This month was not a great month for reading. I blame my son's teacher for my sudden reading slump. She had the kids reading a book that even I was not prepared for.
Prisoner B-3087
Synopsis: Survive. At any cost.
10 concentration camps.
10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.
It's something no one could imagine surviving.
But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.
As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087.
He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.
Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?
Based on an astonishing true story.
My Review:
I cannot give a full review of this book.
My son was assigned this book by his teacher to read for class. There was no real additional material to go with this book. They were just thrown right into the horrors. I ended up reading this book when he started to emotionally shut down on us. This book has some very graphic material. While I fully believe that this would be an amazing book to be read by students I believe that this should not be taught to 6th graders but maybe a group that has already been given a full history lesson of WW2. These children had not even gotten to WW2 in History yet when this book was assigned.
My child's class also lost a classmate to a gun accident so this also had a profound impact on them as they read this. Many of the children shut down when the teacher was reading this.
When I started to read this book I had some issues myself. I'm an emotional reader and get very invested into my characters and the story. However, this story was one that I could not finish. I have never DNFed a book before this one. I usually try and give a book a chance finishing it hoping beyond hope that the book gets better. I could not finish this one.
I will put it the same way that someone put it to me after they read a few chapters of the book. If this was made into a movie it would have been rated R. Keep that in mind please as you say yes this is a perfect book for your middle schooler. Not all middle schoolers are ready for this book.
If they have not been introduced to WW2 yet and what brought on the events that happen in this book wait. Let them be taught this before you set this book in front of them so they understand what lead up to this event.
My son was assigned this book by his teacher to read for class. There was no real additional material to go with this book. They were just thrown right into the horrors. I ended up reading this book when he started to emotionally shut down on us. This book has some very graphic material. While I fully believe that this would be an amazing book to be read by students I believe that this should not be taught to 6th graders but maybe a group that has already been given a full history lesson of WW2. These children had not even gotten to WW2 in History yet when this book was assigned.
My child's class also lost a classmate to a gun accident so this also had a profound impact on them as they read this. Many of the children shut down when the teacher was reading this.
When I started to read this book I had some issues myself. I'm an emotional reader and get very invested into my characters and the story. However, this story was one that I could not finish. I have never DNFed a book before this one. I usually try and give a book a chance finishing it hoping beyond hope that the book gets better. I could not finish this one.
I will put it the same way that someone put it to me after they read a few chapters of the book. If this was made into a movie it would have been rated R. Keep that in mind please as you say yes this is a perfect book for your middle schooler. Not all middle schoolers are ready for this book.
If they have not been introduced to WW2 yet and what brought on the events that happen in this book wait. Let them be taught this before you set this book in front of them so they understand what lead up to this event.
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