Name: Prisoner B-3087
Rating: 4.5 (22 reviews)
ISBN: 9780545459013

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

10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside? Based on an astonishing true story.

3.5 of 5 stars

-----


It was really difficult to imagine that the events happened at this book was experienced by a lot of people at that time. It was terrible and truly terrifying. And knowing that real Yanek had suffered and survived that horrible nightmare, it was really something no one can really comprehend. As Yanek himself said, even in the most explicit description of the story one can tell, no one can really understand what they've been through. Although this had the same things to offer as a lot of holocaust story out there, surviving ten concentration camps was too much for a single person to endure for even ten lifetimes. 

Listening to the audiobook, it was incredible. The way the narrator croaked while saying his dialogues, as if stopping himself from crying, you can really hear the helplessness in his voice. I'm not sure if I would liked it as much if I read it physically. As I said, it was like some other holocaust stories but it was still worth the read.

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

Lacy W

3.5 stars 

Okay, so I feel a bit awful giving a Holocaust book 3.5 stars. Because the Holocaust was truly terrible and I can't even begin to imagine surviving the horrors that the Nazis unleashed about the Jewish population. I just can't believe such atrocities could happen. 

This is based on a true story of Jakob or Yanek, a Jew living in Poland during the Nazi invasion. What he went through was incredible. He survived nine concentration camps and two death marches. His will to live was incredible. I was truly impressed with how he pushed himself, everyday, to get up and work. To live another day. 

But I felt the book lacked emotion and inflection. I'm not expecting dramatic philosophical paragraphs or anything like that. But Yanek told the story so matter of factly. He was surrounded by death everyday for years so maybe it stopped affecting him after a while and maybe that's just how he tells his story. I just wanted more emotion. I also wanted more description. Barely anything was said about the concentration camps. The whole thing seemed just really matter of fact and I feel that doesn't work too well with a Holocaust story. 

Overall, it wasn't a bad book. I just expected something different. I will forever be amazed at those that survive the Holocaust and their incredible will to live. It absolutely just breaks me to know that something like the Holocaust happened and continues to happen in other countries around the world.

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

Reviews

Highlights