Alan Gratz

Jack Gruener

Ruth Gruener

Based on the life of Jack Gruener, this book relates his story of survival from the Nazi occupation of Krakow, when he was eleven, through a succession of concentration camps, to the final liberation of Dachau.

Prisoner B-3087

Melissa Palmer

Book #101 Read in 2014
Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz (YA)

I read this book in one sitting. It is based on the true story of Jack Gruener, a holocaust survivor. Detailed in this book are the pain and suffering he and his family endured throughout World War II. This book is extremely powerful and while graphic at times, I believe high school students could handle this book. Adults will find it a worthwhile read as well. No matter how many books about the holocaust I read, I am still blown away by what the Nazis did to fellow human beings. 

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

I'm going to be honest- I've read this book probably 15 times in the last five years. 

The first time I read it? December 2014. I was nearing my eleventh birthday, and my dad had told me a little bit about the Holocaust (upon my asking, as we had talked about Pearl Harbor in school, and I started researching World War II some on my own). I didn't know much- only that the Nazis put people in camps, and a lot of them died. 

I had never been so entranced with something so terrible. How could people do this to other people, who were innocent, and completely undeserving of such a life?

Since reading this the first time, "Prisoner B-3087" has inspired me. Inspired me to remember the horrors of a time, and never forget the people that fell victim, regardless of whether I knew their name. In a way, it helped inspire my love for history (at the very least, very much inspired my love for World War II history).

This book is aimed at teenagers, and oftentimes in books for teenagers we see things end in a way to create a hopeful ending as opposed to a real one. Maybe I'm biased, but I thought this book handled the emotion of this period better than a lot of things directed at teenagers- though, having read this the first time at ten years old, maybe I was just too young to truly understand.

Is this even a review of a book at this point? Probably not.
If I had to sum this up, I would say this: something doesn't have to show every detail to be haunting. It doesn't have to be completely positive to be inspirational.

If you're still reading this, thank you, and if you haven't read this book, I would recommend picking it up.

Jeni Enjaian

I read this book quicker than any of the other books I have read during the reading time in my classes at school. After getting past the first few early chapters which felt rather pedantic, Gratz captured my attention and did not let go. Several times, I reluctantly transitioned my class to the next activity, wishing that I could continue reading.
The fact that Gratz based this novel on a true story makes it that much more compelling to me. He also creates a believable narrator in Yanek who deals with the horrors of the Holocaust in an age-appropriate way. Gratz does not weave in gratuitous descriptions of the abysmal terror and horror inflicted upon the Jews and other prisoners in concentration camps. He does not skim over them as if they did not exist, either. 

I highly recommend this book.

Prisoner B-3087

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