Mara's Stories by Gary D. Schmidt

From School Library Journal
Gr 5-8-This collection framed as tales told within the concentration camps by a young woman named Mara is not completely successful as a cohesive whole. The book includes holocaust tales as well as traditional rabbinical stories set at that time. The selections range from accounts of escapes from being put into the camps to finding hope within the camps to betrayals and choices. Some are truly transcendent while others are simply filler. The use of Mara as a storyteller seems artificial and takes away from the power of the stories. Most of them could be used in a classroom situation, although they may be more useful in a religious setting than in a secular one. Schmidt includes extensive source notes for each story, giving the origins and explaining how he has changed some of them for this book. Hazel Rochman and Darlene Z. McCampbell's Bearing Witness: Stories of the Holocaust (Orchard, 1995) remains the best collection for children, but libraries with a strong Jewish patronage and a need for additional Holocaust literature may want to add Mara's Stories.

Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-8. In the barracks of a concentration camp, a girl named Mara tells stories at night to the women and children to help push back the darkness. The deceptively simple tellings draw on the Hasidic tradition and range from legends of magical realism and trickster tales of escape to simple prayers. Some are folktales that actually grew up in the camps, with settings that include the roundups, the selections, even the gas chambers. The writing occasionally verges on the sentimental ("And he will always weep, my children. He will always weep"), but Mara's voice keeps things quiet, and for readers who want more background, Schmidt provides many pages of fascinating notes about the history and tradition he is drawing on. A few of the stories are unforgettable, rooted in the Yiddish idiom and in folklore and faith. With dark humor, the story "A Globe," barely two pages long, about the refugees who can't find a country to take them in, will make a powerful read-aloud for the Holocaust curriculum. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult

Library Binding: 154 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439557241
ISBN-13: 978-1439557242