The Devil's Arithmetic

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen 176 pages. Hannah Stern is a Jewish girl living in the late 20th century. She is bored by her relatives' stories about the past and not looking forward to the Passover Seder. When Hannah symbolically opens the door for the prophet Elijah, she is transported back in time to 1942 in World War II Poland. At that time and place, the people believe she is Chaya Abramowicz, who is recovering from cholera, the disease that killed Chaya's parents. The strange remarks Hannah/Chaya makes about the future and her inability to recognize her "aunt" Gitl and uncle Shmuel are blamed on the fever. At her uncle's wedding, the Nazis come to transport the entire population of the village to a concentration camp near Donavin, and only Hannah knows all the terrors that they will face: starvation, mistreatment, forced labor, and finally execution. She struggles to survive at the camp, with the help of a girl named Rivka.