Along the Tracks

by Tamar Bergman

Overview

Based on a true story, Along the Tracks tells the tale of Yankele, a Polish boy who is separated from his mother during the German invasion of Poland in World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780395745137
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/25/1995
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.62(h) x (d)
Lexile:	650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Tamar Bergman is the happy mother of three (grown-up) children, a score of books, and hundreds of radio scripts. Among the many honors her books have received, The Boy from Over There won the Berenstein Prize in 1984 and was named the best Israeli children’s book by the Center of Literature for Children and Youth at the University of Haifa. Along the Tracks also received critical acclaim and was awarded the Ze’ev Prize in 1988 from the Ministry of Education. Tamar Bergman lives in Jerusalem with her husband and a pair of bicycles.

Editorial Reviews

"Rarely is YA historical fiction this immediate and involving." Publishers Weekly

"Readers are exposed to a compellingly authentic picture of life in the likes of Tashkent and Samarkand during the war - a cruel world where the state effectively abandoned homeless children, but where some remnants of kindness and humanity survived. A gripping, evocative story." Kirkus Reviews with Pointers —

From the Publisher

Rarely is YA historical fiction this immediate and involving. Yankele, a Jewish boy in Lodz, is six years old when the Nazis invade Poland, and his parents take him and his sister on a weeks-long, dangerous trek into the Soviet Union--so vividly rendered that the reader can sense the hero's exhaustion, share his fear as bombs explode on the swarming route. The family finds safety from the Nazis if not a genuine haven: they suffer in a mining camp in the Urals for almost two years before Yankele's father is drafted to serve in the Russian army. As the war grows closer, Yankele's mother takes him and his sister on a refugee train bound for Kazakhstan. Then a catastrophe occurs that separates Yankele from the rest of his family. His ensuing odyssey leads him through the eastern Soviet republics, living among child gangs, in state orphanages or with kind strangers, and he is forced to develop hair-trigger reflexes. Carefully weaving historical details into this unforgettable adventure, Bergman, an Israeli who based this work on a true story, achieves a cinematic scope. Ages 11-14. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 7 UpFrom descriptions of the subject's early childhood to the beginnings of his passion for creating special films, this account captures and holds readers' interest. Ferber comments on the subject's single-minded drive to create the pictures in his mind on film, his family's tolerance of his creative impulses, and the cruel teasing that led him into a fantasy world of his own making. By the time he was 14, Spielberg was winning minor awards for his productions. This inspiring biography does not gloss over the sacrifices of Spielberg (and his family), or of the total commitment he gave to become the success he is. Black-and-white photos show the subject and shots from his various films. A clear, highly readable choice for collections needing up-to-date, celebrity biographies.Marilyn Fairbanks, East Junior High, Brockton, MA

School Library Journal