Book Description
for Chance by Uri Shulevitz
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Shulevitz describes his experiences during and after World War II in a narrative recounting his life from age four to young teenager. During that time, he and his parents, Jews, fled Poland for Russia, ending up in a work camp in Siberia. When they were released from the camp they made their way south, eventually settling in Turkestan for the duration of the war. After the war they went first to a displaced person camp in Germany and then to France before immigrating to Israel. Hunger is a recurring theme; even with all his parents did to try to feed and protect him, his longing for food was constant. While the narrative tone is not childlike, it is written with a remarkable matter-of-factness that captures the sense of a child witnessing, experiencing, and describing events that he doesn't always fully comprehend (and in some cases, still doesn't today). The many wonderful visual elements incorporated throughout include stick figures echoing his early childhood works to drawings and sketches that show his development as a young artist to graphic panels with dialogue. There are also a handful of photographs. Larger-than-typical typeface makes for a hefty but accessible volume. (Age 11 and older)
CCBC Choices 2021. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2021. Used with permission.