It turns out her aunt was Rivka, and after she escaped the camp, moved to America and changed her name. Hannah’s adventure teaches her much more about the Holocaust than she could ever learn in history class.