Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about Adam & Thomas, a book written originally in Hebrew in 2013 by Aharon Appelfeld, translated into English by Jeffrey M. Green, and illustrated by Philippe Dumas.
Sprinkles: Let us talk a bit about this book Caramel. Maybe first start by telling us what it is about.
Caramel: It’s about two nine-year-old boys who escape one of the darkest times in human history. I mean, maybe the darkest time in modern history.
S: You are of course talking about World War II and the Holocaust, when millions of European Jews were systematically murdered by Nazi Germany and their collaborators.
C: Yes. And you know I did not really want to read this book because I knew it would be sad once I saw it was about that time.
S: Yes, I know. But I thought it was a good book and that you should probably read about that event anyways. After all, you just read The Donner Dinner Party and that was also about pretty harsh truths.
C: Yup. But I knew about the Holocaust. I did read Maus, too, even though Marshmallow was the one who reviewed it. And I did not like it because it is really really sad.
S: I know. But at least this book ends up in a more positive place, no?
C: Yes. There is that, at least. Not only do they survive the war hiding in the forest for years, but they even find their mothers after all that time.
S: Well, I guess we gave away the ending, but at least readers will know that things will get better in the end even when they re reading the darkest parts of the story. That there is hope.
C: Yes.
S: Did you know this was a translation?
C: Yup. It says it on the cover page. And I know how to read.
S: Yes, of course. but sometimes people or even bunnies do not notice these things, so I thought I’d ask. So the author wrote this book in Hebrew, a language he learned only as a teenager. And he was apparently a pretty well-known author in Hebrew, and in English translation, and Jeffrey Green who translated this book was his standard translator.
C: I did not know any of that. But I think the English works perfectly well. I mean I thought it was a good book for young bunnies.
S: Yes, you are right. The sentences are simple and short. I think it is just right for young bunnies, even though the topic is a bit sensitive, and some younger bunnies might not be able to handle it.
C: Yes, I think so too. But the book is also a little long for really young bunnies. It has almost 150 pages!
S: But there are illustrations on almost every other page!
C: True. And they are really neat too.
S: Tell me more.
C: The illustrations are relatively simple and yet very detailed too. They are in color, and I liked looking at them.
S: I liked them too Caramel! So are you still upset with me for making you start reading this book?
C: No, not really. I think this is a good book with an interesting storyline, and it makes you feel like it might have actually happened. Like the characters are real people.
S: Apparently the author himself ran from a camp and lived in similar circumstances when he was about that age. So that might be why you found it so realistic, because it was real, at least to an extent.
C: Yes.
S: So maybe this is a good time to wrap up this review then. What would you like to tell our readers?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
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