Module 10: The Devil's Arithmetic

The Devil's Arithmetic
by Jane Yolen

Book Summary:
Twelve year old Hannah is sick of spending Passover 'remembering' the past with her relatives. During the Passover Seder she complains to her mother about her Grandpa Will, “Why does he bother with it? It’s all in the past. There aren’t any concentration camps now. Why bring it up? It’s embarrassing” (p.10). When Hannah is asked to open the door to the prophet Elijah and invite him in, she is suddenly transported to 1942 Poland, where everyone thinks she is Chaya, a twelve year old girl who has just recovered from a serious illness, and coincidentally for whom Hannah is named. The family Hannah finds herself in is captured by the Nazis and taken to a death camp, where she meets Rivka, another young girl. While in the camp Hannah struggles to know which memories of hers are real (her life she came from or the life in the concentration camp). Rivka becomes very important to Hannah as she teaches her how to battle the dehumanization that the camp breeds and instead cling to her identity as a Jew before the Nazis. Rivka is chosen to die, and at the last minute Hannah boldly steps in to take her place, unselfishly sacrificing her own life so that Rivka may live. As the door to the gas chamber closes, Hannah is suddenly transported back to her grandparent’s apartment, outside the door waiting for Elijah. When she returns inside to the Seder feast, she shares her story with her Aunt Eva, who she finds out is Rivka. Rivka changed her name to Eva at the end of World War II and upon coming to the United States, but she never forgot the sacrifice young Chaya made so that she could live. 


Yolen, J. (1988). The devil's arithmetic. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Viking Kestrel.

My impressions:
The Devil’s Arithmetic provides an excellent resource to introduce students to the Holocaust in a way that is age appropriate. Yolen has written a touching and lasting tale of survival, hope, and the importance of remembering our past. In many ways, once Hannah is transported back to the Holocaust time period, the book reminded me of a fictionalized version of The Diary of Anne Frank - and this would be an excellent companion piece in a book talk grouping. The reader will easily relate to the protagonist, Hannah, and her impatience with traditions and remembering the past. Seeing the experience through Hannah’s eyes also allows the reader to understand what the Holocaust might have been like for a young teenage girl. Yolen does an exceptional job of portraying the horrors of the moment without overloading the senses of the reader with information that might be too graphic for younger readers. 

Professional review:
Gr 4-8 – In this novel, Yolen attempts to answer those who question why the Holocaust should be remembered. Hannah, 12, is tired of remembering, and is embarrassed by her grandfather, who rants and raves at the mention of the Nazis. Her mother’s explanations of how her grandparents and great-aunt lost all family and friends during that time have little effect.  Then, during a Passover Seder, Hannah is chosen to open the door to welcome the prophet Elijah. As she does, she is transported to a village in Poland in the 1940s, where everyone thinks she is Chaya, who has just recovered from a serious illness. She is captured by the Nazis and taken to a death camp, where she is befriended by a young girl named Rivka, who teaches her how to fight the dehumanizing process of the camp and hold onto her identity. When at last their luck runs out and Rivka is chosen, Hannah/Chaya, in an almost impulsive act of self-sacrifice, goes in her stead. As the door to the gas chamber closes behind her, she is returned to the door of her grandparents’ apartment, waiting for Elijah. Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and the past, Yolen does a fine job of illustrating the importance of remembering. She adds much to children’s understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, which will reverberate throughout history, today and tomorrow.

Harding, S. (1988, Nov. 1). [Review of the book The devil’s arithmetic, by J. Yolen]. School
           Library Journal, 35(3), 114. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Library Uses:
The librarian could give a pre-reading presentation for the book by giving students background information about the Holocaust before they begin reading the novel as a class.  I recommend http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/btt/holocaust/ as an excellent resource to introduce the Holocaust: it includes short video clips, as well as discussion points, and is produced by a textbook company, so is age-appropriate.  The librarian should end the lesson by introducing the book and giving a short book talk.

Additionally, further into the reading of the novel, the students should conduct research on the Holocaust that is relevant to the novel using library resources. A suggestion to allow students to choose their research topic would be to assign groups of students a specific chapter during Hannah’s time in the Holocaust and allow them to choose a topic from that chapter that they would like more information about to research using the library’s resources.