Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen
Published by: Tom Doherty Associates
Summary: Briar Rose takes the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and links it to the Holocaust. Rebecca, the youngest granddaughter of her grandmother Gemma's, has grown up listening to Gemma's rendition of Sleeping Beauty. Upon Gemma's death, Rebecca realizes that the story is one of the few clues to Gemma's past, a past that when Gemma is on her deathbead Rebecca swears to discover. Her search carries her to Poland and into the heart of the horrors of the Holocaust, where she finds out that the fairy tale had more truth to it than she knew.
Personal Review: This book is a great way to get teenagers to read about the Holocaust. The set up is intriguing, and engaging, and by the time you get to the more historical part about the Holocaust, you can’t help but continue to read to find out the ending. I could not stop turning pages, and was very convinced that her Grandmother’s life was a twisted version of “Sleeping Beauty.” This is a beautiful book. The camp her grandmother supposedly was in was a camp called Chelmno, and there were actually only 2 survivors, both men.
Published by: Tom Doherty Associates
Summary: Briar Rose takes the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and links it to the Holocaust. Rebecca, the youngest granddaughter of her grandmother Gemma's, has grown up listening to Gemma's rendition of Sleeping Beauty. Upon Gemma's death, Rebecca realizes that the story is one of the few clues to Gemma's past, a past that when Gemma is on her deathbead Rebecca swears to discover. Her search carries her to Poland and into the heart of the horrors of the Holocaust, where she finds out that the fairy tale had more truth to it than she knew.
Personal Review: This book is a great way to get teenagers to read about the Holocaust. The set up is intriguing, and engaging, and by the time you get to the more historical part about the Holocaust, you can’t help but continue to read to find out the ending. I could not stop turning pages, and was very convinced that her Grandmother’s life was a twisted version of “Sleeping Beauty.” This is a beautiful book. The camp her grandmother supposedly was in was a camp called Chelmno, and there were actually only 2 survivors, both men.
Cautionary notes: The man who tells the story in the second half of the book is gay, and is not discrete about some of his previous “adventures,” but it makes the story more believable because he was also discriminated and thrown into these camps. The imagery of the Holocaust can also be very shocking, but it makes the story more powerful.
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