  | Full Text Reviews: Bulletin for the Center... - 03/01/2001 Jack Mandelbaum is twelve years old when Hitler invades Poland in 1939. He and his family flee to relatives living in more isolated, rural areas, hoping to escape the worst of the occupation. They fail: Jack, his mother, and his younger brother are rounded up with other Jews and sent to a concentration camp; only Jack survives. Jack's survival is dependent upon the quirks of fate, the whims of guards and kapos, and his stubborn will to live. Warren interviewed her subject for this bio-history, and Mandelbaum's unadorned words have blunt impact. His determination to find his family after the war (his father, mother, and brother all died in the camps, but he was able to locate a favorite uncle), his refusal to succumb to hatred of the enemy, and his building of a successful life in the United States all resonate with the power of personal tragedy and triumph. There is steel in Mandelbaum's determination to "beat Hitler," and his ultimate deliverance will be cheered by young readers. Warren provides some contextual information about the concentration camps, the human cost of World War II, and a list of suggested readings; an index will be included in the bound book. This Holocaust memoir will find an audience among those readers too young for Bitton-Jackson's I Have Lived a Thousand Years (BCCB 4/97) or Lobel's No Pretty Pictures(10/98). Black-and-white photographs bring the camps, prisoners, and Jack Mandelbaum's life into sharp focus. - Copyright 2001 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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