The Whirlwind - Softcover

Matas, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551437031 ISBN 13: 9781551437033

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers, 2007

Synopsis

It is 1941. Fourteen-year-old Ben Friedman flees the horrors of Nazi Germany with his parents and his sister, leaving behind his grandparents, his friends, his home. They make a difficult journey over land and sea all the way to Japan and then to America. In Seattle, Ben dares to hope that he will finally be safe. He finds a friend in John, a Japanese-American boy, but then comes the attack on Pearl Harbor and everything changes. Fear begins to grow in Ben, fear that it is all happening again. Where can he be safe? What should he do? He dreams of Canada, thinking it a haven, only to find that he has nowhere to turn, nowhere to run. Perhaps safety is not where or even what he thinks it is. Perhaps life is not what he imagined at all.

About this title

About the Author

Carol Matas is an internationally acclaimed author of over thirty-five novels for children and young adults. Her best-selling work, which includes three award-winning series, has been translated into Spanish, Japanese, Taiwanese, Turkish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, German, French, Indonesian and Russian. Her work has won numerous awards, and has been twice nominated for a Governor General's Award. More information is available at /www.carolmatas.com

From the Back Cover

It is 1941. Fourteen-year-old Ben Friedman flees the horrors of Nazi Germany with his parents and his sister, leaving behind his grandparents, his friends, his home. In Seattle, Ben dares to hope that he will finally be safe. He finds a friend in John, a Japanese-American boy, but then comes the attack on Pearl Harbor and everything changes. Fear begins to grow in Ben, fear that it is all happening again. Where can he be safe? What should he do? He dreams of Canada, thinking it a haven, only to find that he has nowhere to turn, nowhere to run. Perhaps safety is not where or even what he thinks it is. Perhaps life is not what he imagined at all.

From the Inside Flap

Holocaust, prejudice, obsession, faith

Reviews

Grade 6 Up–Benjamin Friedman, a 15-year-old Jewish boy, fears for his life in Nazi Germany. Fortunately, his family is able to escape Hitler, arriving in Seattle in the summer of 1941. Ben is relieved to be there but is upset and confused by his experiences. He blames his father for not taking action earlier as well as for his inability to secure American visas for the boy's grandparents. The teen tries to settle into his new life but faces bullying because he is German. He is afraid for John, his Japanese-American classmate, and tries to convince his friend and his own family that America is not safe and that they must flee to Canada. No one understands Ben's concerns–they believe he is ill–and this only makes him more determined to take matters into his own hands. After John's family is sent to an internment camp and the Friedmans' house is attacked, Ben runs away to Canada. It is not the safe haven he imagined, and he realizes that perhaps he was mistaken about many things. This unique and thought-provoking story shows what prejudice and indifference to suffering and wrongdoing can lead to. It imparts an understanding of the Holocaust and World War II without the explicitness present in other books on the subject.–Donna Rosenblum, Nassau Boces School Library System, NY
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Matas, whose Holocaust novels include In My Enemy's House (1999), confronts a shameful part of World War II history--Americans' prejudice against German Jewish refugees. Ben Friedman, newly arrived in Seattle in 1941, remembers the horror of Kristalnacht and leaving his grandparents behind on their way to the camps. In his grief, he directs his fury against his father. He's bullied in his new school and called names, but he makes friends with a Japanese American classmate, John. Then John and his family are sent to an internment camp, and Ben runs away to Canada, only to encounter even worse prejudice and exclusion. Although Matas never equates discrimination with genocide, there's always the question, "Is it all happening again?" The metaphors and messages are sometimes too heavy as Ben translates the Book of Job and wrestles with his dreams. Yet the heart of the story--Ben's intense relationship with his father--effectively moves from fury and blame to understanding and love. Pair this with Miriam Bat-Ami's Two Suns in the Sky (2000). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The front window had been shattered by a huge rock that was now lying on the floor of the store. Father ran outside. I followed. A banner was hanging from the door...In large, red, hand-painted letters were the words:
Germans go home.

Edition details

• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1551437031
• ISBN 13: 9781551437033
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144