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Mara's Stories: Glimmers In The Darkness (2001)

by Gary D. Schmidt(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0805067949 (ISBN13: 9780805067941)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

review 1: Gary Schmidt combines his deep love for relating history with his talent for telling stories. He creates Mara, a name meaning "bitter" in Hebrew, bitter for the bitterest experiences she must go through as a concentration camp Holocaust prisoner during World War II. Mara has a gift for storytelling, sharing stories to the other prisoners at night after they return from tiresome chores. These Hasidic tales that her Rabbi father taught her are the very elements these prisoners need to find hope and joy in the very barracks that seeks to make their lives miserable. Each tale she tells celebrates the very beauty and strength the world has to offer. I find this novel a refreshing interpretation of what could have happened in German concentration camps during World War II. We of... moreten hear from history books the horrible events that took place, but we never hear how the prisoners kept the faith. Schmidt dares to guess what one Jew might have done, for Mara is a one person representing the six million people that were murdered by Adolf Hitler. My favorite stories that she tells are the ones about death, but Schmidt formulates the death as a liberation from the evil that detains them on Earth. I really enjoy to learn about the Jewish perspective on life through the points of view and jargon portrayed by the characters in these stories, most revolving around Rabbis and their disciples. What better way to celebrate the legacy these courageous martyrs left behind? I would recommend this book to Social Studies students between the ages of 12-14 who enjoy a hopeful and upbeat fictional outlook on Holocaust history.
review 2: I don't know if I really liked this book. The very first story in the book I was able to hear Gary Schmidt tell and that made me really like that story when I heard it and when I read it. Maybe I need to reread it again but some of the stories seemed to go right over my head. There were some stories however that made me laugh a little and some I was able to understand and they were very powerful to me. I guess I am one that doesn't always understand the story like they say on page 88.Scale of 0-10 (0=none, 10=extreme)Violence -2 There is really no violence just a little bit of telling of the evil things that happened in the camps or to the JewsLanguage -0 I don't remember any language in the book. Sex -0 NoAlcohol/Drugs -0 No less

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