Adam and Thomas - Softcover

Appelfeld, Aharon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1609807448 ISBN 13: 9781609807443

Publisher: Triangle Square, 2017

Synopsis

HONOR 2016 - Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book
WINNER 2016 - Sydney Taylor Book Award, Association of Jewish Libraries
FINALIST 2016 - National Jewish Book Awards

Adam and Thomas is the story of two nine-year-old Jewish boys who survive World War II by banding together in the forest. They are alone, visited only furtively every few days by Mina, a mercurial girl who herself has found refuge from the war by living with a peasant family. She makes secret journeys and brings the boys parcels of food at her own risk.

Adam and Thomas must learn to survive and do. They forage and build a small tree house, although it's more like a bird's nest. Adam's family dog, Miro, manages to find his way to him, to the joy of both boys. Miro brings the warmth of home with him. Echoes of the war are felt in the forest. The boys meet fugitives fleeing for their lives and try to help them. They learn to disappear in moments of danger. And they barely survive winter's harshest weather, but when things seem to be at their worst, a miracle happens.

About this title

About the Author:

First championed in the English language by Irving Howe and Philip Roth, AHARON APPELFELD was born in a village near Czernowitz, Bukovina in 1932. During World War II, he was deported to a concentration camp in Transnistria, but escaped. He was eight years old. For the next three years, he wandered the forests. In 1944, he was picked up by the Red Army, served in field kitchens in Ukraine, then made his way to Italy. He reached Palestine in 1946. He has written many novels which depict the Holocaust, including Badenheim 1939 (1978) and The Conversion (1998). Today, Appelfield is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University at Beersheva, a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has won numerous prizes, including the Israel Prize; the MLA Commonwealth Award in Literature; the Prix Médicis étranger in France; the Premio Grinzane Cavour and Premio Boccaccio Internazionale; the Bertha von Suttner Award for Culture and Peace; and the 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. In 2013, he was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.

JEFFREY M. GREEN began to translate for Aharon Appelfeld in the 1980s and has translated a dozen or so of his novels. Green is the author of Thinking Through Translation (University of Georgia Press), as well as short stories, poems, novels, book reviews, and essays.

Review:

"Deeply moving and powerful: unforgettable." —Kirkus Reviews

"A fine addition to elementary and middle school libraries looking for tender friendship and survival stories set during the second World War." --School Library Journal

"Adam and Thomas is at once a finely wrought fable and a realistic tale of survival—a tale of resourcefulness, of friendship, of the kindness of strangers, of the mysterious ways of fate.  It’s a book that shows us how sheer will and hope can sustain life in the direst of circumstances.  It’s a book that teaches us to marvel at simple miracles: a piece of bread, a sip of milk, the sight of a familiar dog.  Most of all it’s a story of generosity, one that suggests that the act of giving may be as necessary to our survival as food or drink.  Thank you, Mr. Appelfeld, for the gift of this magical book." —Julie Orringer, author of The Invisible Bridge

"Aharon Appelfeld is a living legend, an artistic giant who has distilled his personal experience of absolute evil into a pure and powerful art." —Dara Horn, author of The World to Come and A Guide for the Perplexed

“A real masterpiece . . . The best book of the year.”—Lire

"The story is one of quiet perseverance and growing friendship between two very different boys experiencing the world together in a horrific time and place." --Booklist

“Aharon Appelfield’s first book for children has the beauty of a classic tale, the woods/forest referring to the origins of the species and man. The adventure is enthralling, the words simple, the drawings by Philippe Dumans deeply touching. The questions, immense." —Telerama Enfants

“All the talent of Aharon Appelfeld is here in his way of tackling, in a calm and fragile voice, the great themes of our existence—what is love?, what is hate?, what is courage?—without our wishing for a second to close the book. Whether one is a child or not.” —Le Soir

“Aharon Appelfield chose to use his personal experience as inspiration (as a child he escaped from a concentration camp and survived a few months in a forest, after his mother was assassinated by the Nazis) without treating that experience in an overly dramatic way, and instead tells a tale in a simple and accessible style. A touching and captivating tale that will be appreciated by young readers and adults.” —Lecture

“A mind-blowing novel.” —L’independent

“A deeply moving tale that the delicate drawings by Philippe Dumas powerfully illustrate.” —La revue des livres pour enfants

  

About this edition

• Publisher: Triangle Square
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1609807448
• ISBN 13: 9781609807443
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Illustrator: Dumas Philippe