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migimon2002's review against another edition
4.0
A heartwarming story of hope, set against the backdrop of WWII and the concentration camps. It is written at a level appropriate for young readers, and creates opportunity for conversation.
jillyd's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I liked this different take on the Holocaust.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
3.0
Picture book true story of Werner Reich, a boy in the Auschwitz concentration camp who meets Herbert Lewin, a magician before the war. Lewin, who performed as "Nivelli," teaches Werner card tricks that he (Lewin) has to perform for the guards or be punished. He helps Werner survive his time in the camp. They both survive the war. Beautiful black and white and blue-toned illustrations (charcoal?). Afterword tells the full story and what happened to them after the war, and has photos of them before and after. Last page gives general info on Auschwitz.
corncobwebs's review against another edition
Very text-heavy with dark, brooding illustrations. The story was interesting -- concentration camp inmates bond over magic -- and shows that it's possible to find bits of hope and joy even in the darkest situations. But I thought it would have worked better as a longer narrative non-fiction piece, rather than as a picture book biography.
backonthealex's review against another edition
4.0
Werner Reich is just a young boy when he arrives alone at Auschwitz. His father had died a few years before, he was separated from his mother when the Nazis took her and his older sister was supposedly hiding in plain sight with a Christian family.
Werner may be young but he quickly assesses that the best chance to survive Auschwitz is to appear not to be weak. So, climbing up to the third rung of the triple decker bunks in his barracks, scared and lonely, Werner meets his bunk mate, Herr Herbert Levin.
By day, Werner and the other men and boys stand hours for roll call, then move heavy rocks from one place to another, eat the watery soup and stale bread, then try to sleep so they can do this all over again the next day.
One night, however, the guards come in and wake Herr Levin up, demanding magic. Giving him a deck of cards, Herr Levin performs all kinds of magic tricks for the guards entertainment. His magic also delights Werner, who thinks Herr Levin might be favored with an extra piece of bread, but his thinking is quickly straightened out by his bunk mate. "This is not a game and it is not a show…if I displease the guards, if I fail in my magic, if I run out of tricks, if they tire of me…my life will be over." Werner quickly grasps the capriciousness of life in a concentration camp.
Then one night, Herr Levin teaches Werner how to do a card trick, one just for Werner only. Magic helped keep Herr Levin alive in Auschwitz so far, maybe it will help Werner, too, he tells the boy.
Eventually the two are separated, and towards the end of the war, Werner is forced to walk on a Death March from Auschwitz to Germany, a walk he survives. Herr Levin also survives, but the two have no idea what happened to the other.
Werner remained interested in magic throughout his adult life, performing tricks for his family and friends after marrying and migrating to the United States. But he never found out what happened to Herr Levin until one day he was reading a trade magazine about magic…
and discovered that his Auschwitz bunk mate Herr Levin was none other that the renowned Nivelli the Magician, eminent pre-war magician known all over Europe and who, after the war ended, had been performing in the United States.
It must be so difficult to write books for young readers about the Holocaust that aren't too scary, too grime, too graphic, but istis doable and many parents and teachers find that they are a sensitive way to introduce the heinous circumstances of the Holocaust to their kids. Canadian author Kathy Kacer, who has written many books for young readers about the Holocaust, seems to instinctively know how to make a Holocaust book accessible and informative without frightening young readers. And she has done just that in The Magician of Auschwitz, a picture book for older readers.
What makes The Magician of Auschwitz such a fascinating story it that it shows so clearly how one small act of kindness can make such a difference in a person's life - in this case, maybe even helping to save it. The themes of hope and friendship forbidden in a place where often it really was (understandably) every man for himself are reflected in the muted, subdued illustrations, almost as though they are being hidden from the Nazi captors.
The watercolor illustrations by Gillian Newland are indeed dark and foreboding grays, blacks, browns and gray-green, reflecting life in a concentration camp, with only small touches of red on the playing cards and the swastika on the guards armbands.
Though based on the experiences of the real Werner Reich and Herbert Levin or Nivelli the Magician, however, this is a fictional retelling of their story, told from Werner's point of view. As a biographical picture book for older readers, there should have been more souces in the back matter than just the author's one extensive "How it Happened" explanation. However, readers will still enjoy reading this and seeing the accompanying photographs of Werner as a youth and as an older man. Sadly there is only one photographs of Herr Levin and his wife.
This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This review was originally posted on The Children's War
Werner may be young but he quickly assesses that the best chance to survive Auschwitz is to appear not to be weak. So, climbing up to the third rung of the triple decker bunks in his barracks, scared and lonely, Werner meets his bunk mate, Herr Herbert Levin.
By day, Werner and the other men and boys stand hours for roll call, then move heavy rocks from one place to another, eat the watery soup and stale bread, then try to sleep so they can do this all over again the next day.
One night, however, the guards come in and wake Herr Levin up, demanding magic. Giving him a deck of cards, Herr Levin performs all kinds of magic tricks for the guards entertainment. His magic also delights Werner, who thinks Herr Levin might be favored with an extra piece of bread, but his thinking is quickly straightened out by his bunk mate. "This is not a game and it is not a show…if I displease the guards, if I fail in my magic, if I run out of tricks, if they tire of me…my life will be over." Werner quickly grasps the capriciousness of life in a concentration camp.
Then one night, Herr Levin teaches Werner how to do a card trick, one just for Werner only. Magic helped keep Herr Levin alive in Auschwitz so far, maybe it will help Werner, too, he tells the boy.
Eventually the two are separated, and towards the end of the war, Werner is forced to walk on a Death March from Auschwitz to Germany, a walk he survives. Herr Levin also survives, but the two have no idea what happened to the other.
Werner remained interested in magic throughout his adult life, performing tricks for his family and friends after marrying and migrating to the United States. But he never found out what happened to Herr Levin until one day he was reading a trade magazine about magic…
and discovered that his Auschwitz bunk mate Herr Levin was none other that the renowned Nivelli the Magician, eminent pre-war magician known all over Europe and who, after the war ended, had been performing in the United States.
It must be so difficult to write books for young readers about the Holocaust that aren't too scary, too grime, too graphic, but istis doable and many parents and teachers find that they are a sensitive way to introduce the heinous circumstances of the Holocaust to their kids. Canadian author Kathy Kacer, who has written many books for young readers about the Holocaust, seems to instinctively know how to make a Holocaust book accessible and informative without frightening young readers. And she has done just that in The Magician of Auschwitz, a picture book for older readers.
What makes The Magician of Auschwitz such a fascinating story it that it shows so clearly how one small act of kindness can make such a difference in a person's life - in this case, maybe even helping to save it. The themes of hope and friendship forbidden in a place where often it really was (understandably) every man for himself are reflected in the muted, subdued illustrations, almost as though they are being hidden from the Nazi captors.
The watercolor illustrations by Gillian Newland are indeed dark and foreboding grays, blacks, browns and gray-green, reflecting life in a concentration camp, with only small touches of red on the playing cards and the swastika on the guards armbands.
Though based on the experiences of the real Werner Reich and Herbert Levin or Nivelli the Magician, however, this is a fictional retelling of their story, told from Werner's point of view. As a biographical picture book for older readers, there should have been more souces in the back matter than just the author's one extensive "How it Happened" explanation. However, readers will still enjoy reading this and seeing the accompanying photographs of Werner as a youth and as an older man. Sadly there is only one photographs of Herr Levin and his wife.
This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This review was originally posted on The Children's War
scostner's review against another edition
4.0
Books that introduce children to the terrible story of the concentration camps during World War II have a difficult task. How can they be truthful without frightening young readers? Which facts should be included for realism, or left out because they are too horrifying? Stories such as The Magician of Auschwitz somehow walk that fine line and help explain a difficult subject in a sensitive way.
This is the true story of a boy name Werner Reich and his bunkmate Herr Levin. In their lives before Auschwitz, Werner was a teen living with his mother and sister, while Herr Levin was a magician performing in the theaters of Berlin. They had never met before their time in the camp, but Werner valued the older man who was kind to him and never forgot the magic tricks Herr Levin was forced to perform by the guards. Even though they never met again after their time at Auschwitz, Werner never forgot his friend and maintained an interest in magic.
The story is short and told without any gory details or graphic descriptions of the camp's conditions. Basic facts such as the small rations and hard physical labor are mentioned, as well as the fact that if the guards had not been pleased by the magic tricks, then Herr Levin could have been killed. The illustrations are done in dark shadowy colors, with only the red on the playing cards standing out. The pictures reinforce the idea that the magic was the only bright spot in the lives of the prisoners.
The back matter includes black & white photos of Herr Levin and his wife, dressed as the Nivellis (their stage name), as well as Werner and his sister before the war, and one of Werner after his liberation. There are also color photos of Werner and his wife, a couple that show him doing a card trick, and one of Werner with the author. The final page gives a brief summary of the treatment of Jews in Hitler's Germany and a photo of children behind the fence of a concentration camp. Seeing those young faces behind the barbed wire and reading that more than 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust, readers will realize how lucky Werner and Herr Levin were to survive.
This is the true story of a boy name Werner Reich and his bunkmate Herr Levin. In their lives before Auschwitz, Werner was a teen living with his mother and sister, while Herr Levin was a magician performing in the theaters of Berlin. They had never met before their time in the camp, but Werner valued the older man who was kind to him and never forgot the magic tricks Herr Levin was forced to perform by the guards. Even though they never met again after their time at Auschwitz, Werner never forgot his friend and maintained an interest in magic.
The story is short and told without any gory details or graphic descriptions of the camp's conditions. Basic facts such as the small rations and hard physical labor are mentioned, as well as the fact that if the guards had not been pleased by the magic tricks, then Herr Levin could have been killed. The illustrations are done in dark shadowy colors, with only the red on the playing cards standing out. The pictures reinforce the idea that the magic was the only bright spot in the lives of the prisoners.
The back matter includes black & white photos of Herr Levin and his wife, dressed as the Nivellis (their stage name), as well as Werner and his sister before the war, and one of Werner after his liberation. There are also color photos of Werner and his wife, a couple that show him doing a card trick, and one of Werner with the author. The final page gives a brief summary of the treatment of Jews in Hitler's Germany and a photo of children behind the fence of a concentration camp. Seeing those young faces behind the barbed wire and reading that more than 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust, readers will realize how lucky Werner and Herr Levin were to survive.
bookbrig's review against another edition
2.0
The history was interesting, and the art was fine, but the story didn't really stay with me and I only have a hazy recollection of the facts a few days later. Admittedly, this might be my mood rather than a problem with the book.