Comments on: I Am a Star, Child of the Holocaust by Inge Auerbacher http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/ Maw Books - book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more! Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:39:44 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Natasha Maw http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/#comment-56777 Natasha Maw Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:54:45 +0000 http://blog.mawbooks.com/?p=3566#comment-56777 Simcha - In this case, I didn't feel an emotional connection with the author, as though she has removed herself from the story and is telling it from a distance. The book was very factual. Kids will learn a lot about the Holocaust from reading this book. But I believe that those facts need a strong emotional base to draw the reader in. I also believe that kids do need to believe that this happened to REAL people who had REAL emotions. I think that a book can still deliver an emotional response without all the gory details that might be present in an adults book. There was just something missing . . . But like I said, the book is very important and should not to be discounted. But it's probably not the first one that I would reach for when turning to a child to teach them about the Holocaust. Simcha – In this case, I didn’t feel an emotional connection with the author, as though she has removed herself from the story and is telling it from a distance. The book was very factual. Kids will learn a lot about the Holocaust from reading this book. But I believe that those facts need a strong emotional base to draw the reader in. I also believe that kids do need to believe that this happened to REAL people who had REAL emotions. I think that a book can still deliver an emotional response without all the gory details that might be present in an adults book. There was just something missing . . . But like I said, the book is very important and should not to be discounted. But it’s probably not the first one that I would reach for when turning to a child to teach them about the Holocaust.

]]> By: Simcha http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/#comment-56765 Simcha Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:57:21 +0000 http://blog.mawbooks.com/?p=3566#comment-56765 I just read the comment you made on Twitter about the response that you received from the author, which led me to read you review of the book. I often wonder how it is that adults can review children or YA books accurately when your expectations, as an adult are so different from a child's expectation of a book. You comment in your review "I just didn’t feel that gut-wrenching horror that I usually feel when I read books about the Holocaust." But should a children's book about the Holocaust contain gut-wrenching horror? The Holocaust books I read as a kid were sad but they didn't go into the kind of details that books for adults do, and I don't think they should. I just read the comment you made on Twitter about the response that you received from the author, which led me to read you review of the book. I often wonder how it is that adults can review children or YA books accurately when your expectations, as an adult are so different from a child’s expectation of a book.
You comment in your review “I just didn’t feel that gut-wrenching horror that I usually feel when I read books about the Holocaust.” But should a children’s book about the Holocaust contain gut-wrenching horror? The Holocaust books I read as a kid were sad but they didn’t go into the kind of details that books for adults do, and I don’t think they should.

]]> By: Ladytink_534 http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/#comment-53359 Ladytink_534 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:43:31 +0000 http://blog.mawbooks.com/?p=3566#comment-53359 Love your last sentence. People die every day but many have truly remarkable stories they still need to tell :( Love your last sentence. People die every day but many have truly remarkable stories they still need to tell :(

]]> By: Heather http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/#comment-53152 Heather Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:44:03 +0000 http://blog.mawbooks.com/?p=3566#comment-53152 Hi Natasha, I really like the honesty of this review. As I was reading the first paragraph I thought to myself "the author has probably spent years trying to kill the emotions about her experience" then I got farther down and found you saying the same thing. I can't imagine how hard it must be for someone to write their personal experiences of the Holocaust. My Grandmother, Grandfather & Great-Aunt were smuggled out from a Ghetto in Hungary as teenagers to the US without their family at the beginning of the Holocaust. My Grandparents both died before I was born and my great-aunt would not talk about it so I do not know much of their experience. I only know that it was on that journey that my grandparents met and none of my family would be here were it not for someone willing to take the risk. I am ashamed to say that I have not read any books about the Holocaust or written by a survivor since I was a kid because of the extreme emotional response I have to the stories. Thank you for reading them and reviewing them. Your comment in this post about their stories deserving to be heard made me decide that I should go ahead and read these stories I have been afraid of for so many years because nothing I experience in reading them could ever come close to what they lived through and their stories do deserve to be heard, lest people begin to forget. I have an ARC here that I need to read this week (Fiction) from the perspective of an American reporter in EU in the time before the US became involved that I but have been putting off reading. I'm going to start it and go from there. Thank you. Hi Natasha,

I really like the honesty of this review. As I was reading the first paragraph I thought to myself “the author has probably spent years trying to kill the emotions about her experience” then I got farther down and found you saying the same thing. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for someone to write their personal experiences of the Holocaust.

My Grandmother, Grandfather & Great-Aunt were smuggled out from a Ghetto in Hungary as teenagers to the US without their family at the beginning of the Holocaust. My Grandparents both died before I was born and my great-aunt would not talk about it so I do not know much of their experience. I only know that it was on that journey that my grandparents met and none of my family would be here were it not for someone willing to take the risk.

I am ashamed to say that I have not read any books about the Holocaust or written by a survivor since I was a kid because of the extreme emotional response I have to the stories.

Thank you for reading them and reviewing them. Your comment in this post about their stories deserving to be heard made me decide that I should go ahead and read these stories I have been afraid of for so many years because nothing I experience in reading them could ever come close to what they lived through and their stories do deserve to be heard, lest people begin to forget. I have an ARC here that I need to read this week (Fiction) from the perspective of an American reporter in EU in the time before the US became involved that I but have been putting off reading. I’m going to start it and go from there.
Thank you.

]]> By: Word Lily http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/#comment-53145 Word Lily Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:13:22 +0000 http://blog.mawbooks.com/?p=3566#comment-53145 These stories are so important, yes. These stories are so important, yes.

]]> By: sarah pekkanen http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/09/22/i-am-a-star-child-of-the-holocaust-by-inge-auerbacher/#comment-53138 sarah pekkanen Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:39:48 +0000 http://blog.mawbooks.com/?p=3566#comment-53138 I haven't read this, but I think you're spot on, Natasha: I imagine you'd have to distance yourself from those horrors. At the same time, I imagine there would be a strong compulsion to write about them for many reasons. I agree, though, it's critical these stories be told and recorded. I haven’t read this, but I think you’re spot on, Natasha: I imagine you’d have to distance yourself from those horrors. At the same time, I imagine there would be a strong compulsion to write about them for many reasons. I agree, though, it’s critical these stories be told and recorded.

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