Carol Matas is the author of many books for children and young adults, including Of Two Minds (with Perry Nodelman), Lisa's War, Code Name Kris, Sworn Enemies, and Daniel's Story (for the United States Holocaust Museum). She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, with her husband and two children.
After the War
by Carol Matas
Paperback
(Reprint)
$7.99
- ISBN-13: 9780689807220
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
- Publication date: 09/01/1997
- Edition description: Reprint
- Pages: 128
- Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.50(d)
- Lexile: 840L (what's this?)
- Age Range: 12 - 18 Years
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"Didn't the gas ovens finish you all off?" is the response that meets Ruth Mendenberg when she returns to her village in Poland after the liberation of Buchenwald at the end of World War II. Her entire family wiped out in the Holocaust, the fifteen-year-old girl has nowhere to go.
Members of the underground organization Brichah find her, and she joins them in their dangerous quest to smuggle illegal immigrants to Palestine. Ruth risks her life to help lead a group of children on a daring journey over half a continent and across the sea to Eretz Israel, using secret routes and forged documents — and sheer force of will.
This adventure will touch readers, who will marvel at the resources and inner strength of mere children helping other children to find a place in this world in which they can belong. Carol Matas, one of the foremost authors of historical fiction, brings the desperation and passion of this remarkable journey to life.
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Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
After WWII, a teenage girl risks her life helping immigrant children across Europe to Palestine. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
School Library Journal
Gr 7-10-Matas's historical novel shows that the persecution of Europe's Jewish population did not end with their liberation from the Nazi death camps. She tells the story of Ruth, 15, who makes her way back from Buchenwald to her Polish homeland to discover that Jews are still viewed by others with suspicion and hatred. Desperate and alone, she meets Saul, who persuades her to join a group of refugees planning to emigrate to Palestine. Historically, the book is accurate and references to actual events are interwoven neatly into the narrative. The author does oversimplify the position of the British and their decision to stop Jewish immigration to Palestine, and this is a definite weakness. Nonetheless, the story is strong and compelling and the use of descriptive language creates a mood of desperation and hope combined with a commitment to survival. The use of flashbacks is effective and serves to sustain the mood as well as add depth to Ruth's character. After the War is a thought-provoking novel that offers great insight into the current problems in the Middle East and the passion with which the Jewish people will fight to protect what they perceive to be rightfully theirs.-Robyn Nicoline Ryan, Otterville Public School, Ontario