#73 in Historical fiction
The Devil's Arithmetic
- 170
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Devil’s Arithmetic” is a short, unflinching Holocaust novel for young readers about a Jewish girl thrown back into Poland in 1942. It works as a powerful first encounter with that history, and its brevity makes it easy to share with teenagers. Jane Yolen does not soften the concentration-camp scenes, so the youngest readers may want an adult close by.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Devil's Arithmetic is a historical fiction time slip novel written by American author Jane Yolen and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah Stern; a Jewish girl, while at a Passover Seder dinner, is sent back in time to 1942 Poland during World War II. Hannah experiences the Holocaust horrors and is sent to a concentration camp and learns the importance of knowing about the past.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 74 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 33% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Historical fiction average of 8.0. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.7 | 6 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 68 | 92% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Devil's Arithmetic?
It has 170 pages — shorter than 97% of the ranked books in Historical fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Historical fiction — and a score of 8.1, the closest to this book.
