Ebook Along the Tracks Sandpiper paperbacks Tamar Bergman 9780395745137 Books

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51M0n1oYmCL._SX337_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Product details Age Range 12 and up Grade Level 7 - 12 Lexile Measure 650L (What's this?) Series Sandpiper Paperbacks Paperback 256 pages Publisher Sandpiper; Reprint edition (September 25, 1995) Language English ISBN-10 9780395745137 ISBN-13 978-0395745137 ASIN 0395745136

Along the Tracks Sandpiper paperbacks Tamar Bergman 9780395745137 Books Reviews

• Along the Tracks, has become part of the top-five requested books read independently in my 8th and 9th grade classes. This book crosses gender interests. It is one that I recommend to reluctant readers and so far, even they have agreed that it is a very interesting read.
• Some Jewish people saw the writing on the wall and were able to get out of Nazi-occupied Europe before World War II began, or at least before the Nazis occupied their particular part of Europe. Certainly they suffered, as all refugees do they had to flee their homes, often on short notice, often with almost nothing but the clothes on their backs, and start all over again in a strange land, and most of them were never able to return home. Most times those people are still referred to as "Holocaust survivors" because they were definitely victims of Nazi aggression. But I prefer the term "Holocaust avoiders" or "Holocaust escapees."
  
  Along the Tracks is just such a story a Polish-Jewish family who were able to escape the Nazi terror by fleeing deep into the Soviet Union. This novel, based on a true story, is about this family and in particular the oldest son, Yankele aka Yasha.
  
  It was a compelling story and definitely a page-turner, and showed a side of the Holocaust and World War II that children aren't often told about. Although they may have never had to deal with concentration camps or gas chambers, the family had to deal with illness, separation, forced labor, starvation, homelessness, and other trials of war.
  
  I thought the second half of the story was much better than the first half. This was mainly because the second half was told from one point of view while the first half had like a zillion different narrators switching back and forth, sometimes three on the same page, which was really jarring and annoying for me. It might not bother some people as much, though. Once the story got into the second half, which had only Yankele/Yasha's perspective, it really galloped along for me.
  
  If you're interested in stories of European refugees who fled into the USSR during World War II, I recommend Anatole Konstantin's A Red Boyhood Growing Up Under Stalin. He was also Jewish and his family fled to Kazakhstan for the duration of the war; his experience was quite similar to the novel.
• I loved this book! It totally sucked me in from the moment I opened it. It's about a young boy's experiences being separated from his family during the Holocaust. His adventures are amazing! He has to overcome his friends dying, hunger, disease, poverty, separation, and even love. And I can't believe it all really happened to a real person!!!
• I really enjoyed reading this book. The story itself was very well written and it also icluded some very interesting history. I would suggest this book to anyone that has any interest in immigration and or World War 2.
• This heartwarming story is about a Jewish boy who loses his family during an air raid on a train. His father is in the war, and he must learn to survive "along the tracks" by stealing and sleeping in coal piles (for warmth) until he finds his family. Setting Poland