The Horn Book Guide

BIOGRAPHIES

Siegal, Aranka

Memories of Babi

116 pp. | Farrar | June, 2008 | Trade ISBN 978-0-374-39978-8 $16.00

(2) 4-6 In these nine anecdotes, Siegal recalls summers on her grandmother's Ukrainian farm. Her experiences include cooking (recipes are appended), mushroom hunting, and feather plucking. Though the setting is pre-Holocaust, there's already tension between Christians and Jews; the book's last paragraph tells Babi's fate. Siegal is notably able to project characters vividly, to write simply without condescension, and to interweave themes without preaching.

Reviewer: Betsy Hearne | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2008