Customer Reviews
Yellow Star 
2008-08-04
Yellow Star is excellent. The book is written in first person, from the authors interviews of her aunt who was one of the only children who survived the Lodzer Ghetto. I was deeply moved by her writing, not only as an avid reader, but as a person who lost an extensive family in Lodz during WW2 .
This book is recommended reading fr anyone who wants to now what happened during those horrific times.
Manny Litwak
Moving little book about surviving the holocaust. 2008-07-23
This is a must read for children and adults alike. As an adult I have been enjoying reading the books written for children lately. They tell the truth of what really happened but they are not so graphic as to totally terrify a child.
I found this book very encouraging and moving. Please read this book with your children and grandchildren, talk about it and let us never forget so this will never happen again.
Beautifully written.
Yellow Star 
2008-07-21
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy is about a young Jewish girl named Syvia Perimutter who is forced by the Nazis to live in a ghetto under impossible conditions during the Holocaust.
In 1939 the Germans invaded Lodz, Poland and forced the Jewish population to live in a ghetto. 270,000 people where forced to live in these death threatening ways. At the end of the war, about 800 people survived, 12 being children. One of those 12 was Syvia. This story is about how Syvia Perimutter survived during WWII.
Syvia's personality changes many times during the story. She is sad and lonely when she is told she can never leave the room. Syvia also goes from scared to hopeful and brave to happy as the story goes on.
I like this book because it was exciting and helped me learn more about the conditions that people lived in during World War II.
Lyrical; one of the best Holocaust stories I've read. 2008-07-02
The author retells her Aunt Syvia's story of surviving in the Lodz Ghetto during WWII. The book is based on Syvia's true story, although the author has fictionalized some events. Told in a series of vignettes that are vivid and poetic, the story begins during the fall of 1939 and ends with the liberation of Lodz in 1945.
Each of the book's five sections starts with a short factual introduction that puts Syvia's story into a historical context. Then, told in first person, each of Syvia's short but vivid memories helps the reader understand the true horror of the Holocaust. Syvia's story is wonderful and terrifying and wise.
Told from a child's perspective, the story uses simple and powerful language. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for children and adults.
This book is amazing!!!!!!!! 2008-06-18
I am always trying to educate myself on The Holocaust since I teach a unit over it during the school year. This year I attended an educator conference for teaching The Holocaust and one of the speakers highly recommend this book, so I went home and ordered it. When I received it, I sat on the couch and started to read it. Two hours later I got up feeling like I had just lived through a horrible nightmare. This book is amazing. You are there feeling and seeing everything. If you have any interest in stories about The Holocaust, this is one to add to your library.
Remarkably written. A remarkable story. 2008-05-24
Thinking my 12-year-old daughter would enjoy this after studying WWII, I brought it home...only to have it be seen in the hands of our 17-year-old daughter. Now I have it. The 12-year-old gets it tomorrow. Highly, highly recommended.
Excellent, gripping portrayal of ghetto life. 2008-03-15
My seven-year-old daughter selected this book at our local library. She has been studying events of WWII, and consequently, has become both fascinated and enraged by the Nazi regime. I previewed the book first and found it to be a moving, gripping portrayal of ghetto life from a child's perspective. I have read a lot about the Holocaust, but this book moved me to tears. The style of first-person narrative allowed me to understand Syvia's hopes, fears, dreams and despairs.
A Book of Poetry Written Like a Novel 2008-01-14
I bought this book for my daughter for Christmas. I had never heard of it, but it came up as recommended when I bought "The Boy in The Striped Pajamas" as a gift for someone else (which is amazing, btw.) So, had no idea what I was getting really, except subject matter, of course. My daughter read it on our Christmas vacation and then passed it on to me, and I passed it on to my mother-in-law (it is a book you can read in one sitting.) What was unique about it is, that it is actually written in poetry format, but all the poems link together to form the story. It is a youth book (I believe) so it is extremely accessible, but very sensitively written and moving.
Yellow Star is a must read for children and adults alike 2007-09-17
It is difficult for me to find words that adequately describe the power of Yellow Star. Told in beautifully flowing free verse, through the eyes of a child, the story of young Syvia Perlmutter leadens the stomach but leaves the reader with a new appreciation for life. Maybe it's something to do with Syvia being the age of my own daughters or knowing that in some parts of the world children are now being taught that the atrocities of the holocaust never occurred, but this story ripped my heart out time and time again from beginning to end. As a Jewish child imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto during World War II, Syvia's innocence and fear are nothing short of gut-wrenching. The most powerful verse for me comes when this nine year old girl finally becomes so weak with illness and emaciation she can no longer move. She says simply, "I feel like a pile of bones/ lying in the corner" (144).
The overall mood of this novel isn't depressing, however. Despite the unspeakable horrors that befell the people of the Lodz getto, and against all odds, one innocent little girl in particular manages to live on. In surroundings that would drive any adult past the breaking point, Syvia finds ways to make it through each day, inventing quiet games with what little she has and spending what must have been the majority of each dreary day alone, in total silence. At some points she is almost happy while at others she barely exists. This is a story of survival, one that is sometimes so shocking it's hard to remember it actually happened. I caught myself hoping time and time again that little Syvia was just a figment of the author's imagination, though even if she had been, the skill with which she was written wouldn't have made her story or circumstances any less terrible.
It is rare for me to feel so strongly about a novel, especially one written for children, but once I started reading Yellow Star, I simply couldn't put it down. With each passage came a flood of feeling: hope for a new day, shock at the behavior of one human being to another, thankfulness for small yet significant victories, disconsolation over the loss of what little remained. Reading well into the early hours of the morning, eyes blurry with tears, I didn't want to know what happened to this sweet little girl and her family-- I needed to. I couldn't close the book until Syvia conquered her private hell. The author gave me no choice but to believe in this unlikely child heroine. In her words, "A hero. Me. The mouse./ Who would have guessed that?" (221-2)
Yellow Star will be on my bookshelf for years to come so that when they have grown mature enough, my own young ones will be able to read and hopefully appreciate this story as much as I did. The faith that kept this little girl and her family alive in the face of such unbelievable adversity should serve as in inspiration to the children we are raising in America today. When a little girl's greatest dream is to have a single doll and to live another day without being executed on the whim of a stranger, the importance of cell phones and fancy sneakers certainly pales in comparison. Read Yellow Star. Buy it for the people you care about. This book will stand the test of time and teaches lessons that cross over the boundaries of race and religion to reach the essence of our human souls. You will not be disappointed in this short but memorable read.
Terrific 2007-08-01
I wasn't really looking forward to reading this book that I needed to read for my librarian job, but I was thoroughly engrossed by it. The atrocities of the period are still there, but they are told in a way that younger children can read and relate to as can older readers as well. Very well written and very interesting, especially since it is based on a true account.
