Whirlwind

May 1, 2007
Gr 6 Up-Benjamin Friedman, a 15-year-old Jewish boy, fears for his life in Nazi Germany. Fortunately, his family is able to escape Hitler, arriving in Seattle in the summer of 1941. Ben is relieved to be there but is upset and confused by his experiences. He blames his father for not taking action earlier as well as for his inability to secure American visas for the boys grandparents. The teen tries to settle into his new life but faces bullying because he is German. He is afraid for John, his Japanese-American classmate, and tries to convince his friend and his own family that America is not safe and that they must flee to Canada. No one understands Bens concernsthey believe he is illand this only makes him more determined to take matters into his own hands. After Johns family is sent to an internment camp and the Friedmans house is attacked, Ben runs away to Canada. It is not the safe haven he imagined, and he realizes that perhaps he was mistaken about many things. This unique and thought-provoking story shows what prejudice and indifference to suffering and wrongdoing can lead to. It imparts an understanding of the Holocaust and World War II without the explicitness present in other books on the subject."Donna Rosenblum, Nassau Boces School Library System, NY"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2007
Matas, whose Holocaust novels include " In My Enemy's House" (1999), confronts a shameful part of World War II history--Americans' prejudice against German Jewish refugees. Ben Friedman, newly arrived in Seattle in 1941, remembers the horror of Kristalnacht and leaving his grandparents behind on their way to the camps. In his grief, he directs his fury against his father. He's bullied in his new school and called names, but he makes friends with a Japanese American classmate, John. Then John and his family are sent to an internment camp, and Ben runs away to Canada, only to encounter even worse prejudice and exclusion. Although Matas never equates discrimination with genocide, there's always the question, "Is it all happening again?" The metaphors and messages are sometimes too heavy as Ben translates the Book of Job and wrestles with his dreams. Yet the heart of the story--Ben's intense relationship with his father--effectively moves from fury and blame to understanding and love. Pair this with Miriam Bat-Ami's " Two Suns in the Sky "(2000).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)