Gifts from the Enemy

April 15, 2014
This book is a biography of Holocaust survivor Alter Wiener, but from time to time, he seems like a supporting character. In adapting Wiener's memoir for adults for children, Ludwig seems to want to be absolutely certain that they know the history of the Holocaust. She spends several pages summarizing Hitler's campaign against the Jews, which causes the thread of Wiener's narration to become occasionally lost. At times, the book reads more like a textbook than the life story of a boy who survived the Holocaust. Even the most traumatic passages sound oddly detached: "Many good and decent people lost their lives to this hatred--including my own friends and family." The last several pages of the book, however, are deeply moving. A factory worker--someone who hardly knows him--risks her life to give him a bread-and-cheese sandwich every day. Even the smallest details of the story are haunting. A sign in the factory reads, "Do not look at the prisoners. Do not talk to the prisoners....If you do, you will be DOOMED." These details are what make the story work. The facial expressions in a few of Orback's full-bleed, atmospherically lit oil paintings are almost painful to look at. The story loses focus on occasion, but no one who reads it will forget the history. (vocabulary list, study guide) (Picture book/biography. 7-12)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 4-6-Ludwig bases this picture book on Alter Wiener's memoir, From a Name to a Number: A Holocaust Survivor's Autobiography (AuthorHouse, 2007). In a first-person narration, Wiener explains that he was 13 when the German soldiers killed his father; he was 15 when the Nazis came for him. The descriptions of his experiences in the concentration camps are accompanied by Orback's Norman Rockwell-like illustrations that convey the horror of the time period. The brightly hued illustrations of the small town of Chrzanow are in stark contrast to the dark and agonizing depictions of the camps. Among the darkness and despair, however, came an unexpected gift from the enemy: a German factory worker left him a sandwich every day for the 30 days he worked in the building. The book concludes with an afterword by Wiener, a paragraph explaining the Holocaust, vocabulary, discussion questions, and recommended activities. Teachers will want to read this story as an introduction to the Holocaust or to spark discussion about the importance of kindness in all of our lives.-Annette Herbert, F. E. Smith Elementary School, Cortland, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Grades 3-5 Ludwig's picture-book adaptation of Alter Wiener's 2007 memoir, From a Name to a Number: A Holocaust Survivor's Autobiography, recounts Wiener's experiences as a Jewish youth in Poland during WWII. She describes his family life before the war, the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wiener's father's death during the 1939 German invasion of Poland, and Wiener's own deportation to a prison labor camp two years later. While life in the camps is brutal, Wiener also remembers the courage and kindness of one German woman, a camp employee, who risks her own life to smuggle food to him. Ludwig's text lacks specificity with regard to Holocaust atrocities, a plus for the intended audience. Orback's luminous oil paintings are respectful of the subject matter and make effective use of light and shadowing. Concluded with an afterword, discussion questions, and suggested activities, this should spark debates about judging individuals based on the actions of larger groups. Pair with Leon Leyson, Marilyn J. Harran, and Elisabeth B. Leyson's The Boy on the Wooden Box (2013) for another survivor story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)