The Chosen (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

Potok, Chaim

ISBN 10: 0808514040 ISBN 13: 9780808514046

Publisher: Turtleback Books, 1987

Synopsis

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A baseball game between two different Jewish schools becomes the catalyst that starts a bitter rivalry between two boys and their fathers.

About this title

Review

Few stories offer more warmth, wisdom, or generosity than this tale of two boys, their fathers, their friendship, and the chaotic times in which they live. Though on the surface it explores religious faith--the intellectually committed as well as the passionately observant--the struggles addressed in The Chosen are familiar to families of all faiths and in all nations.

In 1940s Brooklyn, New York, an accident throws Reuven Malther and Danny Saunders together. Despite their differences (Reuven is a Modern Orthodox Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe), the young men form a deep, if unlikely, friendship. Together they negotiate adolescence, family conflicts, the crisis of faith engendered when Holocaust stories begin to emerge in the U.S., loss, love, and the journey to adulthood. The intellectual and spiritual clashes between fathers, between each son and his own father, and between the two young men, provide a unique backdrop for this exploration of fathers, sons, faith, loyalty, and, ultimately, the power of love. (This is not a conventional children's book, although it will move any wise child age 12 or older, and often appears on summer reading lists for high school students.)

From the Publisher

6 1.5-hour cassettes

Edition details

• Publisher: Turtleback Books
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0808514040
• ISBN 13: 9780808514046
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304