Title and Author: Four Perfect Pebbles; Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Title of Review: Nate’s Naughty and Nice List Number of Stars (1-5)-****
Introduction: Have you ever read the book “Four Perfect Pebbles"? It is a tragically story of a family of four making their way through the deep depths of the Holocaust. The Blumenthal family survived except for the father who died of the menacing disease of typhus. There was Marion, who was the youngest at the time. Albert was Maroons brother who was a very wise boy for being the age. In the camps sometimes he was the person to keep them alive by getting the family the necessity of an extra ratio food by trading tobacco for it. Ruth and Walter were the parents of the two astonishingly bright children. As mentioned earlier Walter does eventually die from typhus but he went out with a "bang!" He got the family each a ticket on a boat to go to the land of the free! The United States of America! Ruth was a quiet lady and didn't speak much. Through the entire book I roughly heard her speak 30 times but anyways if you read below you will find how it all actually went down!
Description and summary of main points: The setting of the story starts off in a small town called Hoya. It is located in northern Germany and has history built in! The Blumenthal’s lived in Hoya for their whole life until the Holocaust came along. When this more than tragic event started the Blumenthal’s fled to the Netherlands to sail to America. In Netherlands they were abducted by the SS police of the Nazis. The Nazis were the group of soldiers that were ruled by a cruel man named Adolf Hitler. This man brought anyone in that he thought was different. He tortured them for years! He put them in small bunks stacked three high that were only supposed to hold 3. Instead of grouping them in tree, he put up to six people sometimes! Can you imagine living in the smallest space like that and let alone possibly having strangers with you! It sickens me to think that someone could be so cruel. Now, back to the setting, after they were abducted in Netherlands they were sent to Westerberg in Holland. Westerberg is what is known as a refugee camp. The devilish man, Adolf Hitler made three types of camps. A refugee camp is where he sent anybody from Jews to homosexuals to be traded to the next kind of camp, a concentration camp. These terrifying thoughts about going to a concentration camp makes me want to cry. In a concentration camp, Hitler would make them work all day long! He is basically making them all slaves but the only difference is that he is making them work for no reason, not for his own needs! The other type of camp was a death camp! The death camps would do exactly what they say, and that means they killed people. They would be put in gas chambers and the deadly gas in them would kill them. They would also line them up in a row shoot them and bury them it was as simple as that for them. So as I said earlier, they started out in the refugee camp Westerberg and later on were moved to Bergen-Billson. Bergen Billson was a concentration camp! They lived in there for three years and later on entered the terrifying death train. They were on this train because it was taking them to the death camp they were all afraid of going to, Auschwitz. When they got to Auschwitz they were going to be put in a gas chamber to die but the Russian soldiers saved them. They liberated the train after being on it for two weeks! After they were liberated they got on the boat and sailed to America. They were finally where they had longed to be after six years. They lived in New York City for about three years in before a Jewish organization moved them to Peoria, Illinois. They lived a long and happy life there and that is where they ended up living until Marion got married. When Marion got married she moved back to New York City and is still living happily there to this day.
Evaluation: There were many things I did like about the book such as the pictures and the choice of grammar but there are a few things I disliked. I did not like how the end of the book went by so fast. They had so much detail about the Holocaust and then in the end when they moved to the USA, they just rushed through it.
Conclusion: Well as you can see the life of the Blumenthal’s was not very, well, lovely but they made it work. They were always looking for hope and they found in eventually. The thing I can't believe is that this all really happened. That someone really ruled Europe and killed that many people. I can't stand someone like that and as a matter of fact, who could. I hope nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again.
Final Review: All in all I have to give this book a tremendous review. Even though the ending wasn’t put in a more understandable way I loved reading this story. I will say one thing; it was defiantly a page turner! If there were more books like thins, reading would not be a problem!
Four Perfect pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan My Book Review ***
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place Germany during World War II. At the time, Adolf Hitler was in power. The Blumenthal family had left Germany for Holland, but the Nazis caught them. It also takes place in a concentration camp named Bergen-Belsen from February 1944, to April 1945.This is a story of a family. A little girl named Marion, her older brother Albert, and their parents. The main point of this story was to portray the horror of all of these terrible events that were going on while Hitler was still in his power. The reason why this was the main point was because the author wanted everyone to experience how she was feeling. The story is told in Marion’s point of view, making it easier to understand what was going on. One of the strong points in the book is the fact that it is told in first person. Everything is just so much more understandable when you can sort of feel what the main character is feeling. It is actually told from Marion’s point of view, and Marion was actually in the Holocaust. I can’t really think of anything that I didn’t like about the book because I kind of enjoyed it. The book showed a lot of pictures from that period of time, which made you feel sympathy for those who weren’t very lucky to make it out alive. So in conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is a book that has inspired lots of people around the world to never lose hope, and to believe in yourself and the people you love. I think that this book has helped me to put faith in others. I like the story that it tells and everything in between. Many people died in the holocaust, which is sad, but the people who survived are strong. No one deserves to be treated like this and I hope it doesn't happen again. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in learning about the Holocaust and those who would like to experience the concentration camps without going to Germany.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan Perfect Pebbles Review
**** Introduction Marion is telling the story in her point of view. She is Jewish. She has a bother and a mom and dad. She lives in Germany. It is where the war starts. Hitler becomes in control of everything because the chancellor dies. He starts making rules that effect Jewish people. Jewish people can’t own stores. They are blowing up synagogues and they are putting Jews in work camps. They decide to leave Germany and go to Holland. Try to put together a Visa there to get to America. Description and Summary of Main Points They move to Holland to get away from Hitler. They don’t get the Visa ready in time and Holland gets taken over. The Germans find them and take them to Bergen-Belsen. It is a pretty bad camp. They got fed rarely. Marion found four perfect pebbles every day to keep them alive. They wanted to avoid being on a train because one could take them to Auschwitz. The got put on a train to Auschwitz eventually. Five days after getting on the train. Bergen-Belsen was liberated. The Russians liberated the train they were on later. They were told to go to Trobitz. They found a house with food and water there. The dad had Typhus and died. Marion’s brother Albert buried him. Then eventually they made it to America. They survived the Nazis. Evaluation I think the book was good. She really told her feelings. The good part was how she described the experience. I felt like I was there. The bad part is that there isn’t any suspense or climax easily noticed. It was a good book overall. There was good detail and Marion explained everything very well. I think it is more of a book for adults though. Conclusion I liked the book, but I like to feel suspense. It had a good storyline and I understood. Marion and her family lived happily ever after. In Conclusion, it was an ok book that I enjoyed.
Final Review I gave it four stars because it was entertaining to hear about. It wasn’t my kind of book though. I wasn’t really a big fan of the Holocaust. It was a good book. -Jacob Branch
Four Perfect Pebbles By Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan A Holocaust Review ****
The Holocaust was a time period when Adolf Hitler was in charge of Germany’s economy and army. He created a social group named the Nazis and took over half of Europe with Italy and Japan. Originally United States was going to stay out of it but then on December seventh 1941 Japan almost wiped out the United State’s navy. Many Americans were killed. So when that happened United States created WWII and joined up with Great Brittan, and Russia, but before this happen the holocaust took place!
To be more descriptive, the holocaust went on for 15 to 16 years. This put the Jewish people in to a depression. They were no longer allowed to buy or sell anything from the true Germans. The Blumenthals were one of those families affected. Marion’s Grandparents have owned a shoe store for at least 15 years and when this happens they go out of business and don’t have food to buy because they have no money.
The reason Hitler got the German prime minister to elect him as commander in chief is because after the loss of WWII they had no one to turn too. Out of desperation they allowed him to come into charge. A few years after being elected as commander in chief in 1933 the prime minister passed away and Hitler then became prime minister as well. Then he created the Nazis and started making concentration camps. Then, shortly after he started making death camps and before you knew it he was killing everyone and making people do work for free with very little to eat or drink. Most families tried invading into other countries but before they could they were killed or captured and taken to the camps. Hitler’s plan was to turn everyone against the Jews so that they could have a pure bred German economy. The Holocaust is still the biggest racist event ever recorded!
In conclusion, America sailed over into the English Channel and started making their way into Germany. Mean while Germany was trying to take over all of Europe with Italy moving up to join, but unfortunately when they tried taking over Russia they were stopped by the Soviet Union. By that time America and Brittan had already made almost made it all the way across Germany taking out concentration and deaths camps freeing Jews, gays, and Gypsies. Unfortunately, over 5 million lives were taken during this event, and all of Germany went into a bigger depression than they were before. Something that bothered many people was; before United States reached Hitler he shot himself in and underground barrier. So all along Hitler wasn’t they strong person everyone though he was. In the end Russia, Brittan, and America won WWII.
My personal review of this book is defiantly four out of five stars. It is a very good book with lots of detail and pictures.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan Four Perfect Pebbles Review ***
Four Perfect Pebbles is about a young girl and her family during the Holocaust. They weren’t taken by the Nazis to concentration and death camps. Marion talks about how at the camps the lice were absolutely terrible. She had to pick them out of her hair and off her skin. It was an awful experience that she had to go through. It’s amazing she is even alive.
The book Four Perfect Pebbles is a memoir of Marion Blumenthal’s horrible experience as a child. For 6 years Hitler and the Nazis stole many Jewish children’s childhood from them. Marion and her family wanted to sneak out of Germany but couldn’t until the grandparents died. They felt like they would be helpless if the left them. When Hitler became in power all conditions worsened for Jews. They were totally and completely helpless.
For the Blumenthal’s during the holocaust it was very hard. For any Jewish male or female it would. It felt like everyone was against them. They were being discriminated in their own country where they belonged. The Blumenthal’s knew they had to take what was coming at them because they didn’t have a choice and they had hope, they knew help was going to come if not now then soon.
Marion and her family for six years or less was held captive by Nazis. They had absolutely no freedom. The camp that they were at was not sanitary at all! They all had lice, had a very distinctive odor, and lost a lot of weight because they weren’t even fed. As usual, at the end of every story is a happy ending. Marion turned out fine she is married and has a steady job, Albert was never married and their mom turned out okay too. The dad a few weeks after liberation died because of typhus.
I gave this book, “Four Perfect Pebbles” 3 stars because I really didn’t get into it. It’s a very sad book to read because your reading someone’s true experiences that happened to them. Some parts made me want to put the book down and start crying because it was horrific of what these innocent people are going through. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to read more about the Holocaust.
Four perfect pebbles by lila perl and marion Blumenthal lazon
My Book Review *** Four Perfect Pebbles takes place in Germany during World War 2 on june 10 1938 . This is the story of a family-a mother and father and there two young children who became trapped in hitlers Germany. They managed eventually to leave that country for Holland,where they were soon again caught in the Nazis web, and their situation grew even more serious. For in the final years of World War 2, when the Holocaust reached of the Blumenthal family were returned to Germany. During their ordeal, lasting six and a half years, the Blumenthals lived in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious concentration camp of Bergen-Belson in Germany. Bergen-Belsen was the camp to which Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were transported to the concentration camp in october The main point of the story was depressing poetry the upsetting sad horror of all the terrrible moments where happening cause of Adolf Hitler. And this was the main point cause everyone should feel how they felt. Also they told the story in Marion’s piont of view so u could undersant it easier. Well i'd have to say the mood isa very depressing very upsetting to hard to bare to think about those poor inicent people didnt deserve any of that to be torn from your family and do slavery and starv thers just no way i could do that. After all of that has happened how could you do all of that have the spirit to do any of that im sorry there is just no way to survive that well there are survivers that have told stories about them and the people around them and what was happing to everyon and the cocentration camps. Just think of what Marion Blumenthal lazan done to keep her hopes up this is what she said if i could find four perfecr pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape,it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and papa and i and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen. So as conclusion, Four Perfect pebbles is a very inspiring book to alot of people another thing is that it remines you of all the people who had to go there and starve. But most of them had alot of spirit to survive all of that like Marion had alot of hope and faith in her and her family like when should look for Four Perfect Pebbles which she was right it worked but the sad part is that she would have to cheat to win so all together no of those people deserved any of that but that is the best story ever. My final reviw has to be it’s a very sad book very depressing time for jews. Also it’s a very good book as a result and I love how all the good detail’s that make feel real so real you can almost smell and see whats going on. gabe robinson 4-5
Four perfect pebbles by lila perl and marion Blumenthal lazon
My Book Review *** Four Perfect Pebbles takes place in Germany during World War 2 on june 10 1938 . This is the story of a family-a mother and father and there two young children who became trapped in hitlers Germany. They managed eventually to leave that country for Holland,where they were soon again caught in the Nazis web, and their situation grew even more serious. For in the final years of World War 2, when the Holocaust reached of the Blumenthal family were returned to Germany. During their ordeal, lasting six and a half years, the Blumenthals lived in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious concentration camp of Bergen-Belson in Germany. Bergen-Belsen was the camp to which Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were transported to the concentration camp in october The main point of the story was depressing poetry the upsetting sad horror of all the terrrible moments where happening cause of Adolf Hitler. And this was the main point cause everyone should feel how they felt. Also they told the story in Marion’s piont of view so u could undersant it easier. Well i'd have to say the mood isa very depressing very upsetting to hard to bare to think about those poor inicent people didnt deserve any of that to be torn from your family and do slavery and starv thers just no way i could do that. After all of that has happened how could you do all of that have the spirit to do any of that im sorry there is just no way to survive that well there are survivers that have told stories about them and the people around them and what was happing to everyon and the cocentration camps. Just think of what Marion Blumenthal lazan done to keep her hopes up this is what she said if i could find four perfecr pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape,it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and papa and i and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen. So as conclusion, Four Perfect pebbles is a very inspiring book to alot of people another thing is that it remines you of all the people who had to go there and starve. But most of them had alot of spirit to survive all of that like Marion had alot of hope and faith in her and her family like when should look for Four Perfect Pebbles which she was right it worked but the sad part is that she would have to cheat to win so all together no of those people deserved any of that but that is the best story ever. My final reviw has to be it’s a very sad book very depressing time for jews. Also it’s a very good book as a result and I love how all the good detail’s that make feel real so real you can almost smell and see whats going on. gabe robinson 4-5
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazah A Holocaust Story Number of stars: 4 A small Jewish family of four living in Germany was sent to a concentration camp along with many other Jews caught by the Nazis. The family was captured and taken there by the German soldiers because Hitler made the people of Germany believe that the Jews were the ones to blame for the loss of World War II. While being transferred by train to another camp the British soldiers came and freed all of the Jews. They had nothing after the Holocaust because their homes and bank accounts were ruined by the Nazis. Many died of sickness, starvation, or overeating once food was found. The British led the Jews to a small village where there were food and resting places. In the end, the family immigrated to New York, got jobs, learned English, and eventually grew up. \
During the story the Blumenthal family had to go through some very horrible tragedies. A big point in the story is when Marion, the main character, and her family get typhus and lice. In the middle of the book Marion and her mother were trying to make soup that they stole in the camp. The hot soup ended up spilling on Marion’s leg causing a wound that the Nazis would not treat. Marion then developed an infection and began to have lice eating at her infected sore. Marion’s father also ended up dying of typhus.
I really enjoyed most of the book but there were parts that mislead me. I didn’t understand why none of the Jews fought back. The book had very entertaining moments, like when Marion played the pebbles game to keep hope into her life. There were dull moments because the Holocaust was no fun at all. The Jewish people were treated so badly that it made some of the book too much to read. I liked the parts telling about the times Marion wanted to give up but didn’t. The ending of this book is the best part because it shows the strength beneath the smallest people.
In conclusion, I think this book is fantastic! It shows value and hope inside of a young girl who has to go through so much just to survive. I think that its even more amazing that Marion is still alive and gets to share her experiences with people all over the world. I think this book teaches you that anyone, no matter how small or advanced you are, anyone can overcome anything. I think that someone with a life that may not be going great right now should find this book and understand that they can get through anything. There are enough people killing themselves, but the people from the Holocaust who love to have lived to even have the choice. These Jews had to die and couldn’t live a normal live because they were forced to be tortured for believing in a different religion.
I personally would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an inspiring story to read. This book really gives you hope and lets you be sure that you can make it through anything.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review of a lifetime ****
It is about a little girl and her family trying to survive the concentration camps of the Nazis. She and her family have to overcome many hardships such as not having food, no proper clothing nor shelter, and they suffered through many different types of illnesses. The main point in the story is that Adolph Hitler was ordering his Nazis to kill all of the Jews because they weren’t the right kind. Most of the Jews tried to go to other countries but the Germans reached them before most of the Jews got out. Therefor they had set up camps to keep them as slaves or they would kill them instead. I didn’t like how the Germans would take anybody that was Jewish and send them away to a camp. I also didn’t like that you would have to have blonde hair and blue eyes to be safe from the Germans but yet Adolph Hitler didn’t have blonde hair or blue eyes. What I did like is that the Blumenthals didn’t give up at the worst of times. They always stuck together no matter what the cost was. In conclusion this was one of the worst things if not the worst thing that could happen to anybody. Nobody should have to go through something like that because that’s just not human. I’m surprised that anybody made it out alive after everything that they have been through. Seeing all of that should be enough to make someone go insane. This was probably the most racist thing I have ever heard. You should not be able to just control people like that without them being able to fight back. I would recommend this to anybody that likes to read because it is absolutely amazing to see what people would do in times like this to see whether they would fight and not give up or to see if they would just give up and let them take control. I would also recommend this because it is very horrific and it shows what people will do if they want to get rid of someone or something. Austin Cole
Four Perfect Pebbles- Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan A Holocaust Story ***** Introduction- This story takes place in Germany from the 1930's to the 1940's. It moves on to multiple other places as well like Holland and New York. The story takes place over a period of time when Hitler took charge. He then made the Nazi army and put concentration, work, and execution camps into action. Also, he extinguished rights for Jews but that’s not the only thing that makes this story devastatingly real. Description and Summary of Main Points- This story is about devastation and hope; freedom and capture. One of the main points of this story is that Hitler takes power over the whole country making it a democracy. He then takes away the rights of the people who aren’t perfect enough for him but mainly Jews. He begins building up concentration, work, and execution camps. He starts capturing Jews and sending them there along with other not politically helpful groups like gypsies and homosexuals. Marion and her family get sent to the concentration camps Bergen-Belsen and Westerbork. They got put on The Death Train and after two long gruesome weeks they were rescued by the Russian Army. They got sent to a nearby village and lived in the abandoned village until the quarantine they were under was lifted. The Father died there from typhus. They finally got sent home and three years later, were headed to New York and after that Peoria, Illinois. They lived there in protection and that is where Marion meet her husband. Evaluate- This book was really good because it makes you see it in your mind and you have to face the truth. It is absolutely tragic but it helps you get into the heads of the people who were abused by Hitler and the Nazi’s. It shows you not to take advantage of what you have because others are a lot less fortunate and it could be taken away from you at any moment. I don’t really think there is anything bad about this book except don’t let younger children read it. They might know of the Holocaust but it is one thing to know and another to actually understand what happened in detail. Conclusion- In conclusion, this story makes it that much more real that Hitler was a very evil man who some people might say was so evil because he was communicating with the devil himself. It a very good story and easy to get into but it is very heartbreaking.
Final Review- I rated this book with five stars because I think it is a great way to learn about the Holocaust but it also isn’t just a boring article. You can comprehend it better and live it through the person.
Four perfect pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Rated: ****
The book four perfect pebbles was told in the first person. It is a true story about her experience in a concentration camp during the holocaust. The main character and also the author of the book had to to see and feel things that were never okay! Marion and her mother was separated from her brother and father. They were happy they were at a concentration camp and not a death came.
Marion and her family were at the concentration camp Bergen-Belson around the time the camp was infected with typhus. Many people were dying from typhus and also spreading it to new people who came. Bergen-Belson had a lot of dead bodies and nowhere to put them so they stacked them in huge piles all through the camp. As the bodies would decay the smell would get worse. The Blumenthal family was in many different camps through out their life. The ordeal for their family last six and a half years.
The family was aborted onto the so called death train. There were so many people squished into the train it was like a can of sardines. All the passengers on the train was on there for so long with no food or drinks, people were slowly dying. If you had to use the bathroom you had to use the bucket that was already overflowing all over everyone, if you were lucky enough to hold it the train driver would stop for breaks and you could go in the woods. The passengers on the train were set free by the Russians. The people that were set free were locked in a big barn with food and drinks. You could leave as soon as the war was over.
Once they were free to go the Blumenthal moved to Peoria, Illinois. The only thing was that they couldn’t have papa with them because he had died at the farmhouse from typhus. It was sad but they could at least be free now. They had many different things they would have to deal with living there. They look and act different from the rest of the people because they have shaved head and are emotional destroyed.
My final review of this story is that it is a very informational book about a survivor of the holocaust. If you are trying to learn about concentration camps I highly recommend this book to you. I have rated it four stars because it is very informational.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan My Review of Four Perfect Pebbles **** First, the book Four Perfect Pebbles is a good book. Not good as in happy but interesting, the way she words everything and how she explains it like she’s still there. It makes people feel like they’re there and can see, hear, smell, and feel everything she got to. She makes everything feel so real. I think that this book was the first book I read that actually made me feel like I was right next to the person this was all happening to! It crazy how there I felt. I haven’t ever felt like I was going through something someone else did at the same time in a book. I’ve never felt like I was right there by their side the through the whole thing while I was reading a book.
Second, she thought if she found for of the same size and shaped pebbles that her whole family, her, her mother, her father, and her brother would all stay alive through even the Nazis’ attempt to kill every Jew in Europe. Even if all the pebbles didn’t look exactly a like she would still use them and think that they still looked exactly alike just so her family would stay alive. Even though she found all of her pebbles her family still didn’t all live. She was the only person who lived through everything because she believed it would all be over soon, she never thought otherwise. She never lost hope and that’s what kept her pushing through.
Next, honestly, the only part of the book I think was a good, happy part was when she got survived the camps. Everything else in the book was bad, sad, and very emotional. Especially when her family died and she didn’t have anyone when she got out, just herself. I know they didn’t die on purpose but it was really sad that she only had herself when she left. She tried to believe that her family would stay alive but she couldn’t stop the Germans. I think it was very bad and wrong for the Germans to go after all the Jews just because they weren’t German. They weren’t all the same so it wasn’t fair. Well at least not in my eyes, and if it was right in anyone else’s eyes, shame on them.
For conclusion, she went through so much stuff, suffered losing her family, starving, and dying very slowly but through all of that she still had hope she would live. She kept hope and she lived. Not just because she got lucky but also because she believed she would. She went with her own word and everyone else’s word. Which is really teaching me that no matter what everyone else believes in or whatever they say, I should always go with what I believe in and what I think it right. I need to believe in my word just like she did hers.
I would give this book five stars because it teaches you so much, it shows you that your life isn’t even close to as bad as theirs was. I do recommend this book for a lot of other classes. For everyone to read it so that they see that what we are going through isn’t anywhere close to as bad as everything they had to go through.
Four Perfect Pebbles By Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review ****
To begin with, this story was written by a woman that survived through the Holocaust, and her name is Marion Blumenthal Lazan. She, mother, father, and her brother, Albert, were all trying to hind and more likely escape this horror film. But, during Hitler’s reign, it was very impossible to escape Nazi Germany at the time. Plus, she was also part of the World War that was taking place between Germany, Italy, and Japan versus England, the US, and Russia.
Secondly, she was part of the Jewish people that were sent to Westerbork, a Jewish camp that was changed to the main transportation camp, before the Nazi’s found them and the camp. Plus, Marion and her family were sent to Bergen-Belsen after they have been entered into the transit camp. Marion was about 6 at the time of this part in their tragic lives. Also, her brother and she were picking out lice from their hair, which they did not want to cut. But, as time flew, it became worse and worse with the lice, and she had seen what will happen if you don’t cut your hair because most of the people there in Bergen-Belsen were dying from the disease of typhus. At the camp, her mother was able to sneak a pot and some water to make soup for their family in secret. But, Marion and her mother were interrupted from an unexpected visit from one of the Nazi soldiers. At that point, she got a severe third-degree burn down her leg from accidentally tipping the pot over. Then, her family was on a list for transportation to Persia, and was never sent because of the Russians coming in and they were all boarded to the only non-terminated train. That ride had lasted another six weeks on the train until it was terminated by Russians. After the termination, the Blumenthal’s were living in a small farm, but not all of them survived. Marion’s father passed away from the typhus disease. But, in April of 1948, the rest of the Blumenthal family made it to America. They were sent to Peoria, Illinois for jobs and a home.
For the Blumenthals, the Holocaust was very hard for them because they had lost many things. Their grandparents, their home, food, clothing, and even their father were only some things they had lost. To add on, they only had one thing left in them, hope.
To conclude, this is a very good story to read if you want to know about someone that had survived the Holocaust, or if you are into history too. Also, this is a good book to do a book report for English.
The reason that I gave this story four stars is that it is a pretty good book if you like to learn more about America’s and the world’s history.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review of a Lifetime **** The Four Perfect Pebble is an amazing way to learn about how it was like to be a little kid and survive the Holocaust. Her whole family survived the actual Holocaust but the father died in the after effects of Typhus. The other people, Albert (brother), Marion (main character), and Lila (mother) ended up surviving and going to America and getting on with their lives sharing their story of confidence. One of the main points in this story is when the Nazis were killing people because they were not the “right” kind of people or because you were gay or a gypsy. The right kind of a person was called Arian. You would have blonde hair with blue eyes. In that case, Hitler led his army to kill six and a half million people. They were burned, cut, starved, and let them die of diseases like Typhus. Another point is the fact to survive to not starve to death. This one of the biggest struggles, other than the confidence that you can make it out alive. I thought this was an amazing novel! It gave amazing details coming from first hand encounters. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was extremely gory and gave very detailed ways of how they died and what they had to do and what they saw. I liked the way she gave details. They were very good on how they described everything. All in all, the novel Four Perfect Pebbles was a very well put together book that most people can read if you have the stomach for the extreme details and the gore that the authors describe. The most terrible thing I think they did was if you were a woman that either was pregnant or had a baby, it was taken from them and then put into a giant pit of burning wood and the women watched the scream and struggle to survive in the fire. My final review is for you to go pick up this book and read in your free time so you too can spread the words of Marion Blumenthal Lazan. That is exactly what she wants people to do so that something like the Holocaust never happens again and everyone can be safe and not falls for someone’s words like Adolph Hitler did to everyone in Germany. He formed one of the biggest armies ever to be in existence.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan A Holocaust Story 4 stars **** In the beginning there was a small family of four. Their family was like every other family in Germany except they were Jewish. Ever since Germany lost the war Hitler was convincing everyone that the Jews were responsible for the lost of the war. Later people that weren’t Jewish were not allowed to buy or sell things to or from Jews. They later became trapped in Hitler’s Germany. All the people that supported Hitler were known as Nazi’s. The Nazi’s would march around gathering the Jews to get them to the different kind of camps. There were four different camps. A refugee camp, a transit camp, prison camp, and a concentration camp. In many of these camps there were diseases. They also had to shave the prisoner’s heads because there were lice in the camps and the lice could give you Typhus. Almost all of the Jews in the camps were infected with the Typhus disease. When they were liberated all of the people that had the disease spread it from person to person. They later had to bury the dead so the disease didn’t spread even farther than what it already did. The Blumenthal family went through a lot of tragedies. They had to figure a way to survive the camps. And they did! They survived one of the camps for six and a half years. I really enjoyed the book even though most of it was depressing and sad. One thing I did not understand though is why none of the Jews fought back. The book had entertaining moments, horrific moments, and many more sad tales to tell. Most of the Jewish people were treated so badly it was almost unbearable to read. The story also had dull moments because the Holocaust was no fun at all. I like when Marion and her family wanted to give up but didn’t and fought until they were set free. The ending was a good part of the story to because all the people got let free and became strong and will probably will not let anyone treat them like that again. In conclusion, I think this book is great! It shows hope inside a small Jewish family that gets taken away from everything they own and everything they care about. I think it is very amazing that Marion is still alive and can share her experience with the world. It is one thing to tell and it is another to live it. I would be terrified to go through all they went through and I’m glad I didn’t have to. Later the dad unfortunately died of Typhus and they had to bury him in the back yard of the barn. I suggest this book for everyone who loves horror and dullness at the same time. I suggest this because I think many people would be interested in it because I know I am. That is also why I gave it 4 stars because I am not into a lot of people dying. Haley Johnson 4/5 period
Four Perfect Pebbles By, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review **** To begin with, this book is written by two survivors of the Holocaust. Their names are Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan, and they are mother and daughter. This story takes place in multiple places, but they begin their horrible journey in Hoya, Germany. This book is written to explain what the authors had to go through growing up as a Jewish citizen.
In this book it talks about the Holocaust. One of the biggest reasons on the Holocaust is because of a guy named Adolf Hitler. When Hitler rose to power this Jewish family was stuck in Nazi, Germany despite trying to escape. This began to take place in the 1920s and there wasn’t anyone expecting it. Hitler started to gain a lot of power towards himself. He was beginning to not just get a group of people to believe Jews were bad, but he was getting countries to turn against the Jews. When he became Chancellor discrimination towards Jews was the worst it had ever been. The Blumenthal’s family store was quickly boycotted, forcing Walter the father to sell his products to customers in the countryside. Things began to grow worse, but they could not leave Germany because of Marion’s grandparents until they passed away.
In my personal opinion the book was very well written it just lacked the ability to keep my attention. I often caught myself day dreaming, and not paying any attention at times. The best thing about this book is it being a based on a true story, and the authors being able to tell their real life experiences. It is a very good story for the most part. This book is one to definitely read if you’re interested in anything during the Holocaust. However the book did have it’s down side. Basically throughout this story it is about the same topic, and same group of people which might make it more difficult for younger readers to follow.
To conclude this, I would say this book is worth reading especially if you’re into history, and learning about peoples horrifying experiences. However if you tend to lose interest easy this probably isn’t the book for you.
My final review is this book is very well written, but maybe could’ve been written in more detail and in a different manner. Kaycee Cox 4/5
Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Reviewing a sad but true story. *** This story takes place in the beginning of WWII. Just before hitler came to power. If you're Jewish you and your family would be taken to a transportation, work, or death camps. there were millions of Jewish personnel. Starts in germany goes to amsterdam then to bergen-belsen, then to Poland. The family who survives travels the globe telling her story to kids in school Marion was born in germany, 1934. Which was a horrible time to be a Jew. Her and her family would have to move somewhere else. This book is a very true and bitter survivors of the holocaust. They lived through the horrible times in Germany and the rest of the countries surrounding Germany. The Blumenthals had the chance to sail off to the United states to avoid the holocaust and WWII. But Ruth the mother refused to leave the grandparents behind because they refuse to leave their house. Overall the story is sad and really hard to read and i will not recommended this book to anyone else. I do not like these kind of stories. I dislike these stories intensely. i give this book a 3 out of five stars because I think there were alot of missed points that could have been added. I cant believe that Marion her brother, and mother, her father passed away from the typhes disease and the rest of her family has survived the holocaust and overall a good grade for this book.
Four Perfect Pebbles, By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Story of the Blumenthal Family ****
The story first takes place in Germany during World War II. The Blumenthal family was living in Hoya. Germany had lost the war and were mad. A guy named Hitler came and made Germans think that the reason they had lost was because of the Jews. Hitler thought that Jews, community, and gypsies weren’t worthy of existence. In 1929 the International Depression helped the Nazis come to power. Marion Blumenthal was living in Hoya with her family when these things started to happen and it affects her because she is Jewish. The main plot of the story was to infer you on things that happened when Hitler came to power. Also to infer you about what happened to the family when these things started and what happened in the camps. It tells you about how the family was supposed to get out of Germany but never did and was stuck in Germany for 6 ½ years. You have to be strong in these kind of situations. The Blumenthals had faith and never gave up. They kept on pushing and never stopped. I liked this book a lot. I learned a lot of things and in showed me a lot of things about the Holocaust that I didn’t know. I would have liked to see a movie about this book. I would want the next generation of kids to read this book. It will teach lots of things. A life lesson from this book is to have faith and hope. Things will happen in life but you have to keep faith and believe. In conclusion, the Blumentahl family got through this and Marion got to tell this story. She taught people things and the experience is unforgettable. I know that she is happy that she got through everything. Her family is very strong people. I don’t think that I could have gotten through that. This book is a good book. It teaches about the World War II and the Holocaust. I would like to meet Marion and ask her a lot about her experience. In the end Hitlewr was defeated and the Jews were free. They were no longer sepreated from other people. They were treated equally. Nicholas Trotto, period:4/5
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl My Holocaust Book Review *** The book Four Perfect Pebbles is about the Blumenthal’s experiences in the time of World War II. The family was one of the many Jewish families who were put in concentration camps, and treated like they were nothing. The author tells the story through her young eyes as a girl less than 10. It is another one of the great books written about the holocaust. This is my take on the book.
The book starts by telling a little bit of the back story before Marion’s family was revealed to the tortures of Adolf Hitler. It also talks about their desperate struggle to get out of Germany, and their attempts to escape Hitler’s wrath. It then goes on to describe what it was like to get forced into a harvest camp and how it affected the family. The Blumenthal’s go to at least three different concentration camps before they get on the train. Marion says how each concentration camp they went to was far worse than the first. Farther into the novel, Marion and her family are transported by “The Death Train”, as people call it, before they are finally liberated by soldiers and are finally able to escape to the U.S. The reason the book is titled Four Perfect Pebbles, is because of Marion’s superstition as a child. Every day she had to find four pebbles of nearly the exact same size, shape, and color, because she considered the pebbles the members of her family. She felt that if she didn’t find the four pebbles, then her family would be at risk.
I gave this book only three stars because I didn’t really prefer it. I felt s though the author rushed things in the book when she could have included many more details and experiences. The writing just didn’t suit my tastes well enough. It’s not that I disliked it, but I wouldn’t read it again. However, the view of the holocaust she used was a little interesting and I did enjoy that aspect.
To conclude, the book Four Perfect Pebbles is a straight view of the holocaust through the eyes of a young girl who was put through all of it at the start. Even though this book didn’t exactly leave me breathless, it was a nice gruesome read. The struggles described in this book are like nothing most normal people can understand. It’s hard to truly imagine what people went through during this time. If you have an interest with the holocaust or history, you should definitely consider reading this book. All in all, it’s not a bad book. It just isn’t the type of writing that grasps my attention or keeps me from putting it down.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Terrible Life of the Blumenthal Family Stars:****
This is the story of a Holocaust surviving Jewish family that was placed into concentration camps by Hitler and the Nazis. This family consisted of four members: Marion, the youngest, Albert, Marion’s brother, Ruth, Marion’s mother, and Walter Blumenthal, Marion’s father. They were sent to almost every corner of Europe to be placed in various camps. The Blumenthal family was tormented and treated like animals for approximately six and one half years until they were finally liberated by Russian Soldiers. The main character, Marion, and her brother Albert basically grew up having no privacy and were constantly being put to laborious tasks. Marion would also play a game where she would collect four identical pebbles and in her mind the four pebbles stood for each member of her family. If she found four identical pebbles, then each member of her family would be safe from illness and death.
The Blumenthal family was first placed into a transit camp in Westerberg, but was then sent to a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen where they were only fed a small ration of food a day and were forced to stand in what seemed like never ending roll calls. Things only got worse for the Blumenthal’s in Bergen-Belsen. Many of the people placed in the camps contracted typhus which was a disease spread from lice and caused death in a matter of days. Before they knew it most people had caught the disease and were very sick. After two years at Bergen-Belsen the Blumenthals were placed on a train and were sent away by the Nazis to hide them from the offending armies. They were on that train for many weeks before they were finally liberated by the Russians. The Blumenthals and many other Jewish families finally found shelter in a place called Trobitz, Germany. What the Blumenthals finally found out is that Walter had contracted typhus and later died after a few days of living there. A few months later Marion and her family made it to America and found their home in Peoria, Illinois.
Personally, I really enjoyed reading this story. It was very informative, but also had me on the edge of my seat as we were reading. This story really made me appreciate my life at home, and realize how cruel people can be. I was also informed that this very thing is taking place in North Korea! I cannot even fathom what life is like for so many innocent people over there. All in all I really like this book.
In conclusion, World War II was a very difficult time for the Blumenthals and so many other Jewish families. They were constantly struggling to stay alive and were provided no privacy for around six and a half years. Sadly everyone made it out alive except for Marion’s father Walter, who died from the disease typhus. In their struggle to get to America, they finally did and made a home in Peoria, Illinois, and found jobs to help them survive. Now Marion speaks all across the nation and informs people of this tragic event.
For my final review on this book I would definitely recommend it to someone who would be interested on this topic. This book really revealed how heartless people can be and how lucky we are as Americans. In the end I would definitely recommend this book to someone around my age that’s interested in these types of topics.
To begin with, Marion Blumenthal was at the age of thirteen when she arrived in Peoria, Illinois. This was after the tragedy of her family. They were all sent to concentration camps and bad things happened to them. But soon enough she had a good life. This is my review.
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book about a young girl and her family that were involved in the holocaust. Marion Blumenthal was very young when all of this happened. It was so devastating but she had always kept her hopes up that she was going to make it out alive. With that hope she did make it out alive with everyone but her father that died from a disease called typhus. When she had first came back from Bergen Belsen, she was placed in fourth grade with girls and boys that were at least four years younger than her. Marion was first taught the English language when she was thirteen. As soon as she was a sophomore in college a man had asked her out, and that was how she met her future husband. There were some things in this book that I didn’t like and there were some things that I did like about this book. One reason that I liked this book is because I always think it’s cool to see how people’s lives were back in those days. The holocaust was a very long time ago and I would love to meet someone from that time period. It gets so fascinating. One reason why I didn’t like this book is because there is a lot to remember and take in. This is one of those books where you can’t just start it, then leave it, then come back to it again. It just confuses me that way. Its where you have to read it all in one session. Also I like the fact that it’s like a mystery you could say. Like you aren’t sure what’s going to happen next.
In conclusion, Marion Blumenthal has been a very strong women that has definitely been through a lot. She was born during the holocaust and soon wrote a book about her experience. I would have liked to meet her and have her tell me her story. She had her bad days at the concentration camps that no one could ever imagine. The holocaust was a tragic time and I don’t think that anyone could ever begin to explain what had happened.
To finish of the review, I would like to say that Marion Blumenthal was an amazing woman. She was brave and had a lot of hope. If I was born back then, I wouldn’t have had that much hope after I was sent to the camps. I wish she was still alive so I could just listen to how much she has taken in. Her own family grew to be large and Marion loved her kids so much. She was such a caring woman who lived a hard life. Four perfect Pebbles was an off the wall awesome book that I would read again.
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles A Holocaust Story Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazen Title of Review: The Life of the Blumenthals Number of stars (1 to 5): ***
Introduction: To start things off, Four Perfect Pebbles is a true story about a young Jewish family. For six long and hard years, the Blumenthals were taken away by the Nazis because of their religion. They survived at Bergen-Belsen, with an insignificant amount of food to rely on. On a daily basis, they would get turnip soup and bread. That was the least thing to worry about. World War 2 was a very lamentable time in history. It started by Hitler taking over Germany. Considering he was now the prime minster and ruler of Germany, he successfully over-ruled the Jewish and made them penalized. When Jews were taken to camps, many were vetoed. One special woman, Marion Blumenthal Lazen, lived during that time, and she is now telling her story to people all around the world.
Description and summary of main points: In the wonderful book, Four Perfect Pebbles, Marion Blumenthal Lazen, Albert Blumenthal, Walter Blumenthal, and Ruth Blumenthal all suffered the defeat at many camps held by Adolf Hitler. The first camp they were taken to was Westerbork. The atmosphere there was atrocious for a young girl's eyes to witness. Decaying bodies were on the ground, rotting and smelling so that the fumes would run through your nose like a cheetah. The air was cold at night with the breeze of dead spirits roaming the camps. The chills ran down a person's leg, like a mouse hunting for cheese. When you thought there was nothing worse, the guards would take you to the gas chamber. You're eyes, nose, and mouths would bleed. You would scream for help, but no one would hear. It was like you were the only one there! The only reason Marion lived was because she had a special quote. It was," I have three pebbles that are the same. I always try to look for the fourth matching one. I know I am going to live that day because God wants me to find that fourth pebble." Out of all four family members, only one died. Marion’s father suffered defeat as the disease typhus spread, contaminating only him and others. Luckily, Marion lived through those horrific years and she could write this amazing book.
Evaluation: Four Perfect Pebbles is a wonderful, well-written book. I had various likes and dislikes in this book. To start things off, I liked how the book was in Marion’s first point of view. The second thing I liked about this book was it was very descriptive. The description of this book was so well-written that I could picture living through those years. My only dislike was that I’m sure there were more details that they could’ve written about; however, I’m sure the book would have been much longer
Conclusion: In conclusion, World War 2 was a very atrocious time in history and despondently the Blumenthals had to live through it. Luckily after the war, Marion, her mother, and Albert all were offered jobs. That helped them stay alive in the time. Even though the Blumenthals ha a terrible time, they are very lucky to be alive. Unfortunately, her father died during the move from camp to camp because of typhus.
Final Review: Four Perfect Pebbles is a delightful book and I would without a doubt recommend the book to my friends. This book shows the real conflict between the Jews and Hitler. It’s a very special book because it is written in a first person point of view and the writer is still alive, sharing her story.
“Four Perfect Pebbles” By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Stars: ****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a holocaust story about the Blumenthal family. Marion lived in a small part of Germany for the first four years of her life. The town was Hoya. It’s in the Northwestern part of Germany. Most of the story takes place in Europe. Marion and her family were captured by the Nazis. After they had been captured they were sent too many different concentration camps. There they suffered a lot of hunger, and sickness. Marion collected four pebbles every day. They were the exact same shape and size. The reason she did this is because each one of the pebbles represent her family members. She said every time she found four perfect pebbles there would be hope for her family.
Hitler was the leader and had a lot of power. Hitler felt like crippled or deformed people were not worthy of existence. He began his rein in 1933. In 1934 was the day Jews would never forget. Hitler became president. The first thing Hitler did was create the Nuremburg Laws which Jews and Germans could not get married. The most horrible days of all were September 1939. Nazis invaded Poland. Two days later France declared war. April 10, 1940, Nazis invaded Norway and Denmark. May 10-14, 1940, Nazis invaded Holland, Luxemburg, France. Hitler began to invade many countries. The concentration camps Hitler created were invested with lice. Many people died of Typhus. There was no medication, which means there was nothing they could do. On April 1945 the Nazis made a surprise visit to Marion, while they were making soup and Marion didn’t want them to find out so she poured hot soup on her leg so they wouldn’t find out. On April 15, 1945 The British liberated Bergen-Belson but they were not freed yet.
The pros of this book in my opinion are Marion and her family never gave up. Even though she had to fight her way through everything she managed to never give up. She was a survivor. The only thing I disliked about the book was Marion’s father passed away. This book shows the great determination and confidence that Marion Blumenthal had. I recommend Four Perfect Pebbles to everyone.
In conclusion, The Blumenthal family finally was in America. In June 1948 the family headed to Peoria, Illinois. They lived in an apartment with two families. Each person in the family had a job. Their life was going great! A year has passed and there family has improved. Marion had learned English and got a job. Marion met her future husband at the Synagogue. On August 2, 1953 Marion Blumenthal and Nathaniel Lazan got married in New York. Life now is great. Marion and her husband have two children and eight grandchildren.
Book Review: I highly recommend this book to people who like history. What I enjoyed about the book was the pictures.
Four Perfect Pebbles Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review of Four Perfect Pebbles 4 stars
This story began at the end of the story. It started with Marion curled up in her mothers arms. There was the smell of dead bodies, and people barely being able to stand up. Marion had been living at a concentration camp for awhile now and she just wanted to be able to go back home. They all had to line up to take roll call and some of them were not there due to death over night or early morning. There bodies would be taken on stretchers and they would be burned or buried. Roll call could take a few minutes to a few hours.
The book is about a girl and her family who ended up in a concentration camp when they tried to get to America. While in the concentration camp the girl, Marion, thinks that if she finds four perfect pebbles or four that look the same that it would mean that the Nazi wouldn’t kill them on that day. Thus, she tried to find four similar pebbles every day. Well her family saw a lot of people die while she was there but her family was not one of them. They boarded two trains and the first train took them to another concentration camp. The second train ended up being the train in which sent them to freedom because when they boarded the second one the Nazi started losing and let them go.
I love the fact that she didn’t hind in the closet about what she went through. I love how she told us what was happening around and how she gave us details about the smell and the taste and what the burn felt like when she got burned by the soup. The part I dislike about the book is that of how sad it is. Like a little girl saw things that little girls should never see such as dead people and Nazi walking around with guns.
This story started with a young girl and her family looking to get out into America and instead she ended up in a concentration camp. Her family was devastated about the fact that they might die in a concentration camp. They went through a lot of stuff that we never will and they put up with a bunch of stuff that we will never have to put up with. The fact that they went that long with a bunch of Nazi people telling them what to do is amazing. I probably would have killed myself by the time they boarded the first train.
I think that this author is amazing for the fact that she wasn’t scared to tell her story. For she had gotten over what they had done to her and she was ready to tell her story. I hate the fact that the world believed Hitler when he put all the blame on the Jewish people. For the Jewish people things only got worse than they already were until Hitler’s plan started falling apart.
Four Perfect Pebbles by: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Four Perfect Stars **** Four Perfect Pebbles is a holocaust story that takes place all over Europe. This book tells about the horrific story of the Blumenthal family. Hitler is the ruler of all the Nazis. He became ruler in 1933. The Nazis trapped almost every German in a death or concentration camp, including Marion, her mom and dad, and her brother, Albert. They were moved to different camps, and continued this for many years. Marion Blumenthal was a part of the holocaust for a long time, and began to make up games for her to play while trapped in the camps.
Every day, Marion would collect four pebbles that would look similar. If she found all four, her family would be okay. If she didn’t find all four, something bad would happen to her family. The Blumenthal family travels through Europe to various concentration camps and soon they start to hear about a terrible death camp called, Bergen-Belsen. The Blumenthal family suffers from sicknesses, such as Typhus, the disease that had killed millions of people at Bergen-Belsen. These prison camps isolated many children. Finally, April 15, 1945 the British liberated Bergen-Belsen, but they were not freed yet. The Blumenthal family became more week every day, and suffered from more diseases every day.
In Four Perfect Pebbles there were many things that I liked and disliked. I liked the pictures, because they helped me imagine the story more clearly. I also really liked how they explained the camps that they stayed in. Although the camps were terrible, they did a really good job at explaining them to the readers. The whole story is pretty much all about how Marion and her family traveled to different camps, so they talked a lot about diseases. That is probably the only thing that I disliked about the story.
In conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is about the Blumenthal family and the terrible trips to death and concentration camps. Marion and her family reach the end of this horrible time in their lives when Germany finally surrendered. They were moved by boat to America and continued their lives Peoria, Illinois. Marion’s mom became a house keeper, Marion became a launder and babysitter, and Albert cleaned the local jewelry store. Later on, Marion got married to a man named, Nathaniel and had 8 grandkids. This book is not only inspiring, but it’s a great story to tell.
I would definitely recommend Four Perfect Pebbles. Like I said, it’s very inspiring. It can really leave you with your jaw on the floor, because it’s unbelievable the things that they use to do to people. I give this book four out of five stars. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and learning new things about our past.
Four Perfect Pebbles: a Holocaust Story by: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The 6 and ½ Year Ordeal *** Introduction: The story was about the ordeal of the Blumenthal Family’s Ordeal during the Holocaust in the eyes of the nine year old young girl as the author. Her family ended up surviving the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. They were liberated on April, 23, 1945 by the forces of the Soviet Union. After, the Holocaust they immigrated to the United States. The book is titled Four Perfect Pebbles because she had a superstition that if she was able to find 4 pebbles with about the same size and shape she and her family would survive Bergen-Belsen.
Description and summary of main points: The events in this memoir take place in Germany, The Netherlands, and the United States. She was imprisoned in Westerbork (The Netherlands), and Bergen-Belsen (Germany). They were liberated and they immigrated to the United States. Then they moved to Peoria, Illinois. Her ordeal was Six and a Half years long.
Evaluation: Something I liked about her memoir was that she told many anecdotes about her experience at Bergen-Belsen. One of my favorite anecdotes that she told was her story about her mother scrapping together water, wood, a pot, a potato, and cabbage and made a makeshift soup. During this occurrence the Nazi’s had a surprise inspection and while hiding the evidence she ended up spilling the boiling water on Marion’s leg and Marion didn’t cry out because if she did she would have been killed that night. One thing I would have liked to see is basically picture what the concentration camp looked like so I could understand the novel better. I was not able to picture the concentration camp.
Conclusion: Her story would be very similar to Anne Franks if she would have survived the Holocaust. Her story was very inspiring and she showed perseverance throughout the novel. Life for her and her family was terrible when they were in Europe. When they immigrated to the United States everything about their lives became better and better. She then married and so did her brother. She is the true definition of a survivor.
Final Review: Her story has been read by millions and it has been part of school curriculum for grades 7 to 9. I would recommend anybody to read this book because she needs people to hear her story because we are the last generation it can be told to firsthand. That was her wish and her wish shall never die.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Story of the Blumenthal Family
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a story that took place during the Holocaust. Marion along with her family survived while being taken to many different camps. When they were taken to the various camps there were also various different treatments that took place at these camps. Most of the camps were concentration camps, including Bergan-Belson that they were at for a while. Millions of people died. As they arrived at the camps they were ordered to remove their shoes and place them in a pile with the rest of the other people’s shoes. The women and men both had to shave all the hair off of their heads also. Hitler was in charge of the Nazis at the time of the Holocaust. Also, he had killed over 6 million Jews!
The Blumenthal family was one of the many Jewish families that were taken to the various camps. They were one of the very lucky families. None of the family members of the Blumenthal family had died at the camps. People were put into gas chambers where they would no air to breathe so they would that they would die. It took 15 minutes to complete the killing in the chamber. Every day when Marion would go outside she would collect four pebble that were the same or close to being the same as the others. She made herself believe that if she found four perfect pebbles every day that her family would come out of the camp alive and together as one again. She would find a pebble for herself, her brother, her mother, and her father. When the trains came, Marion along with the rest of her family would all get on to one of the trains and be taken to a different camp. While they were one train there were lice everywhere because they had brought them with them from the camp that they had just left. The lice were carrying around a disease that they were also spreading to the passengers on the train. The lice were spreading typhus. A couple nights before Marion had spilt hot soup on her leg so she a a wound on her leg the she wasn’t able to keep clean and she couldn’t keep the lice out of it. While all this was happening Marion’s father had passed away. While the train was stopped Marion and her brother had to bury him beside the rail road tracks. After the Holocaust was over Marion, her mother, and brother went to live in Peoria, Illinois where all of them got jobs.
Personally, this was a pretty good book. There are many things I liked and disliked in this book. One of the things I really liked about this book was the pictured that allowed us to be able to see what things looked like then. Another thing that I liked about this book was all the detail that they had put in it and I was able to picture the things in my head as we were reading it.
In conclusion, this book is about the Blumenthal family who travels to many various death and concentration camps. They were one of the luckiest families that got sent to the camps because all of their family members made it out of the camp alive. Later, they took a boat to America where they lived in Peoria, Illinois where the whole family got jobs. Soon later Marion got married to a man named, Nathanial Lazan and had 8 grandchildren.
This is a book that I would recommend to someone else. It tells a great story about a family during the time of the Holocaust. The book also teaches many lessons such as, don’t take things for granted. I gave this book four out of five stars because it helped me learn more about the past history.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Horrific event in history.
****
A short story that impressed me greatly is Four Perfect Pebbles written by Marion Blumenthal Lazar and also Lila Perl. This story takes place during World War II. Although it is a very sad and depressing novel, it is deep and thought and creates multiple different pictures in your head. This story takes you on an exciting adventure back in time to when the Holocaust was in action. It creates such a clear picture in your mind that it almost feels as if you are there. One thing that it cannot create is the smell of the burning bodies. They are in Europe and forced to travel from camp to camp taking their chance on death. These camps were all put in place by the Nazis that were lead by Hitler. Hitler is a man that killed millions of Jewish people and only spared those who had blonde hair with blue eyes.
The atmosphere conveyed by the story is horrific. There were millions of dead bodies just lying around on the ground. To continue, to see your loved ones thrown into a human oven would be terrifying. To my dismay, they had multiple structures constructed specifically for the shoes and apparel of those on their way to death. Although many of them feared the reality of being executed by the notorious death camps, there was nothing they could do to stop this outrageous act influenced by Hitler. Throughout this entire story, the Blumenthal family was always at risk of dying.
During this story there were multiple occasions that I liked especially, and some I despised even thinking about. For example, I disliked reading about some of the vivid descriptions of the smells and sights of the dead bodies. This thought makes me sick and I can’t believe that this happened within the last one-hundred years. To continue, even though some of these things were unspeakable, it was fascinating to learn what life was like for the families and individuals at these different camps. Another thing I really enjoyed about the book was the pictures of some of the Blumenthal family members. These pictures also included burial sites of where the holocaust victims were set to peace. Finally, the last thing I didn’t like about the book is knowing how real this information is. Other than the reasons stated, I really liked this book. It had information that was unbelievable and hard too fathom.
Finally, the realization of this situation is surreal. To be in a rambunctious area like the one the Nazis created would make me wonder, what the point of life is. I do not know if I could possibly stand being practically captured and being surrounded by an electric fence. When they finally got set free, that feeling would be unreal. Many people on the train were discombobulated from the strong notorious scents that filled the air. The smell included the odors from peoples waste and sweat. I know I would have a difficult time taking in these scents and I know they would make me weary.
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend this book to someone interested in learning more about the Holocaust and hearing a horrific story about a young girl’s life during this era. This book kept my attention the entire time. I suggest that everyone who enjoys reading, to read this book.
Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan A review of a true holocaust story *** The book that I am reviewing is called Four Perfect Pebbles. It is a nice book, except for the fact that it is about holocaust. The part of the story I dislike is the whole fact that it is about holocaust and what happened to the people. It is scary to know that Hitler could do such a thing and that people supported him. This story is true coming from a person that has actually survived that period of time. She had been to concentration camps and transfer camps. Many of the people who went to those camps often died of typhus and other diseases. Just like many others Marion Blumenthal Lazan had sadly lost her father of the horrible disease typhus. Typhus is such a nasty disease to have because it is such a slow painful death. Marion Blumenthal was only the age of nine when she and her family had been sent away into a concentration camp. She was at a concentration camp named Bergen-Belsen. That place was such a terrible place to be sent because hundreds even thousands of people died each day. You never knew if you going to live each day of your life. When Marion was at Bergen-Belsen she would often be freezing cold and starving. The horrible camps would only give the people only a certain amount of food each day. Everyone got the same amount of food, which was bad for bigger men and people. The men would receive a couple of cigarettes every couple of days, and since Marion’s father did not smoke he saved the cigarettes that he got. He then would trade those with men who did smoke to get food for him and his family. One time a guard risked his life and gave Marion’s’ brother a whole apple. Although he did not eat it all by himself, he split it up into many pieces and shared it with some of the other men and boys in that side of the place. After so long of being kept in a concentration camp, Marion’s family finally got to leave the camp to where they thought was good. They were supposed to be traded to go over in trade of German soldiers. Sadly, that never happened. Eventually after about six years Marion and her family got released, without her father. Her brother had to bury him alongside other men. Their father never got to return to freedom. I think that the book was a good example of what the holocaust really was like. I do not however think that younger kids should hear this story yet. That is simply because it is just way to graphic and disgusting for them to be hearing or reading about. I think the story taught me a lot about what truly happened and how it happened. This book made me interested in studying more about the holocaust and what happened. It made me fascinated to know that there is still living people from the concentration camps. This book is a good way to show the power of persuasion because just one man, Hitler, started the whole thing about Jews and other people. I think the book is bad for certain people to read because it may cause them to cry or have a mental breakdown because that fact that it is so horrific. I gave this book three stars because it was a great book but I believe it could have been a little bit easier to understand. Some of the grammar was difficult to understand. I think that the pictures were great to look at to see what things were like. To be continued… ~~Autumn Sorrels 6/7th period
Continued from above… In conclusion, the Blumenthal’s had a very hard life once the holocaust began. That is because they were Jews and Hitler believed that those types of people should not live. Hitler killed millions of innocent people. The holocaust was a very hard period of time. Many people who got killed did not deserve to be killed. They deserved and equal chance at life just like the rest of the people who lived. Even though the Blumenthal’s did not have a very great life after it all started they made it work. They were a family and that’s all that mattered. Marion used her free time to see if she could collect four pebbles that were exactly alike. That is impossible, but she didn’t believe so. She thought if she found four alike pebbles every day, god would keep her and her family together another day. I think the book was a great way to learn and read. I made me want to keep on turning the page. All in all, the book was harder to read for beginners because the grammar was more sophisticated and older. The book was written by one of the last generations of the holocaust survivors. I couldn’t imagine being able to write a book this much in detail about what live was like. She was a very brave woman for doing this. I gave the book three stars because it was a good book. I think that the book deserves more recognition though. If there were other books like this, I would definitely read them. It seems like it would teach me more about what happened. Also, the book was great for people who love reading about things that happened in the past. ~~Autumn Sorrels 6/7th period
Four Perfect Pebbles: Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan “The Perfection of Four Perfect Pebbles” ****
Four Perfect Pebbles is in my opinion a great read that can really change one’s look on life. This book is one that will leave an impression on you for years to come. The duo of Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan is one to be kept in the history books for many reasons. This book is one that is very special to me, since it really left a mark on me. Since it was a true story written by the person who experienced the gruesome ordeals, consequently it is extremely graphic. For this reason, it feels as if you are transported into the world portrayed in the novel, living all the terrible nightmares in it. This is a major part of why the book is amazing and one to be read over and over.
The memoir is an autobiography following the events of the Holocaust and World War 2 through the eyes of a 9 year old girl, Blumenthal, who is a Jew trying to avoid and escape the Nazis and the prejudice they bring to Germany and all the countries invaded by it. Along with her parents and brother, Albert, they attempt to escape Hitler’s reign of terror and make it to freedom. Through heartbreak, betrayal, devastation, and starvation the family still finds hope and survives the events of death and disaster. In the end 3 out of 4 family members make it to the freedom and liberty they yearned for in America, losing their father along the way.
It is perfectly detailed to recreate the horrors of being hunted down by the government. Another important part of this book that adds to the effect is the groups of pictures that show what the life was like for the Blumenthals and other Jewish families living in concentration camps. The pictures give a window to look through and see what the conditions for one living in a camp were like. The information provided by Marion along with the pictures and the detailed descriptions add up to a near amazing portrayal of the life of a Jew during the 1940’s.
The ending of the novel is my favorite part since it shows how the Blumenthals defied the odds and survived total extermination at the hands of the Nazis. By the end Marion and her mother and brother finally make it to America and earned the freedom to be who they are. Despite hardship and prejudice they make it and start a normal life. The finally have found happiness and I just love that.
All in all, the book is fantastic to read and one that I can't wait to read again. As I said before, the descriptions, pictures, and information given from Marion are what make this book one to be kept. Not only is it interesting, but it is fun to read! I wish there were more books like this one out there today.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan My Review on Four Perfect Pebbles- A Holocaust Story **** INTRODUCTION The book, Four Perfect Pebbles, takes place over the course of approximately six and a half years, from 1938-1945, during the time of the Holocaust. Everything started when Adolf Hitler, a cruel dictator, became the leader of Germany and established a group of loyal followers, the Nazis. Once Hitler took over as leader, he convinced his “favorite” kind of people to be prejudice against everyone else, including Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and many others. He also forced millions of people to live in horrific concentration camps under unimaginable conditions. Everyone there was expected to perform exhausting manual labors, and they were fed little to nothing. Not to mention, they killed hundreds of people per day! This book tells the story of a Jewish family, the Blumenthals, which consisted of Marion, the narrator of the book, her older brother, Albert, and their parents, Ruth and Walter Blumenthal, and their survival of the Holocaust. DESCRIPTION AND SUMMARY OF MAIN POINTS In the beginning, life is normal for the Blumenthals. That is, until Hitler comes to power. To start things off, on The Night of Broken Glass, the Nazis abducted many Jewish men, including Marion’s father, seized and destroyed all the Jews’ possessions, and shut down all of their businesses. Later, the Blumenthals were placed in a transit camp in Westerberg; afterwards, they’re sent to the notorious concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen. Once there, they were always fed little to nothing and forced to perform laborious tasks. In addition, the conditions they lived in were horrendous, and thousands of people were dying from the disease typhus, caused by out of control lice. After spending two years living in this nightmare, the Blumenthals were placed on the “Death Train” by the Nazis and traveled for weeks in an attempt to hide them from Germany’s enemy forces. Finally, the Blumenthals were freed by Russian soldiers, but Marion’s father had previously passed away from typhus. The remaining family members made the move to America and now live in Peoria, Illinois.
EVALUATION For the most part, the story was interesting, but at times, it was difficult for me to stay engaged. I felt it stated too many facts and would sometimes venture away from the story. However, I really enjoyed the plot and how inspiring the story was, and the illustrations throughout the book helped me picture certain scenes better. I also liked how the story was told from Marion’s point of view because it made it easier to follow along and more enjoyable. Marion used great details to describe each situation and the sheer desperation she felt. Even though they were left with absolutely nothing and were treated like slaves, the family’s hope and positive attitude really touched my heart.
CONCLUSION In conclusion, the Holocaust was a terrible time, and hopefully nothing like it ever happens again. Millions of people died, and those who didn’t constantly struggled to stay alive. For six and a half years, the Blumenthal family, along with many others, were forced to live in horrific conditions and treated like slaves. However, they never lost hope and always had faith that things would get better. Their strong will and hope have really touched my heart. FINAL REVIEW Overall, the book, Four Perfect Pebbles was, for the most part, entertaining book with an amazing story behind it. Although it was sometimes hard to follow along, I really learned a lot from Marion and her hope throughout the book.
Four Perfect Pebbles Written By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan A Childhood Memoir ****
Four Perfect Pebbles is the memoir of a girl that survived the Holocaust. It is an excellent read if you are interested in the Holocaust and the things that followed. Reading this book takes you back to Germany and other European countries before, after, and during the Holocaust and Hitler’s reign. How this little girl and her family was able to survive the life threatening sicknesses and torture is unbelievable. Enjoy this good read, as God gave this family a miracle, to survive. It has been awarded an ALA Notable Book, IRA Young Adults’ Choice, and many more. In this first person narration, experience the life as a Jew through the eyes of a little girl through these events.
There were many main points in this book. One of which I thought was a good one was when Marion always tried to collect four perfect pebbles because she thought that if she did, her family would be safe and be a whole. Another point is when the Russians finally liberate the death train that carries the Blumenthal family, and everyone receives food and medical treatment. Also, Marion’s father dying is a main point as well. In addition, there are many more, but over all, they all have very important roles to play in Marion’s and her family’s lives and survival.
Over all, I thought it was a pretty good book. It is a true story since it is a memoir, which makes it even more significant. But, in every book or memoir there are going to be positive and negative points. Positive periods in the memoir were when the Blumenthals found out that their payment to go to America is still accounted for, and when Marion found that she loved bubble gum. Negative periods of the memoir were when Marion and her family got sent back to Bergen-Belsen, and when Marion’s father died of Typhus. The photos that were included in the pages of the book told stories of their own. They gave you a different view of what life was like then for Marion’s family and other Jews.
In the final analysis, Four Perfect Pebbles is a memoir of a Jewish girl’s past. The memoir is about how Marion and her family survived the Holocaust and all the concentration camps. Even though her father died trying to make it back to the world, the family was ok. I even think that Marion wasn’t the one in the family that was most effected. I think that parents were, especially that father. This is because the parents had to watch their children suffer everyday in the concentration camps and not being able to do anything about it.
Final Review: I gave this book four stars because I liked the book, but it would not be my choice if I were to choose. I liked how they included pictures in the book. I do wish they would have written a little more about Albert’s and Marion’s adult lives. Over all, it was a good book.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan My Personal View on Four Perfect Pebbles- A Holocaust Story ****
Introduction Four Perfect Pebbles takes place over six and a half years during the Holocaust. The Holocaust began when a man named Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany and established his political party, the Nazis, into the government. Germany having lost the first World War and was suffering deeply in financial debt, grasped the opportunity to rise to power, and gave the people something to blame which was primarily those of the Jewish religion. The citizens of Germany quickly followed along with what he said and practically all Jewish people were being mistreated and stripped of their rights. Then as time progressed, Hitler started ordering the removal of all Jews from their homes and placement into concentration camps where he then killed millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and many others. These living conditions of these camps were absolutely horrible and the treatment people were put through was horrific. This book tells the story of Marion Blumenthal and her family and how they survived the Holocaust.
Description and Summary of Main Points The story begins in Marion Blumenthal's hometown of Hoya, Germany during the start of Hitler’s rule over Germany. Marion, along with her brother Albert and her parents Ruth and Walter, were of the Jewish religion and because of this they along with millions of other Jewish people were forced to leave their homes and be held captive in camps. For many years, they endured staying in Germany with Marion's grandparents who could not leave the country as they wished but by the time they were able to finally go; their access to the U.S. was denied. Thereafter, they remained in the Westerbork Transit Center, originally a refugee center, for many years until they were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp which was one of the worst camps created during the war. Times were not easy for the Blumenthals and each day was a struggle to remain alive, but with a strong will and great determination, the family survived and stayed together. After another few years when they were finally free from the concentration camps, although sadly Walter passed away, they left for the United States and eventually settled down in Peoria, Illinois.
Evaluation I felt that the story was very interesting, but for the majority of the book I couldn’t keep very engaged on what was going on. The story was very detailed and informing but it seemed to skip around periods of time and I’d feel like something was either missing or there was more than what needed to be there. The book made good use of the illustrations and pictures it had and those gave me a much clearer picture of certain things and provided a better understanding to aspects of the story for me. Marion described her experience very well and really explained how difficult it was for herself and her family.
Conclusion To summarize, the Holocaust was a very tragic and dark point in the history of our world and hopefully nothing like this ever occurs again. For many years, the Blumenthals endured very harsh living conditions and were treated terribly but still, they never lost hope and had strong faith things would get better. Their will and courage really inspired me and I hope it did the same for others.
Final Review All in all, Four Perfect Pebbles was an interesting and inspiring story that really tells a lot about what the Holocaust was truly like even though it was difficult to follow along with at some points.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Story that I will Never Forget ****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book that I guarantee will change your life once you read it. We have all heard stories of the Holocaust, but nothing like this one. This book is written by a Jewish woman who personally experienced the horrors of the Holocaust when she was a young girl. You will be amazed by this compelling story of a young Jewish girl and her family who endure life through the horrific concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. This story will definitely bring you to tears and make you realize how grateful you should be of your life.
Marion Blumenthal, her father, her mother, and her older brother had a normal life living in the town of Hoya, Germany on the third story of their family-owned business. All of this was soon to change when Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. He discriminated against Jewish people, and he wanted them all dead. He had his followers, the Nazis, capture any Jews and take them to concentration camps where they were punished. The Blumenthals tried to save themselves from this cruelty by moving to Holland, but it was not long until Hitler invaded there as well. Eventually, the Blumenthals were discovered as being Jewish and taken to a concentration camp known as Bergen-Belsen. There they suffered in horrible, disgusting living conditions for many years. Millions of people died living in camps like those, but the Blumenthals somehow managed to keep themselves alive and keep their family together.
Four Perfect Pebbles is a very wonderful story to read, but it is also a tear-jerker. Marion Blumenthal and her family face many hard times throughout this period of their lives that will make you realize how truly lucky you are. We have all heard of the Holocaust, but this book shows you the harsh reality of it through the eyes of a survivor. You will surely not forget this story.
Marion Blumenthal's story of her life as a Jewish girl during the Holocaust is definitely an emotional one. The Blumenthals have so much hope and positivity that more than likely played a big part in keeping them alive. At any time they could have given up and stopped fighting against Hitler and his Nazis, but none of them ever did. To anyone reading this, that is a huge reality shock because we often take our lives for granted and this book shows us how grateful we should be of our lives.
I gave this book four stars because it is an amazing story, but also extremely emotional, which some people don't like. The details and the pictures in the book are a little sad and gruesome. In other words, this book is very good, but possibly too harsh for some people.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Depressing Time ***** To begin with, Four Perfect Pebbles was a very emotional book. There were a lot of unfair deaths, and horrible living environments. For example, the Blumenthal family as well as other families encountered things that no human being should encounter. They were piled into a box train that was crawling with diseases, stuffed in bunk beds that they shared with hundreds of other people, and suffered from starvation everyday just because they were a different religion from their “leader.” These events left families in despair. The title of this book came from when Marion was young and was first placed in her first camp in Bergen-Belsen, she believed that if she collected four pebbles that looked exactly alike her family would not be harmed in any way for that day. Also, in 1943 the president Von Hindenburg died and Hitler became chancellor and the president of Germany. After he became president he passed a law that was called the Nuremberg Law, which meant all Jews were stripped off their citizenship. While the Blumenthal family was imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen the living quarters were so bad that an infestation of lice was very horrible during their stay, and as they traveled. Many died from the disease that the lice left on them as the insects bit the livings skin! Marion also said she remembered the piles of dead bodies, and the smell of burning flesh from those who weren’t able to last until the soldiers came to stop the torture. I personally think this story is so upsetting. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like to actually be present during this time. By just reading about all of the struggles and horrors made me appreciate our freedom even more than I did before. All of those children didn’t even get to have a childhood, they were ordered around like slaves by the NATZ’s and lots of people were separated from own families… Some parts in this book were so out of proportion that I just couldn’t believe the things that these people had to go through on a day to day base, and suffer every day of their lives. One good thing out of this book was that no matter how tuff things got inside of the camp the Blumenthal family tried to never give up hope. They tried to stick together till the very end, and helped each other survive. As you can see, Four Perfect Pebbles was a hard book to read. Every page felt as if it was tugging at your heart. Just the things the Jews had to go through were absolutely horrible. N human being should ever have to go through that type of torture. Finally, I would recommend this book to anyone! It teaches you a lot about the Holocaust and its history. Therefore I gave this book five stars! I’ve learned a lot from this book, and I will never forget it’s contents. Sydnee Boyles, 6-7th
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Title of Review: Keaton Linger’s Book Review Number of stars: ****
Introduction: In Europe around 1939 a war started that brings memories to many people and sad feelings to new people to learn it. I will be writing about "The Four Perfect Pebbles". The setting was in Europe when World War II started with the Nazi's. Hitler controlled the Nazi's and stared a army. Hitler did not like the Jews so he began to kill them and send them to camps such as Prison, Concentration, and Death camps. He killed over six million by many ways. One of his worst camps was Auschwitz which if you were going there your life was going to end brutally.
Description and summary of main points: The mood in "Four Perfect Pebbles" is very sad and horrible. It's terribly sad to think of what all happened not to even imagine the mood of people in Europe and in camps. I don’t think I could mentally survive in the camps but the Blumenthal’s did. Waking up to dead bodies around you and eating nasty food. I don’t feel that I could wake up to this like Marion did each day seeing people die and get burned on a daily bases.
Evaluation: I think this book was great. It kept my attention the whole time and was very interesting. Many people who are new to this and help them learn in the eye of someone. I think anyone should read this book and I advise to read it to understand how it was back when we were not alive. Although listening to what happened then can make you sick of thinking how it would be for you and your family.
Conclusion: The topic on "Four Perfect Pebbles" is very interesting and terrible to think of. When Hitler's power increased the Blumenthal family was trapped in Germany with nowhere to go. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was taken over by the Nazis. The Blumenthal’s been forced to live in many camps and had a bad life but Marion still survived and is still positive to this day.
Your Final Review: Overall this book is amazing it is filled with so much information and puts you in someone’s eyes from back during the holocaust. The horrible things that happened makes you feel so thankful for who you are now and the people protecting you from harm like the holocaust and wars. Although you should already know about the holocaust that way this just shows a first person story in the holocaust.
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place in the 1930s to 1950s. Marion Blumenthal is the author of Four Perfect Pebbles. The book is about the Blumenthal’s will power to escape and survive the holocaust.
The summary of the main points would be hope and survival. Her Family was shuffled around all kinds off concentration camps with all these diseases and sick people. They starved and watched people pass away, be burned, and a lot of other things. But they still had hope. They starved, was dehydrated, sick, cold, and sad but they still survived.
The Blumenthal’s were shuffled around camps and was starved and open to all kinds of diseases. The Blumenthal family faced a lot of stuff they had to overcome but maybe the worse would be riding on a train where you know you’re going to die when you arrive at the location. Or maybe the train was the best part because the Russians freed the train.
In conclusion the Blumenthal’s faced a lot of bad things but in the end the survived and never gave up. In all it was probably hard and they did want to give up some points in time but they didn’t.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Pear and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Courage Saves Lives **** Four Perfect Pebbles is a story about a family that survived the Holocaust. They were in concentration camps all over Poland. The Blumenthal family was in these camps for 6 ½ years. Disease was everywhere and if you didn’t already have Typhus you were going to catch it soon. It’s extordinary that they survived after so many years. The Blumenthal family was first sent to a transit camp. They went to a camp called “Bergen- Belson.” There, they were fed a chunk of bread. The prisoners traded cigarettes to get extra rations. At this camp Marion would try to find 4 perfect pebbles. This represented a pebble for each one of her family members. Marion believed that if she could find four perfect pebbles her family would survive another day. It was Marion’s courage that helped her stay alive. Marion’s strength and courage showed greatly when her mother was trying to make soup and a German soldier came in. Her mother quickly had to get rid of the boiling water and when she did some of the water spilled on Marion’s leg. Marion did not make one sound because she knew that if she did she, and her mother would be killed. After this happened, the family was put on “the dealth train”. It was called this because most people did not survive the train due to disease. It was packed tight with more people than the train car could hold. Lice were everywhere which caused Typhus (a deadly disease). The passengers were given a chunk of bread to last those eight days and there was dead bodies everywhere. During this awful train ride the war was coming to an end. The Russian soldiers rescued them and told them there was houses in live in with food. In May 1945 the Blumenthal’s came to America to start over. They live a normal life now and Marion goes all around the world to tell her story. I personally liked this book. Although it was hard to read at times, I still learned a lot more about the Holocaust. The family was very close which I admire. They would always try to meet and the son would try to get extra food. The mom and daughter stuck together through everything. It made me appreciate my mother more. Marion was just a little girl with courage that helped her stay alive. This also helped her family stay alive. This book is both sad but also inspirational. In conclusion, this book is about a family that survived concentration camps. The family went through a lot of hard ships. The Blumenthal family was in and out of different concentration camps for 6 ½ years. The young daughter, Marion, believed that if she could find four perfect pebbles then her family would survive another day. It was her courage that helped keep her alive. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. You can learn more about the Holocaust while still hearing an inspirational story. I would like to meet Marion some day. To hear her story and outlook on life from her perspective would be amazing. Her story has touched hearts all over the world. If your ever at the library and you want to pick up a historical book with a story, Four Perfect Pebbles is the book to choose.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Holocaust Story Review
The introduction of the story starts out with Marion in her mother’s arms in the wooden barrack in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. It is described that all around her is the sound of other women and children in the three-decker bunks. The moans and cries of the others could be heard through the barrack. Marion begins to tell what a normal day would be like in the camp. How some of the prisoners were not able to stand anymore.
The Blumenthal’s bought a ticket to leave Germany and to go to the United States. The Nazis caught them before they could leave on the ship. After they are liberated from the Nazis they are allowed to board the ship even though the tickets cost much more than they did before. Marion had to go through a lot of experiences but not as bad as her brother Albert. He had to bury his own father by putting him in a wheelbarrow then dig a grave.
I like how the book is started. The book starts in the camp then flashes back to the past. The past shows how they tried to buy a ticket to leave ,but have to stay behind due to the grandparents being ill. It is a very good book that everyone should read.
At the end of the story the camp is liberated by the Russians. Many people die after being liberated due to eating too much food at once. Marion goes back to the camp after awhile when she is in the United States.
I would recommend the book to anyone younger than the 8th grade due to it being a sensitive time. The book should be a mandatory book to read in high school.
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles, Marion Blumenthal Lazan Title of review: Marion Blumenthal’s Life Number of Stars: **** Introduction: A little girl named Marion had a bad beginning to her life. She was a Jew and had to experience many different concentration camps. Her and her family was taking all over to places to be tortured by the Nazis. They barley ever got anything to eat, so they were very skinny. The people never got to clean themselves, so there were many diseases spreading among the camp. Marion had a little game with four pebbles to keep her mind off what was really going on. This was a terrible time to be living especially for a little girl that was only three years old. Description and summary of main points: Marion and her family were Jews which were captured in this story by German soldiers. Her and her family was captured for six years, living in all different kinds of camps. The first camp they were sent to was a camp called ''Westerbork'' in Hooghalen. In this camp they were tortured, by having no food, nothing to drink and no shower. There were lice and tones of other creatures living in their beds and on their clothing. The parents had to work during the days, while the children did small chores around the camp. Sometimes the innocent people of the camp got some extra food like little bits of bread. The people were so desperate that they traded cigars with bits of food, because they were starving. ''After a while they got moved camp to camp suffering for the long days. Marion didn’t have anything to do while she was there so, she made up creative game. The game was that every day she would find four matching pebbles that would be one for each family member. If she didn't find the matching pebbles then she would think one family member wouldn’t survive. So every day she had to find the four pebbles or in her mind everything would go wrong. Evaluation: I think the book the Four Perfect Pebbles is a interesting story on Marion’s life. It is really hard to believe that these terrible events happened to a poor innocent girl and her family. It really shows that we don’t have that hard of lives. Everyday people complain on how horrible there life is but I can’t even imagine if something happened like that now. I think it is awesome how she wrote a story about it, so they whole world can know what it was like during this time. Conclusion: In conclusion, living in this time would be horrible for anyone. It is not fair for anyone to be treated that way. They were treated horribly and it basically ruined their lives. Hearing people tell their stories today is really upsetting. It makes me feel so bad for them, because what they lived through. Some of the people tell their stories like it didn’t even happen. Sometimes I think my life is miserable, but really it isn’t. I need to be more thankful for what I have! Your finial review: I think Four Perfect Pebbles is really worth your time. It is really an interesting story about how someone’s life can be that way. It takes you back when things were different than our time now. It really makes you want to learn more about the Holocaust. It also makes you feel horrible for these innocent people. This book makes it better because it is a true story. This book is really worth reading! Kaitlyn Vilain 1-2 period
4 Perfect Pebbles By: Marion Blumenthal Lazan & Lila Perl Not-So-Perfect Pebbles. **** I can tell by reading the first Chapter in this book that it was horrible back then. I realized that the “Nazis” attacked the “Jews” for no apparent reason. They put them in camps in which they had to work and be starved. This book has changed peoples’ lives, knowing that she went through 6 camps and still lived in hope. This book became to be a Children’s book in the field of Social Studies. Marion had an Unforgettable childhood, when she was 2 her father had to go to a camp, but came back. It was a bad time for each and every adult and kid who was Jewish. When Hitler rose and became leader he thought and obeyed a law that consists of the “Jews” to be treated horribly. He didn’t care for their health and/or their life. Even though you think it’s bad when you read it you should think about the people, they were there and threaten and harmed. They were extremely low on food, and water. The typhus had become worse; there were more and more lice each day. More and more people shaved their heads' to try and get rid of the lice. Also they had died from typhus every day. This is only some of the actions towards what the camps did. Something I didn’t like about this book is how it was written; it confused me in every way. One moment it would be Ruth speaking, the next Marion They should have had chapter of what happened to each family member, then some about everyone about their family. When it would say “Marion said” it confused me. I think that this story should be told to everyone, even though she has a book, she still tells everyone. Yes, it’s a great book and I give it four stars. She’s alive today and telling her story to other kids. Even though she didn’t talk much when she was little, now she talks a lot. I never met her and of course I want too. Nichole Grant 1-2
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Marion’s Adventure **** Four Perfect Pebbles is a very interesting story about the Holocaust. The whole story is about a little girl named Marion who survived the Holocaust. They were taken too many different concentration camps. Bergan-Belson is one of the ones they were at for a while. Every morning that they woke, there would be someone else dying. Hitler is the one who was doing this to all of these innocent people. He killed over six million people. Then one day the Blumenthal’s troubles all came to an end, when a train arrived to pick them up. The Blumenthal family was one of the hundreds of families that were taken too many different concentration camps. Luckily they were one of the few families that did survive. While they were at all these camps they saw at lot of things happen to people that you should never have to see. Marion was ten and only weighed thirty-five pounds, and her mom weighed seventy-five pounds. They also had to deal with terrible cases of lice and typhus all around them, and even including them. That just comes to show how horrible things were for them. On top of everything else Marion got burned by soup they were trying to sneak to cook. Marion was a girl who had tons of hope. She believed that if she found four pebbles of almost the same size and shape, that her family would remain a whole. After six and a half years of going to concentration camps, the day finally came when they were set free. Shortly after they made it through everything Marion’s dad died of typhus. In the end they ended up living in Peoria, Illinois. I would recommend Four Perfect Pebbles to others. I thought it was a very interesting story to read. It teaches you to appreciate what you have, because there are always people worse off than you. I liked how you could just imagine what they were going through just by reading it. I think that if more people read this book that they would be more appreciative of what they already have, even if it’s not the best. So if you’re ever looking for a good book to read, you should choose Four Perfect Pebbles. Even if it doesn’t sound like a book you will like, it won’t hurt to give it a shot. I didn’t really think I would like it at first, but after I read it I liked it. It really teaches you a lot of lessons and more. In conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is a great book. It taught me to live life at its fullest, even if it’s not the greatest. Marion went through a lot of hard times, but she never stopped believing that they would all survive. With all the hope she had, her family all survived until her dad got a disease called typhus. Even though he didn’t live afterwards, he still made it through the Holocaust because he had a family who believed they could do it. So that is pretty much the book Four Perfect Pebbles. For the final review of Four Perfect Pebbles I would have to say that it is a book that I would recommend. I gave it a four out of five rating because it taught me a lot of important things. The main thing it taught me about was life. No matter how hard times got for the Blumenthal family, they never wanted to end their lives. They always saw good in everything that happened. So that is they story Four Perfect Pebbles. Mariah Thompson 1st/2nd period
“Four Perfect Pebbles” by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl “A young girl’s triumph over the Holocaust” 3/5 stars Four Perfect Pebbles is about the life of a young girl during the Holocaust. It takes you through the years her family was transported from concentration camp to concentration camp. It shows the struggles of being locked away in a camp with very little food and no sanitation for over six years. This story tells of the ways Marion kept her spirits up in a hopeless situation and the triumph she felt after overcoming the ghosts of the Holocaust. The story tells of when Marion and her family went from being a happy family in a small town to outcasts in their own community. It shows how after all Jewish people had been boycotted and their business finally fell they had to leave their small town and try to go to America. Their lives changed drastically when they were sent to a concentration camp. Marion’s family had to live for six years in concentration camps with very little food and very close quarters. Disease plagued the camps with hundreds of bodies being buried of burned every day. After being on a “death train” for two weeks, they were set free and they populated a small farm town in Germany. Death still plagued residents of this town and they started to die off. Eventually, Marion’s father joined them. After a year of living in Europe, the Blumenthals finally got to move to America. CONTINUED BELOW Chloe Wean 1st and 2nd period
I feel that this book teaches a very important lesson. It shows the importance of family and keeping hope when there is none. I would recommend this to someone who is willing to read it to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and how they could have a life much worse than the one they have. This book reveals the disgusting facts about the fate of so many people. To conclude, I think Four Perfect Pebbles would be a great story for someone to read to teach them of what happened in the Holocaust. I feel it is important to remember this and the history that builds us. Even if some of the world’s history is horrible and disgusting, it is important to remember how lucky we are that we do not have to go through that. I applaud Marion Blumenthal Lazan for staying strong through those years and still keeping it together to this day. She shares her story all around America. I think that this is a very good book. It may not be the most pleasing book to read, but I feel one should know of the horrors of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to someone to teach them about how you must keep hope that things will turn out alright. I think this story is an inspiration to look on the bright side for yourself and others.
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles by: Marion Blumenthal-Lazan Title of review: Marion’s Holocaust Battle Number of stars:*****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a story that was once lived by Marion Blumenthal-Lazan. This was once her six and a half year battle with holocaust. She was only four years old when she was brought into her first concentration camp. After that she was transferred with her family to different camps through Poland and the Netherlands. Once they were liberated by the Russian army it was a fight between typhus and staying alive. She was very ill during this time, so was her father at this time. She had a horrible leg wound that was infested with lice. But that was healed, but her father died of typhus and her brother had to bury his father by himself. During this time period Marion saw some of the most horrific sights of death and disease. She was lucky not to contract typhus from the lice infestation and all the others that had it. There were lice infested clothes and bed sheets along with the bed itself and she wasn’t allowed to change nor wash them. Every morning they would have to line up in the freezing weather and wait to be called on to see if they were still alive. There were people that died in the night from disease and the lice infestations. She saw dead bodies everywhere from her little room to outside where piles and piles of dead unknown bodies lay and were on their way to be anonymously cremated. I loved the entire book and realization that this did happen. But I hate that this happened to all of those innocent people that no one will remember in 10 years. Well I surely will because this is a big step in history and I will always remember it. I love that Marion is able to step up and talk about what has happened to her in this horrible time period with her family. She almost lost this horrible battle against the Holocaust but lucky she kept fighting with perseverance. And the will to live and to get those Four Perfect Pebbles to represent her family. And she almost made it out with her entire family. But her father then died and didn’t get the chance to see America. After her liberation she lived a happy life. She got to move to America and lived her life in New York for a while. Then met a boy that she would soon marry, his name is Nathaniel Lazan. They met at a Synagogue service and he asked to walk her home. And she let him and that’s how it all started. Her brother moved to California, and she continued her life in Hewlett, New York. She still to this day speaks on her holocaust filled childhood around the states. She even came to the high school once. I hope she can come again and talk to us.
My final review about the book is that even though this was a horrific time period its very interesting to learn about and look over. It’s sad that this happened to any of those innocent people. But we can’t change the past, and it made how things are today. I just wonder what it was like to actually be there. How it was to actually suffer from all the death around you. I wonder what it was like to live in those rooms with hundreds of other people. And what the smell was like, that probably still there from all of the bodies decaying and being burned. It was horrible, and I hope all the souls of those unfortunate innocent people can properly rest now. -hydia george 1/2 period
Marion Blumenthal, her brother Albert, her mother Ruth and her Father Walter were all put I concentration camps during the Holocaust period in the mid 1900’s. They went from camp to camp. The Blumenthal’s started at a camp called Bergen-Belsen and they were there for Westerbork for other times. They went from prison camps, to transit camps, and refugee camps. Before they got captured and took to contraction camps they tried to hide out in Holland the place that stayed neutral during World War 1 but they were soon captured by surprise. Hitler had a problem with Jews and pretty much anyone or thing that supported them. When he took over power all Jewish people were put in camps where most of them died. He shut down all Jewish ran businesses and prevented anyone to shop at those stores.
Description and Summary of Main Plot
Marion had a superstition that if she found four perfect pebbles everyday then for that day none of her family members would die. She said “Well sometimes I cheated and the pebbles weren’t just alike but it was my game. I made it up.” Her superstition worked until they got on a train named the death train. They called it that because when you got on that train her superstition worked until they got on a train named the death train. They called it that because when you got on that train you headed to an extermination camp Auschwitz. But on the way there the Russian army saved them from the death train and led them to a barn with food to eat. While at the barn, Walter got a disease called Typhus. He later died from that disease.
Evaluation
I think the book was 5 out of 5. I think this because it was very well written and tells us about the struggle going through all of the events of the Holocaust. In my opinion losing my dad would have to be the hardest thing I would ever go through in life besides losing my mom. I think of my dad as a best friend and that’s why it’d be hard for me to go through what she went through. I also don’t think that I wouldn’t go bad and visit the place where I was held.
Conclusion
This book shows the relationship between a family that always sticks together. After the Russians save them they go through the agony of losing a father. After his father’s death Albert took on the man role and took care of his family at the age of 14. Im 14 and couldn’t go that. Final Review
I would recommend this book to everyone that wants to know the devastating story about a holocaust survivor. It really makes you think about how lucky you are and that the problems that you go through in life are not as bad as you think compared to what the Blumenthal’s went through.
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan Title of Review: Marion’s Battle Number of starts: **** Introduction: Four Perfect Pebbles was written by Marion Blumenthal who was in the holocaust for six in half years. She experienced very thing!! She stayed alive she had this little thing she did everyday she would go out and find four pebbles that are just alike ,and she said when she found all four the same then she knew that her family would all live today. Sometimes she didn’t find rocks that were exactly the same so she just said they were. She was four years old when she went to her very first camp. Her family was transported through Poland and Netherlands. She became very sick through the Russian army she had to fight from getting typhus and staying alive. She had a real bad wound on her leg that got lice in, and her father died from typhus and they had to bury their father! From all the different camps she went to she saw some terrible sights. Like dead bodies just lying around while people just come through and scrap them up. Marion was lucky that she didn’t typhus she was on that train with so many people who had it she was a very blessed person, but not to blessed she still had the lice infestation in her leg from the wound she had. They were in the freezing weather. A lot of people froze to death, and some of them had typhus. Marion and her mother would wait to see if her brother was still alive waiting to hear them! Marion saw piles and piles of the little room! There were a few times when Marion thought that they’re were going to get set free, they was just going to another camp! Description:. Four Perfect pebbles is about a young girl and her family experiencing the madness of the holocaust. Marion Blumenthal explains how her family went to different camps and the motional side of a eight year old little girl she knows so much about her surroundings Marion Blumenthal and her family were in the holocaust since Hitler raised the power that Jewish people went. It was Marion, her father Walter, her mother Ruth and her brother Albert they were captured in Nazi Germany and they were trying to escape! Nobody be expected Hitler to raise his power that soon, but if you caught you soon became concerned. When Hitler became discrimination against the Jews there was a boycott and Walter had to sell his products to a people in the countryside. The Blumenthal wanted Germany but they couldn’t cause the grandparents till they died. Their grandparents weren’t strong even to just up and leave they were old and if they would get typhus they would die instantly. Once their grandparents died. Evaluation: In all honestly and truth it’s not that it wasn’t a good book it was by all means talked about a person life at the age of four years old how she had to go into the holocaust it gave great details and pictures with the book to get a point of view of how it would’ve been you in her shoes and living the life like she did. She went from camp to camp, she was hurt, and she lost her father and had to bury him. She stayed real strong! I just didn’t like the book as much as alt more people did. That is just my honest option. I did like how they made the book like how they put pictures in the book to show you what it was like. There were real good parts to the book. Tameka Burns 1st/2nd
Conclusion: Marion after life the holocaust she didn’t really like to talk about what happen in the holocaust she also lost her father in the holocaust so that is another part of a reason she didn’t like talking about it. Once they got back to the United States Marion was placed in the fourth grade and by taking extra classes to help her and attending summer school. She graduated from Peoria Central High School. She ranked 8th in her class out of 267 people. After she graduated she met this person named Nathanael and they soon became married and she moved with him and lived a happy life with him! Also she started speaking in schools about what happen to her in the holocaust. Your final review: Even this was a very very bad time period. About the holocaust and everything it’s a real good life lesson, well it’s not really her fault that she was jew and that she had to get sent there. I’m sure she learned a lot of from it. To hear her tell people about the story ad life in the holocaust it would be real interesting I wouldn’t doubt it!
Four Perfect Pebble is about a young girl named Marion from Western Europe that fights for survival against the German Nazis, because Marion was a Jew but the way she survived was unbelievable because she fined for perfect pebbles that are the same shape, size and color for every person in her family. The Camp that they used the kill Jews was called a Concentration camp; the worst of all camps was the extermination camp that killed over six million Jews. And this was spreading all through Europe and a part of Asia, the person that was controlling all of this was Adolph Hitler, Hitler was really mean. The summary of the Main points of Four Perfect Pebbles is, the reason how she survived is because she had hope and had a positive attitude the whole time and never gave up on herself and found four perfect pebbles everyday but sometimes she had to cheat. She waited for her mother everyday from working in the kitchen, he mother worked because to get extra rations. Some people died because the diseases that were at the camps for example lice, ticks, parasites and more, and the German Nazis hung people from the bob wire fence from people trying to get away. They were trying being a threat the Jews to get them scared and worried, but Marion kept a positive attitude from the beginning to the end, some people would be dead in the first 10-20 days or less because they wouldn’t have the health or the braveness and faith and hope that Marion does, she could’ve died in the first 20 days but she didn’t cause she had hope. What I think about the book is that I kind of like it because you learn more and more about the Holocaust and what Hitler did to people, and how he did it, it was just offal and sickknen but Marion kept her cool and never had a negative attitude, people need to realize how bad this thing happen in the world ,people don’t what happen to children , Adults, They had no food, water or cloths just lice, maggots, and potatoes, I like the book, but I don’t I really don’t like talking about people dying like that. What if you were like Marion? The book is about a named Marion that’s has a lot of hope and courage, but the Nazis were trying to get Marion and her family scared. The Jew didn’t know what was going on because the Germans took them right out of their houses. My opinion about the book is that is great for young adults but not young children. Things in life that are bad are not as bad as what happened in Western Europe Dante Stills 1/2
Four Perfect Pebbles: By Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
*** Four Perfect Pebbles did not interest me, the story was good and it was written very well but I do not like this type of book. It bored me too much, and did not entertain me. This book is great for Learning more about the holocaust but not a book to entertain you for it will fill you with sorrow. The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. Marion Blumenthal Lazan's unforgettable memoir recalls the devastating years that shaped her childhood. Following Hitler's rise to power, the Blumenthal family -- father, mother, Marion, and her brother, Albert -- were trapped in Nazi Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was occupied by the Nazis. For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious Bergen-Belsen in Germany. Though they all survived the camps, Walter Blumenthal, Marion's father, succumbed to typhus just after liberation. It took three more years of struggle and waiting before Marion, Albert, and their mother at last obtained the necessary papers and boarded ship for the United States. Their story is one of horror and hardship, but it is also a story of courage, hope, and the will to survive. At the onset of the war, the Blumenthal family left Germany to flee to America. But, while they were in the Netherlands, Germany invaded and bombed the ships that would have taken them to safety. For the next six-and-a-half-years of her childhood, Marion struggled through the Holocaust, surrounded by death, starvation, filth and disease. Marion's stories suggest that self-discipline and a strong imagination helped her to survive. At one point, her mother had somehow scrapped up bits of wood and a potato and decided to cook up a meager soup on her bunk in the barracks. Of all nights, the Nazis had a surprise inspection that night, and, in the rush to hide the soup, the boiling water spilled on Marion's leg. If she had cried out, the Nazis most likely would have discovered their attempt to cook illegal soup and killed both her and her mother. So Marion swallowed hard and pretended as if the severe burn on her leg wasn't there. After all that she's experienced Marion's temperament is surprising. She smiles easily and stresses the importance of optimism. “I'm determined not be bitter and angry,” she explains, “On the contrary, I'm determined to be cheerful and positive as much as possible.” She believes that life owes her nothing, and it's her job to make the best of what she's given. “None of us is spared hardships,” Marion explains, “It's not so much what happens to us, but how we deal with the situation that makes the difference.” Today, Marion is on a mission to teach the public about the Holocaust. Her memoir Four Perfect Pebbles is taught in classrooms throughout the world. And, although she's been speaking publicly about the Holocaust since 1979, her speaking engagements have significantly increased since the publication of her book. Marion lectures to adult groups, synagogues, churches and civil organizations, but her favorite audience is an auditorium full of students. “You, the students, are the very last generation that will hear the story first hand,” Marion explains to her eager listeners. My Finale review is still a 3 just because I have no intrest in these type of books but other may like it.
Book Title/Author: Four Perfect Pebbles written by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Report Title: An Inspiring Story Number of Stars (1-5): * * * *
Four Perfect Pebbles is an inspiring story about a young, Jewish girl and her family who survived the Holocaust. The family suffered through diseases and hunger. Through this story the young girl, Marion, believed that finding four pebbles that looked exactly alike every day would keep her family alive for that day. They were sent back and forth to different concentration camps for six years. Marion was only four years old at the time when they were sent to their first concentration camp. Even though she was young and went through some traumatic experiences she always had a positive attitude.
The Blumenthal family went through rough things that a child shouldn’t have to go through. When Marion’s family was in the Burgen-Belsen concentration camp Marion spilt boiling soup in her leg and tremendously burnt her leg, but when this happened she didn’t scream or cry so she could her and her mother from getting caught with making soup. Also, when the Blumenthal family finally got off of the death train in 1945 her father soon died of typhus and Marion and her brother had to bury him. Soon after that they were truly free and they were able to ride over on the boat to New York.
In my opinion, I found this book truly inspiring. It had multiple life lessons that can help you through life. I gave this book four out of five stars because even though it was a wonderful story I didn’t enjoy the fact that some of the parts in this book were drug out a little too long and it appealed to be boring to me. Other than that this story was very entertaining and interesting to me. It taught me to always stay positive even through the bad times.
In conclusion, Marion, her mother, and her brother’s life after the holocaust turned out to be pretty good. When Marion first left Burgen-Belsen she weighed thirty-five pounds and three years of eating fatty foods she was able to gain one hundred pounds. In 1948 they HIAS offered them free housing and a chance of schooling and work. Once they arrived in Peoria, Illinois their living condition included living with two other families in which they had to take turns using the bathroom and preparing meals every day. Albert got a job sweeping at a jewelry store and her mother worked at the Hokins. Marion worked part time at a department store. Marion had struggled with only one subject in school it was English, but with extra help she was able to excel in the subject and she graduated high school. A few years later Marion met her future husband after service at the synagogue. On August 2, 1953 Marion got married to Nathaniel. Life now for them is very good her and her husband now have eight grandchildren and they live in Heweltt, New York.
I definitely think anyone should read this book without hesitation. It is inspiring and true to life. It teaches you the true meaning of life. I love this book and it is definitely one of my favorite books. If I were you I would read this book is filled with mixed emotions. This book is overall inspiring
Four Perfect Pebbles Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review of the Four Perfect Pebbles 3 out of 5 stars
The book starts out with Hitler just coming into power. The Blumenthal family saw what was coming. So they started trying to get papers to leave Germany. While they were trying to get papers Nazis started standing outside the Jewish owned stores and businesses and making sure no one used those places. Soon enough they just closed them. Before the Blumenthal family could get the correct papers to go to the United States They were caught and sent in and through camps.
Some of the main points in this book would be them getting caught. Then sent in and through many different camps they were in a Transit camp, Concentration camp, work camp, And even a death camp. But the Blumenthal’s persevered through them all. Only after they were rescued did Marion’s dad die. Then they got the correct papers to go to the United States. They waited about six months to go to new York. Then they left to the states while on the boat right before they got there the whole Blumenthal family stood on the deck awaiting the beautiful sight of Statue of Liberty.
I think this book will teach a life lesson to people that read it. This book shows us how lucky just how lucky we actually are. You might complain when you don’t get shoes or a game you want, But look what they had. They were lucky if they had something to eat. Let alone new pair of shoes or clothes. So just be thankful for what you have next time you cant get something just don’t complain be thankful for what you have.
The conclusion is the Nazis getting defeated. All of the camps getting liberated including Transit camps, Concentration camps, work camps, and even death camps. The Nazis tried keeping the Jewish prisoners as long as possible. So right before one camp was liberated they loaded all the prisoners on a train and moved them to another camp. This is what happened to the Blumenthal’s except they got caught on the train and were liberated by I believe some of the Russian army soldiers. Then they occupied some of the abandoned farm houses left before Hitler took control of Germany. Then they lived in the farm houses for about six months. Then went to America were they were helped by a local Jewish group in the states to have a temporary living space.
My final review of the Four Perfect pebbles would be it is a great book. Defiantly worth reading. If you have anytime where your free get this book. How Marion made up games. That’s were the name of the book came from. How she needed to find four pebbles with about the same size and shape, Then her family would be okay for that day. When she couldn’t find the pebbles she would get some pebbles she had hidden just incase she could find new ones. The four perfect pebbles is a great book and I would suggest it.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Story of a 4 Year old Girl **** Four Perfect Pebbles is a horrific book about a family of Jews during WWII. This family suffered diseases, hunger, and the only people they had were each other. Being a Jew back in 1938 was a pretty dangerous thing. When Hitler, the Nazi leader, became head of Germany, he had a plan to take all the Jews away to camps. First he wouldn’t let any of the Germans to buy from the Jews. Now if you were a Jew, you had to wear The Star of David. Eventually, they took all of the Jews away to the camps. There were four camps. The Refugee, Transit, Prison, and Concentration camps were all over Europe. Hitler wanted all the Jews gone.
Marion was only four at the time, so she didn’t know fully of what was happening. The Blumenthal family was waiting to come over to America. They had all the stuff they needed to go. All they needed was their names to be called. Name after name the Blumenthal family was never called. Since the family had to stay, they were sent to all of the camps between six year periods. Bergen- Belson was where she was at during the end of WWII. Everyday Marion would go outside to find for perfect pebbles. If she could find four perfect pebbles that meant her family was going to be okay. Marion only weighed 35 pounds at age nine. People were suffering of the Typhus disease. It was caused by the lice people were getting. Each day Marion had to pick the lice from her hair one by one and squish them.
Marion and her mother were making soup one day when the guards came in for a surprise checkup. Her mother tried to quickly hide the soup when it tipped over on Marion’s leg. This caused severe burning. Marion was smart enough not to scream, so she held it all in. That’s pretty tough for a nine year old to do. One day they moved all of the Jews to a tent outside. They started getting more diseases from the cold. They were all freezing to death. The only thing they could do to keep them warm was to pee on their selves. More and more diseases were coming in. One day the guards came in, and took all the Jews on the train. Every day they would stop the train to let everyone out. When night came, everyone got back on the train. At one point in time, the train stopped for two days. When morning came, a bunch of guards came in the train doors. They were Russian soldiers. They were all freed from the train. Later, Marion’s dad died of Typhus. They all had the disease, but were treated. The book was very devastating. I found it very inspiring. It shows that we should be grateful for what we have. Nobody could ever understand what they all went through, but all we can do is listen and learn. I think everyone at our age should read this book to learn more about the Holocaust.
Marion and her family came to America and lived their lives they should’ve before. Marion and Albert returned to a highschool. They didn’t tell anyone for 35 years that they were in the Holocaust. Marion met a guy and got married with kids, and now has grandchildren. Albert now has a wife too. Now, the Blumenthal family goes around telling everyone their horrific story of the Holocaust. They inspire many kids, and even older people.
The Blumenthal family should keep going, and tell their story. They inspire so many people. Marion still has trouble telling her story after all this time. I think the book was a great for people to read. More people should read it though. -emily osbourn
THE STORY TAKES PLACE ALL THROUGH EUROPE during WWII MARION BELIVED IF SHE FOUND four PERFECT PEBBLES EVERY DAY HER FAMILY WOULD SURVIVE. SHE WAS RIGHT. HER FAMILY WENT TO SOME OF THE WORST CAMPS IN THE WORLD LIKE BERGIN BELSON, ALTWISHS AND MANY MORE.
The book four perfect pebbles was about the holocaust and the killing of millions of Jewish people. IT WAS ALSO ABOUT A FAMILY TRY TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE HOLOCAST. THE MAIN CHARCTER IN THE BOOK IS MARION. Ever day she collect four pebbles just alike if she gets all four she family will live another day she did this every day and her family lived .
I think this book is a lesson to tell you some thinks that people think are stupid can get you through any thing in life. I think if people read this book they would not think things people do to help them self are stupid and they probly would not make fun or judge.
The conclusion is the war ending and the nazi soldiers losing and the USA wining. It also ends with Marion her mother and brother her father died when they were freed.
I personal like the book. I think the story is very sad and heart warming at the end I give the book a four out of five. Would reamed the book for all 8 graders to read. Over all it is a great book.
“Four Perfect Pebbles” by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl “A young girl’s triumph over the Holocaust” 3/5 stars Four Perfect Pebbles is about the life of a young girl during the Holocaust. It takes you through the years her family was transported from concentration camp to concentration camp. It shows the struggles of being locked away in a camp with very little food and no sanitation for over six years. This story tells of the ways Marion kept her spirits up in a hopeless situation and the triumph she felt after overcoming the ghosts of the Holocaust. The story tells of when Marion and her family went from being a happy family in a small town to outcasts in their own community. It shows how after all Jewish people had been boycotted and their business finally fell they had to leave their small town and try to go to America. Their lives changed drastically when they were sent to a concentration camp. Marion’s family had to live for six years in concentration camps with very little food and very close quarters. Disease plagued the camps with hundreds of bodies being buried of burned every day. After being on a “death train” for two weeks, they were set free and they populated a small farm town in Germany. Death still plagued residents of this town and they started to die off. Eventually, Marion’s father joined them. After a year of living in Europe, the Blumenthals finally got to move to America. I feel that this book teaches a very important lesson. It shows the importance of family and keeping hope when there is none. I would recommend this to someone who is willing to read it to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and how they could have a life much worse than the one they have. This book reveals the disgusting facts about the fate of so many people. To conclude, I think Four Perfect Pebbles would be a great story for someone to read to teach them of what happened in the Holocaust. I feel it is important to remember this and the history that builds us. Even if some of the world’s history is horrible and disgusting, it is important to remember how lucky we are that we do not have to go through that. I applaud Marion Blumenthal Lazan for staying strong through those years and still keeping it together to this day. She shares her story all around America. I think that this is a very good book. It may not be the most pleasing book to read, but I feel one should know of the horrors of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to someone to teach them about how you must keep hope that things will turn out alright. I think this story is an inspiration to look on the bright side for yourself and others.
Title and author: Four perfect pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Pearl Title of review: a holocaust survivor **** Introduction: The story four perfect pebbles was written by Marion Blumenthal and her mother Lila Pearl on January 1, 1996. She and her family which consisted of her, her brother and her mother and father who survived the holocaust.
Description of summary: some of the main points of the book are when Hitler takes over Germany. Some of the pictures were the women are peeling potatoes in front of the stacks of dead bodies and the people with typhus( a disease spread by lice).
Evaluation: some of the good things about the book are that Marion and her family always had hope where ever they went and what ever happened. Some bad things that happened were that they didn’t get fed like they should have, Marion got burned, and they could never have the correct hygiene. Conclusion: So in summary as you can see this family has been through a lot in their life time. Through the entire tragedy they had hope which in my opinion helped them survive. Final review: I gave the book four stars because to me I learned more from it than I ever did learning about it in class and I think the book deserves it because its about a woman and her family that survived, with hope. Tabitha Garrett 4th and 5th
Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The review of Benjamin Karek Cox ***** This story is one of the most heartfelt stories I have ever heard in my entire life of reading this story will explain the Blumenthal’s fight to stay alive against the Nazi’s in those concentration camps. This story is about a horrible time where I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to go to, this story tells us about how all these people where not fed properly, and was diseased with horrible lice that have gotten into their skin and hair, also caused them to be very sick. For Instants these Jews were burned and killed, and also beaten for being a Jew, all just because Adolf Hitler tricked the Germans into believing that Jewish people caused them to lose the war, even when Adolf Schiklgrober Hitler was a Jewish monster himself. This monster despised Jews in when I mean hated, he hated him with a crave, but the Blumenthal’s would never give up hope they kept hope and tried so hard just to get the heck up out of there, and eventually when they were stuck on that ugly horrible train the Russians moved in and saved the Blumenthal’s and every other Jew that was on that train, and they got home. My Evaluation or opinion on the story is that it’s a great moving story to me this movie has had me on the ropes for all 3 rounds I personally think it’s a great story in my eyes, but it is also gets me mad because of all the horrible things that the Germans have done to the Jews personally they owe them an apology for doing these things to these people. Matter of fact they should of payed with their lives in prison. In conclusion this story great and horrible at times, this story will get you mad and angry at the same time. When you read this story you will be at the edge of your seats wondering what will happen next. For instance the way this story is said will make you just keep on reading and don’t ever want to stop. So in conclusion this story is great and bad at times, but I personally think this story is a real great peace no matter what anyone else thinks this is one of the best books for young adults to know about history. Yes, I would recommend it to young adults and to older ones as well because if it wasn’t for them telling us their story we would not even know what it would even comprehend what it was like to be kid, and have to work in a concentration camp matter of fact we still don’t know only the elderly that was once a kid in that time would know. This story just lets us know a little bit because no one I know except Ms. Constable literally went to one of those concentration camps for her field trip so yes I would recommend KaREK COX
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Blumenthal Story *** This story, Four Perfect Pebbles, taking place in Germany during World War II, is about depression and how Marion and the rest of the Blumenthals lived through the tragic period of time during the Holocaust. They go through many crazy experiences. It lasted 6 years. This man named Hitler became the cause of this imprisonment. It all started in 1933 when his rein had started. Many years later, he started a World War II, which was dated from 1943 to 1945. Instead it lasted longer. Which made it worse for the Blumenthals and the other Jew held in the camp they were held in, considering they were all getting sick. This story is very depressing. Many events, such as starvation, death, and spreading diseases occur in this story. In one point of the story they are rescued. The whole story wasn’t depressing, but most of it was. Starvation was one of the reasons most of the Jews. They were not fed. All Jews that went to the camps had a small chance to survive. Marion and her family were the lucky ones. Her dad was the only one in the family to die. There was a disease that killed a large amount of the Jews. It was caused by lice and filth, which everyone eventually caught since they showered once a month. My evaluation of the story is that I like that at the end of the story, they were rescued and fed by Russian soldiers. I just don’t like the remainder of the story with all of the dying and slavery. It’s just not something I could listen to. I don’t like to hear about people being neglected and punished for something they didn’t do. At the end of this story, Marion and her family are really devastated by the dad dying. In conclusion, this story was very depressing and made me look at life a different way. When I get mad at the little things in life, I could just compare my situation to this one and think of it in a different way. I don't think I would stand a chance in these camps. I would not be able to survive. Marion and her family are very strong people. My final review of this story is a three out of five stars. It was well written, but it was just too much going on. It made me sick to have to read about. Everything was organized and was a great story, but stories like this are not for me. It was a blessing that they were rescued in the end. They deserved it, considering they never did anything to anyone. Markell Drake
Book Review Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion lazan ***** I am doing a book report on four perfect pebbles. I will be telling you the summary and main plots. I’m going to evaluate the story for you in paragraph form. Then finally I will give you my conclusion for my whole book review. The end will have a final review for you to read if you want to. First, the main plots in this story are the problem of the holocaust. The holocaust was really big in Europe. Hitler was the reason for the coming of the holocaust. He made them think that Jewish people were the reason for them losing the war. The story is about a very young child in the holocaust since she was nine to when she turned about fifteen. Second, I think this book was good through the whole thing. The things that made it good were that they never gave up on hope. The thing that probably made this bad was the fact that they were killing people for something they did not do. For the most part the book was really good especially at the end. That is what I thought of the book. What was your opinion? In conclusion, the book was pretty good. I thought that I would like to encourage people to read this book. I wish I could hear some thought from Marion in person. What do you think about this review? Do you think that you would like to read this book? Final review, the reason I gave this book five stars is because it was good and interesting. I thought that it was educational and historical. I hope you will give five stars like I did. I want you to read this please. It will give you the idea on what the holocaust was like.
Four Perfect Pebbles – Marion Blumenthal Lazan, Lila Pearl One Sad Story **** This book was one of the best Books I have ever read, but not the best one out of all of them. It was also one of the saddest books I have ever read too. It is sad because it tells all what they went through to get to America to be free from all of the madness in Germany and the start of the war. When they were in the concentration camps at Bergen-Belsen and they described what all they saw at the camp there and the stuff that they heard, smelled and felt during that time in that concentration camp. The author described all that happened to her and her family and what she and her family did during the time in a concentration camp and on death trains. The story was always talking about how she never thought it was going to end for them and always talked about how she thinks that if Anne frank had hope like them then she would have lived through it all. Plus she was the only one left in her family; at least she thought that she was, she didn’t have any more hope for living so she gave up. I think that her games that she played to run down the time and for her good luck gave her more strength to live more. Her and her family had a lot more strength than a lot of the people in the group that where there at Bergen-Belsen that is why they all lived to a happy life after words. I still think that the story was still really sad and also had a very good ending to it. The rest of the story was also good to. I think that when they all were on the train for the last time was very suspenseful, because it took them forever for them to get to the safe zone at the barn with the fruit. It was sad though when they could’ve died from eating too much. Over all it was very good Colby Gwynn
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan ***** A Holocaust Story The Holocaust started when Hitler came into power, he told everyone that the reason they lost the war was because of the Jews. At first he did nothing but as the years passed he did more and more. He started small with singling the Jews out by making them wear the Star of David on their outer clothing. He did this so you could tell who was a Jew and who wasn’t. Then he did something that he thought would start to eliminate them. What he did was mean but there was even worse to come. The thing he did was tell everyone not to buy from the Jews and they put sighs on the doors or the Star of David on the windows. But just a little after that there was the night that they shattered all the windows and burned all there holy books. About a year after that had happened Hitler started to send people to the concentration camps. Thousands of people died because of Hitler and many suffered. I gave this story five stars because it was very good. It was descriptive but it was also the memories of a girl who lived through the Holocaust. The girl was young when this started but she was able to remember mast of the horrible things that had gone on there. Also she gave basically all the details of what had happened to her in the concentration camps. She was a very luck girl to have lived through all of it and just being a child made it worse. But no matter what had happened she kept going. The thing that made it good and descriptive was that she didn’t just say something like there was dead bodies all over she described it. Also, this girl but her thoughts into the things that had happened to her and she was talking about. For example, when she saw all the dead bodies and smelled all of the rotting and burning flesh she told how it made her feel. Like the smell of the flesh mad her sick and that it was getting worse every day. Some of the bad things in this book were that at some parts she may have been to descriptive and at other parts not enough. The story Four Perfect Pebbles is about a girl who lived through the Holocaust. When it first started she was about four years old just a baby still. Her father had a store and it got hard for them when Hitler made the law that no one was to buy from the Jews. But they could not leave because their grandparents would not. But after they had died then they started getting ready because it was getting worse for the Jews. But not soon after they had left Hitler came and conquered the place that they were at. Their father had made plans to have them traded for German soldier who were captured but they were never called and the place they were at turned into a camp. They lived there for years and near the end they were all put onto trains and moved so they weren’t found. But at the end they Germans ditched them And they were found by the soldiers.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Blumenthal’s Holocaust Story **** Four Perfect Pebbles is written by two Holocaust survivors. It takes place mainly in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, when Marion was nine and her brother, Albert, was eleven. The Blumenthals were imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen for one year and two months. On April twenty-third, 1945, the Blumenthals along with other families were liberated from the Nazis. Two months later Walter Blumenthal, Marion’s father, died of typhus. On April twenty-third, 1948 Marion, Albert, and their mother arrived in America and live there still. Four Perfect Pebbles is about the survival of a family of four in the Holocaust. The family members are Walter, Ruth, Albert, and Marion Blumenthal. It starts out with Marion’s mother telling her the story of how they were captured. The Blumenthals were captured when trying to escape Germany. They were transferred between three camps until they were put on a train. The train kept traveling to avoid capture and freedom of its prisoners. Then after a few days Russian troops liberated the train. After liberation the Blumenthals along with other prisoners took refuge in farm houses. During the summer typhus started spreading and Walter Blumenthal caught it. Soon after catching typhus, he died from the symptoms. Albert had to bury his own father by himself. A few months later, the rest of the family went to live in Holland. A couple years later, Marion and the rest of her family moved to America where they remain to this day. In my opinion, Four Perfect Pebbles was great. The details were vivid and painted a clear picture of what was going on in my mind. I would defiantly recommend this to any thirteen or older. The only thing I didn’t like was when they were on the train that was liberated. Marion and her mother didn’t explain that part well.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Book Review for Four Perfect Pebbles * * * *
This story takes place during WWII in Germany. The story has four main characters, Walter (the father), Ruth (the mother), Albert (the son of Ruth and Walter), and Marion (the daughter of Ruth and Walter). They were all Jews and were sent to concentration camps because of it. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazis. Hitler became chancellor and president of Germany and sought out destroy ever last Jew including the Blumenthal’s. The Blumenthal’s escaped two Holland and went to Westerbork. They were staying there until they could get their visas the leave for America. Two months before they were scheduled to leave the Nazis took over Westerbork. They were later moved to Bergen-Belsen. They were later freed and sent to a farm until the typhus was gone but before it was gone Water died from typhus. Once they left the farm they used their visas that they bought before the where captured to go to America. They lived in a small apartment with another family until they moved to Peoria, Illinois. This book is very good and descriptive. It described ever detail but some of the details weren’t very pleasant. They were about the smells of the dead bodies and how the dead bodies look and they were very descriptive but gruesome and nasty. Donovan Hatchett
Four Perfect Pebbles By Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl A realistic autobiography of a young girl **** Have you ever noticed that children always have a different perspective on things than you expected? I definitely have! As with the diary of Anne Frank, four perfect pebbles is the story of a young girl’s experience with the holocaust. Although, unlike Anne Frank, Marion Blumenthal writes of what happened inside the torture machines they call the concentration camps. This story was not written inside the camps, but later by a holocaust survivor. In summary, four perfect pebbles is the perspective of a young girl who survived the concentration camps. To begin, I will give you the basic run down of the plot. The book basically begins with her family living in the transit camp of Bergen-Belsen. It tells of her belief that if she found four perfect pebbles every day her family would be safe for at least that day. Then it goes to a flash back to the beginning of the Nazi revolution. The flash back goes to the Blumenthal family while they owned a shoe store and lived in Germany. The first piece of racism towards Jews was when Hitler encouraged people to boycott Jewish stores by stationing soldiers in front of all Jewish shop. In response, to the new coming racism they moved to a town near the border and they got themselves on the list to go to America. That is when the day of broken glass came. This event was characterized by the destruction of all Jewish businesses and the kidnapping of many Jewish men. They eventually got their dad back because he was on the emigration list. They then moved to Holland which was eventually taken over by Germany. Later on, they were going to be exchanged for captured soldiers, but their hopes were destroyed. Eventually they were put on the “death train” right before Russia took over the camp. They were eventually freed and let loose to take over unoccupied farm houses. They later moved to New York an then Illinois to recuperate. Now here comes the review which basically explains why I rated it four stars. To begin, I would like to point out the dark, realistic viewpoint at which they look at the holocaust. They don’t baby you at all. They will tell you every detail no matter how disturbing it is. Next, I would like to tell about the emotional experience that this book takes you through. When reading this book it’s almost like you are the young family going through such an excruciating moment in time. Every time their hopes rise and then fall again I feel like I could just cry. Lastly, I would congratulate the Blumenthal’s for making it through the hard times. I think it’s amazing how an interesting plot comes around so naturally in the world around us. In summary, Four Perfect Pebbles is an amazing book about a very young family surviving the holocaust together. It’s incredible that they could stay together the whole six years of mutual survival and all the sacrifices they made to help one another. I rated this book four star because it’s wonderfully written to tie into your emotions. Yet, I don’t think it is quite a five star book , but close to four and a Half. Overall, it’s superb and I will never forget about it. In conclusion, this book will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that you won’t want to get off of. I hope you read it.
Four Prefect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal-Lazan ***
The book was about a little girl named Marion and her family during the holocaust. Her family was moved to several different concentration camps during their lives. While Marion was younger she would think that if she finds four perfect pebbles that she and her family will live. That static worked for awhile until they'd found their way to America. The holocaust al happened by one powerful man, named Adolf Hitler. During the trips from one concentration camp to another she had met Anne Frank and her sister Margot Frank. Then suddenly everything changed. The whole book was about a family during Holocaust. One day while Marion and her mother was making soup to eat the guards can in for a surprise round, while trying to cover up what they were doing the boiling soup spilled all over Marion’s leg. While the pain kept growing she refused to scream up because she knew it would cause her and her family lives. The men and women were separated. While her and mothers were one on side of the camp her father and brother was on the other side. The Nazis killed so many Jews that they build mass graves everyday but still had to stack dead bodies upon dead bodies for room. Still until this day if you visit the camps and pick up a hand full of dirt there will still be bones from the dead people. Then camps were filled with many diseases. On her burn she would pick the lice of one by one and kill then with her fingers. Then when they did count they would be in the cold for hours at a time, so to prevent frostbite they would go back to their beds and urinate on their hands. So after awhile they got to America and by the time they arrived her father died of Typhus. Her leg did heal up and it i functioning great. Marion and her remaining family are still living to this day. I like that she didn't let the Holocaust didn't bring her down and that she sees the world and her life as a gift. I also liked that she was so vivid in the details. I didn’t like that the book was so short. That the world was so cruel and made out of arrogant people. In conclusion the book is a very heartbreaking and feeling novel. Review rating was three for me. The reason of that was because I had a lot more of dislikes than likes. Also the book overall was good so that is why I rated it as a 3
Four Perfect Pebbles, By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan A Review of a true holocaust story *** This is the book that I’m reviewing. And it’s called Four Perfect Pebbles. I actually like this book a lot because it tells the readers how their life was in the holocaust days. It’s kind of scary thinking back when you had to life and survive those terrible days. The Jews had to battle a lot of things in their life. Like getting sent away to a concentration camp with people that became very ill and had typhus. This disease was so deadly back then that it killed ten thousand Jews. There was a lot of women and young girls that had lice so the Nazi soldiers had to cut off their hair and lock it up in this one room. Like there was rooms filled with this one specific thing. Like there would be all the shoes of the Jews in one room. Marion Blumenthal was only nine years old when her and her whole family was captured and sent away to go concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen in north-western Germany. When Marion was there she was often starved and scared that she might go to the gas chamber. Concentration camp was a place where only Jews went to do hard labor for a long time, you’ll get starved to die literally and lice was everywhere you go and when the Nazi soldiers was done with you they would say time for a shower but really there were going into the gas chamber to die. If they were nice they would give you food but a really little amount. No one deserves this kind of treatment. Every time you would get sent to the concentration camps then you would suffer from typhus or get lice you would have to get you have chopped off so you don’t spread it. My opinion of this book is, I loved so much with all of the details in it and how it was a great example of a surviving a holocaust story! I loved how this book was called Four Perfect Pebbles because when the Nazi soldiers would let them take a break she would always play this game where she would have to find four pebbles that look all the same and she would count those perfect little pebbles as her family and if they are all the same she would think that all of her family that would make it out alive. Basically this book is based about on a true story where a family of four that is Jewish and was captured by the Nazi soldiers. They tried so hard to live a secret life but they found them. They had to leave behind a lot of treasures and values to them because they were Jewish. So they had to be taken to Concentration camp. And many times all four of them was starved to death and worked all day in the hot sun or in the cold rain. And when they thought it was enough for them, the Nazi Soldiers sent them all in a gas chamber and let them die. And every time Marion got a break of work she would try to find four perfect pebbles. And if she did than that meant that her and her family would make it out alive. I loved this book so much! It’s actually my favorite novel on trying to survive at concentration camp. I think I would definitely give this book a FIVE star rating because I loved everything in this book and I loved how and what it was based on! And I didn’t see anything wrong with this book! Desiree Williams 6/7
Caleb Miller, 6-7 Period Four Perfect Pebbles: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan “Four Perfect Pebbles; how this book changed me” **** Four Perfect Pebbles has probably had a greater effect on me than any other book I’ve ever read. The events of this book have implanted themselves into my mind and probably will never leave. I think it’s really special since it’s written by Marion herself, who actually endured these horrible times. The fact that she is so young made this book even sadder, but strangely a little more interesting. While reading it, I felt as though I was Marion, going through the torture and starvation. Four Perfect Pebbles is an autobiography that follows the horrid events of the Holocaust and World War 2, all through the eyes of a now 9 year old Marion. Marion and her mother, father, and brother, Albert, are taken to their first concentration camp in the year 1942. Throughout 3 years, they are transported into many different camps. The family must endure torture, starvation, and separation. Finally, in 1945, Bergen-Belsen (the camp they were currently in) was liberated by the British. They were loaded on a train called the Death Train, which got its name from all of the passengers that have died from Typhus. Later that year, their father, Walter Blumenthal passed away. The Death Train was liberated in late 1945, which forced the inhabitants to live on the countryside. Soon enough, the Blumenthals lived a normal life. One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the fact that it was written by one of the survivors. For me, that adds a sense of realism to it, which makes it more interesting to read and harder to put down. Basically, the only thing I really disliked about it is the fact that it’s about the Holocaust. I know it really happened, but I like to think it didn’t. I don’t do well with this kind of topic. I also liked that Marion is willing to go back and write about that dark period in her life. If it was me, I’d find it extremely hard to talk about. Albert and their mother don’t really talk about it, so I’m glad that this story is told by someone. In conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is a really good book about a really sad topic. I would recommend it to everyone.
Four perfect pebbles by: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Interesting story ****
World War II took place in Germany. It lasted 1939 to 1945 it involved other European countries and involving the United States. The leader of the Germany army and the Nazi party is Adolph Hitler. Him and the Nazi party started taking over other cities like Holland, Poland, Denmark, Czechoslovakia and lots of other cities. They had lots of camps concentration camps and death camps. The camp with the highest deaths was in Bergen-Belsen that is where Anne Frank and her sister Margo had died her sister died before her and she died three days after Margo had died. But there were some survivors in the camps like Marion Blumenthal and her mother Ruth Blumenthal and her brother Albert Blumenthal. But her father died of typhus but he had typhus over six weeks after the British rescued them when they were on the train on the way to another concentration camp. Typhus was a disease the killed over like two million Jews it was being spreaded by when Jews are in a train on the way to another camp and the doors are shut and people can't drink or eat and they stop so that they can dump out the bodies of the dead people that was already killed by typhus. Typhus is started by lice and the lice carry typhus so that was how typhus was spreaded and how many people it has killed.
The Germans took over half of Europe and Italy became their allies. They bombed the British and they tried to take over them but they wouldn't let them take them over. The date of when the Germans attacked United States was on December 7th, 1941. Then United States began the World War II. Then the war between Germans and United States took about five years until the United States was winning and then Hitler killed himself in his underground and hidden place he made and then United States won the war by dropping atomic bombs on China and Germany then they surrendered after they dropped seven bombs.
My evaluation is that this is a good review. The details are fantastic and it kind of describes some of the WWII.
I really loved this review and it was a great review. I loved the way he described the whole war and the rest of what happened on WWII.I loved the book on how it is in Marion’s point of view and the way she describe about how they were treating all of her family and the other Jews and about the dogs barking . My final review is I gave it four stars because I loved this review. I really loved the book to is was pretty horrifying and nasty but I still loved it.
Four perfect pebbles Marion Blumenthal lazan Best book ***** World war two took place in nineteen thirty nine in Germany and other European countries along with the United States. Along with other people Adolf Hitler was one of the main leaders of the Nazi party. Among the Jews and other people that were killed Anne frank and Margo frank died of typhus from lice bites and the spread of disease. At first the Jews were told they had to were stars to let people know they were Jewish but from there it got worse because the Jews were not allowed to have any one but from their business and stores because the guards would not let anyone through. All of the death camps were put there so the Jews were either locked up or killed in death camps or by disease on the train rides. Some of the names were very dramatically terrorizing along with the name of the train that took you too Auschwitz was the death train and it carried the typhus disease and many others in it. Most of the people did not even make it one day in the camps because of their already weakened bodies from the transit to these camps. The camps were so terrible because of the death rate of some of the camps. Auschwitz had one of the highest death camp rates with at least five thousand people dyeing each day.
The book was very sad but at the same time made very clear points. The book was wrote during the period of world war two and in a Nazi camp either death camp or a work camp whichever one Marion Blumenthal was in at the time. The mood she said the camps had were horrifying and very sad because the smell of dead bodies and the lice in the peoples hair. The train rides to these camps were very long and hard due to the fact that the lice would eat you up in the train. Then the allies came to save the Blumenthal’s along with other Jews and other denominations of religions the Nazis despised. The evaluation of this book is there are very many bad things but the good things out way the bad by some much because you could have them at one point almost die but them be saved be the allies and the bad things would be the death camp smell and the dead bodies will make you feel sick no matter how hard you think it is to get you sick.
The story was very sad and gloomy because the war was not helping the Jews until allies liberated the camps and got them out but even before that over six million Jews and other people were killed before anyone could even get on enemy soil. The Jews that died were not at all worthy of their deaths or their trapping. The mood for the Jews went from worse to better when the allies came over to enemy soil the Jews knew that before long they would be put out of these camps for ever. After the war the Jews could not go back to original life because of the rebuilding that needed to be done, and because of the bombing of churches, houses and stores that the Jews owned. My final review of the book would be that the book was a very good book and a lot of people that care in this world would fell so sorry and appreciate the things that they have more than the things that others have. Also people that did not care what happened to anyone but themselves would feel less of them and feel more towards others. And the people that had these things happen to them would feel more and more for the people that went through that. All and all the book was very good and a lot of people should read it.
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan An amazing, horrorific story seen through a little girl eyes. ****
Have ever heard of the Holocaust and the disgusting descriptions of the camps and the Jewish people? Well have you heard it from a nine year old girl? I know I have and it gives me the chills! It gives me the chills more than hearing creepy old ghost stories! I’m talking about the book called Four Perfect Pebbles. This story is about a nine year old and her family trying to survive while they are held in the concentration camps. This book was written by the nine year old girl, her name is Marion Blumenthal.
Marion and her family was a Jewish family that lived in Hoya but later moved to Hanover because they lost their house. At age three, Marion experienced the terrible day called Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass. That was the day when Nazi’s destroyed two hundred synagogues, eight thousand Jewish shops windows smashed, all their Torah scrolls and holy books burned. They killed ninety-one Jewish men from street violence and took more than thirty thousand Jewish men to concentration camps.
The Blumenthal’s had gotten passports to travel to America but realized that they were taken to a concentration camp. The guards at the camp called out names of families who would be leaving to America. The Blumenthal’s wasn’t called. The dad went to a guard and asked if they forgot to call out there name. Consequently, the guard yelled at him to get in line. The Blumenthal’s were stuck in different concentration camps all across Europe for several years. Finally on April 23, 1945, the Russians stopped the train the Blumenthal’s were on when they were sent to a death camp. The Jews were set free. Sadly, the father died from the lice that were passed around all through the train.
The good parts in this story were when the family was not in the concentration camps and living a good life. For example, at the end of the story, Marion meets her future husband at a church in Indiana. On the other hand, the bad parts were the sad parts in the story. For example, when they were taken into the concentration camps. Another example is when the father dies and Marion’s older brother Albert had to bury his own father.
In conclusion, this is a really good book that is told in a little girl’s point of view. This book gives me the chills when I read it because it’s horrible to be in a situation like that. I think a lot of people should read this book so they can an understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust.
Over all I give this book four stars. I give it four because it’s a very interesting book that’s all about the Holocaust told by a little girl. I think a lot of people should read this book.
For Perfect Pebbles Review Review for a True Holocaust story Lauren Brooks 6/7pd **** I would give the book 4 stars because it tells a true story of what happened to them. The Blumenthal’s were a real family in the life of a concentration camp. This is an ennobling story of the triumph of a human spirit seen through a child’s eyes. The writing in the book is direct, no rhetoric or explanation, and devastating. It’s often moving and horrifying. It is well spoken as if it was talking to you. Innocent people were put to death for no reason. There was some confusion in the story with the German language they used. I don’t like that it doesn’t tell you what they were saying in English when they would speak German. The book wasn’t long and it was disappointing not to hear the end of the story. I would give the book a 5 star if it was written by Marion Blumenthal but instead written by Lila Perl. The book has more of a documentary feel to it. Four Perfect Pebbles is a first person narration. It’s a family struggling to survive from this horrific time. After Reading Anne Frank and other accounts, this one does not carry the same emotional punch. It was still a sad story to read. Marion was a little girl who struggled to make it by. The whole family tried to stay together as one. Marion believed if she found the four pebbles that were identical to each other that they would survive the holocaust. This story was unbelievable to all the pain that they had suffered. After all these years she survived to be a free lady of the United States. She goes around telling about her life In the Holocaust, and I bet it’s even better than the book only because it was told by her. I could never place myself in her shoes. She is a strong independent woman. The book is a good book, but it isn’t a bad book. The book is an okay book to read but I wouldn’t say hey, this book will help you with your report. It’s more of a just to read about a family going through trouble. Anna Frank would have to be the best book by far. I hate to give it a low score because this is what really happened to her. It would be better to see her tell her perspective rather than read it. I would say go listen to her speech rather than read it. She will soon be gone but her speeches will never be forgotten. I only can say from other peoples experience to her speech. I hear that is amazing and breath taking and that’s something I will never experience. The holocaust is something that no human being would never want to be in. You can see how one human being can be so powerful and bring harm to the world. So now that I am finished I would have to say this book is a four star book.
Four Perfect Pebbles BY: Lila Pearl, Marion Blumenthal A Book that will sting your feels. *** (3 STARS)
This book takes a young girl, Marion, on a journey she will never forget. With disappointments and challenges at every turn, you will be both happy for Marion and feel bad for her. Marion was a young girl, trapped in the Nazi death trap. This book is of her adventure. The book starts out with Marion, inside one of the Nazi’s camp. There is not a very good description of the camp, but you can sense the evil in the air. You know of the bat that they are in trouble. It quickly bounces back to Marion’s mother telling stories, and so the book really picks up speed. We get Marion in her regular life, and you really get to realize her as the hero. And so, when they are sent to camp, Marion creates a game. If she can find 4 very similar pebbles every day at the Nazi camp, she believes her family of four will survive. It is her way being up-beat about the situation. I rated the book 3 stars, an average score. I had originally given it a 2, but I realized that the book has an amazing sense of heart and family. I would say the story is very eventful, delivering blow after blow to your heart. It is this powerful feel, this ability to make you feel so helpless, a horrible feeling inside for this girl, that makes this book as good as it is. I almost cried, twice. The description is outstanding at certain parts, but feels lacking at others. Overall, I finally decided 3 stars was the most fair overall rating. In conclusion, I think that this book delivered. It landed right in my heart, becoming a book I will never forget. I learned allot, also, about just how bad her and her family, along with so many others, were treated. Although it may not be the most enjoyable read, it is one you probably won’t forget either. The book had many good qualities, but also lacked slightly. It was touching, really, but I felt they could have done more for the story they had. Some parts of the book, like the very end, seemed to be compressed into only a piece of the book, when really they should have been longer. Although the description at some parts was excellent, it lacked at others and really tugs at your imagination for some back up. I would defiantly recommend this too a friend who is into history and core literature, but not someone who is into fiction allot.
Four Perfect Pebbles, By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Holocaust survivors share their story **** The book I am reviewing is called Four Perfect Pebbles, written by: Lila Perl, and Marion Blumenthal Lazan. I liked this book a lot but it was just too depressing. It was very sad because Marion talked about the many horrors of concentration camps, and just the Nazis themselves. The things that Adolf Hitler (the supreme leader of Germany during that time period) and his many followers said did and even wanted to happen were just sickening. Even though this book is so depressing if you want information this book is chocked full of it. I would suggest this book to a curious person or a teacher of a higher grade level (such as 7th grade up) to read and teach about its many horrors. I think this book has helped learn that you shouldn’t take what you have for granted. According to Marion, It all started the night of kristallnacht when her father was taken to Buchenwald for a long and painful eleven days. They fled to Holland where they would wait for there still-lacking visa to the United States of America. They lived in Rotterdam, Holland for about three months jumping from refugee camp to another. Soon after, they got an opportunity to move to Gouda, Holland where the parents would work while the kids stayed at the refugee camp for kids ages 8 to 15 they stayed there for the rest of the summer. Then they went to Westerbork which was a refugee camp for all ages. Westerbork was captured by Nazi soldiers and it became the first concentration camp. After awhile they were sent to Bergen-belson where they stayed until they were sent to the death train on their towards Germany, six days before Bergen- belson was liberated by the allies. After a few weeks the train was liberated by the Russians the sick were treated at a nearby base camp and the rest were quarantined at trobitz were they took the houses of Germans who fled in fear. I thought the book was great but it seemed a little too sad. If you are trying to learn about how the Jews lived in the holocaust then I would strongly recommend this book to you. It would be great for a teacher to read to his/her class like I mentioned before. This book is good and I believe that all people should read this book because it helps you learn that you should not take what you have for granted. It teaches about the holocaust and shows why the holocaust is such a big deal. It really was an eye-opener for me. I recommend this book and think everyone one should read it. It is such a good book that I learned from it. I’m not a very big reader but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I strongly recommend this book to any one over the age of ten years of age. If you are curious then this book will help.
Four Perfect Pebbles By Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan Review of Four Perfect Pebbles Stars (1-5) ****
This book starts out with the Blumenthal family living in Hoya Europe. Their father was a shoe salesman and their mom stayed home with the kids Marion and Albert. When the Nazis first turn hostile all they did was put mean and insulting signs about Jews. Then they guarded stores that Jews owned so that they didn’t get business. After that Nazis would start harming Jews possessions like in Kristallnacht. Once moving to Holland the family eventually got sent to a camp where they lived a good chunk of their life.
A few main points in this book would be the camps and cities that the Blumenthal’s lived in. They first were in Hoya were the kids were born and lived their young childhood. After the Nazis started to take over they moved to a port city in Holland named Rotterdam where they planned to take a boat to America. Once the family got captured they departed from the Westerbork railroad station directed to go to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. After they lived in Bergen-Belsen they were sent on the death train to go to Austswicht . After that the lived in a nearby village then moved back to Hoya for one last visit before moving to America and living with their cousins.
I liked the book but I didn’t love the book. It was a good autobiography about the Blumenthal’s and their life as a prisoner. I liked the history aspect of the book like learning the numerous dates about the war. That was pretty interesting. The parts of the book I didn’t like was that there was no fighting or heavy duty action. I get that it is about Marion but I like some action. It was a good informative book overall.
In the conclusion to this book, the Blumenthal’s started at Bergen-Belsen. It was a notorious concentration camp. The family stayed there for about seven years. It was horrible because of the lice and disease that sifted through the camp taking lives. Next they were put on a death train and six days after being on the train Bergen-Belsen was liberated. The Death Train was headed for Austswicht but it never made it because the Russians liberated the train setting them free.
My final review of Four Perfect Pebbles is three stars. I say three stars because it wasn’t my favorite book but I also don’t like biographies that much. I would only read them to get information on a particular subject. I liked the story and information of the war in this book. Overall I liked the book and it kept me interested.
Four Perfect Pebbles Four Perfect Pebbles; Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan **** Introduction: Four Perfect Pebbles is the memoir of Marion Blumenthal Lazan's experience as a child during the Holocaust. When Hitler rose to power, this young Jewish family, Marion, her father Walter, her mother Ruth and her brother Albert were stuck in Nazi Germany despite trying to escape. No one expected Hitler to rise to power in the 1920s but as his political message of Germany economic recovery and anti-Semitism caught on, they became concerned. When Hitler became Chancellor, discrimination against Jews began in earnest and the Blumenthals' family store was quickly boycotted, forcing Walter to sell his products to customers in the countryside. As the situation worsened, the Blumenthals wanted to leave Germany, but they could not abandon Marion's grandparents until they died. Thus the Blumenthals stayed in Germany until it was nearly too late to escape. They applied for visas to enter the United States but they were not granted permission to travel in time to save them.
PLOT SUMMARY: The Nazi’s are taking over everywhere from Germany, to Poland, and even Holland. Marion and her family happen to be Jewish and become caught in the web of hatred precipitated by Hitler. Every time a ray of hope shines, darkness returns to cover it. Despite the hardships of the many camps Marion spends her childhood in, she never gives up hoping that her family will one day be reunited and find freedom. Marion believes that if she can find four perfect (identical) pebbles – they will symbolize that her family can stay together no matter how trying the times. The family eventually made it to Holland where they lived in a refugee camp for a few years but when the Nazis, life quickly worsened occupied Holland. Their refugee camp turned into a transit camp that sent Jews and other minority groups to the death camps, including Westerbork in Holland. Eventually they were forced into the Bergen-Belsen death camp in Germany where they lived for two years, struggling to survive disease, starvation and murder. While the family remained alive, they were deeply traumatized. As Germany started to lose World War II, the Blumenthals were moved further in Germany and more and more Jews were killed. They were placed on a "death train" for two weeks before the Russians liberated them. Afterwards, they lived in the East German city of Trobitz, where they lived off of abandoned food and shelter. Confined there for several months due to a typhus epidemic, a third of the population of Jews died, along with Walter, Marion's father. Soon thereafter the remaining Blumenthals were released.
Evaluation: This story is about Marion and her family’s journey from Germany to Holland and back. One of the things that struck me in this book was that she was actually thinking about which one was worse: hunger or the cold. She decided the cold was worse because her stomach shrank after being hungry for so long. Can you imagine trying to decide which of these things were worse? Once she thought she saw a truck load of firewood at her camp-it was just a truck with dead bodies on it. At her time of liberation in 1945 Marion was 10 1/2 years old and weighed only 35 pounds. Her mom weighed 75 pounds. Some people even died after being liberated for overeating since their bodies weren’t used to it. 3 years later at the age of 13 1/2 Marion weighed 135 pounds. She had gained 100 pounds in 3 years because of her love for fatty food. This was another story that will exhaust your emotions.
Conclusion: Marion, Albert and Ruth returned to Holland where they waited for three years to acquire permission to emigrate to the United States. Moving several times in New York City, a Jewish organization responsible for Holocaust refugees sent them to Peoria, Illinois where Ruth, Albert and Marion gradually got on their feet emotionally and financially. In the end, they flourished, Albert and Marion married and Marion ended up with three children and five grandchildren. When the book was finished, Ruth was still alive and Marion had been speaking about her experiences during the Holocaust for fifteen years. Marion wrote the book with the help of writer Lila Perl. In the epilogue, they report that both Marion and Albert were able to return to their former homes in Germany and visit their father's grave.
REVIEW: This book is a riveting read. It provides a heart wrenching recollection of just how terrifying and uncertain life as a Jew in 1930s and 1940s was for many people. The survival of the Blumenthal family is miraculous yet still not untouched by tragedy. The accounts of living conditions in the camps are vividly detailed. This book would be a good accompaniment to any study of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and World War II. This book is a must read – because every student needs to know how dark the human soul can be and why they must learn to stand for the rights of others no matter how unpopular that may seem at the time. This book could be tied into the others about bullying – Hitler was the perfect example of a bully at full power.
By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan The Rough Holocaust ***** The holocaust is where the Nazis and the jews got into a big war and the Nazis would take the jews to a consentraition camp and kill them by gasing them to death. Sometimes even beating them to death.
This story was a description of how it was back during the times of The Holocaust. This shows how Jewish people were treated by the Nazis it just wasn’t fair and they couldn’t fight back or they would get beat up or get killed. Most died from typhus and starvation.
I love the way that they used a lot of detail on what it looked and smelled like I mean I could imagine it I would hate that I feel bad for the people who had to go through all that. I am happy for the ones that got out of there alive but feel sad for the ones who lost loved ones and the ones who died because they probably didn’t deserve it. I also love the fact that they used pictures so we could also get a feeling of what it was like for them there.
In conclusion, the holocaust was a terrible time for adults and children that were jewish because they were abused if they were to do something that the Nazis didn’t like. Most of them were sent to consentration camp and were killed or died from typhus or starvation which was just so terrible and unfair for them. by bobbi uphold 6/7th period
Introduction: Have you ever red the book “Four Perfect Pebbles"? It is a scary story of a family making their way through the Holocaust. The Blumenthals have survived except for the father who died of typhus. Albert was Marions brother who was smart boy his
The setting of the story is in a small town named Hoya. It is located in the north of Germany. The Blumenthal’s lived in Hoya for their most of there life until the Holocaust was put in action. When this horrible event was put in to motion lots where killed by the SS police of the Nazis. The Nazis were the group of soldiers that were ruled by a hanious man named Adolf Hitler. This man brought anyone he thought was different. He tortured them for years He put them in small bunks stacked three high that were only supposed to hold 3. Instead of grouping them in tree, he put up to six people sometimes Can you imagine living in the smallest space like that and let alone possibly having strangers with you. after they were abducted in Netherlands they were sent to Westerberg in Holland. Westerberg is what is known as a refugee camp. The crazed man, Adolf Hitler made three types of camps. A refugee camp is where he sent anybody from Jews to homosexuals to be traded to the next kind of camp, a concentration camp. . In a concentration camp, Hitler would make them work all day long! He is basically making them all slaves but the only difference is that he is making them work for no reason, The other type of camp was a death camp. They would be put in gas chambers and the deadly gas in them would kill them. They would also line them up in a row shoot them and bury them it was as simple as that for them. Bergen Billson was a concentration camp! They lived in there for three years and later on entered the terrifying death train. They were on this train because it was taking them to the death camp they were all afraid of going to, Auschwitz. When they got to Auschwitz they were going to be put in a gas chamber to die but the Russian soldiers saved them. They liberated the train after being on it for two weeks! After they were liberated they got on the boat and sailed to America. They were finally where they had longed to be after six years. They lived in New York City for about three years in before a Jewish organization moved them to Peoria, Illinois. They lived a long and happy life there and that is where they ended up living until Marion got married.
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Title and Author: Four Perfect Pebbles; Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Title of Review: Nate’s Naughty and Nice List
Number of Stars (1-5)-****
Introduction: Have you ever read the book “Four Perfect Pebbles"? It is a tragically story of a family of four making their way through the deep depths of the Holocaust. The Blumenthal family survived except for the father who died of the menacing disease of typhus. There was Marion, who was the youngest at the time. Albert was Maroons brother who was a very wise boy for being the age. In the camps sometimes he was the person to keep them alive by getting the family the necessity of an extra ratio food by trading tobacco for it. Ruth and Walter were the parents of the two astonishingly bright children. As mentioned earlier Walter does eventually die from typhus but he went out with a "bang!" He got the family each a ticket on a boat to go to the land of the free! The United States of America! Ruth was a quiet lady and didn't speak much. Through the entire book I roughly heard her speak 30 times but anyways if you read below you will find how it all actually went down!
Description and summary of main points: The setting of the story starts off in a small town called Hoya. It is located in northern Germany and has history built in! The Blumenthal’s lived in Hoya for their whole life until the Holocaust came along. When this more than tragic event started the Blumenthal’s fled to the Netherlands to sail to America. In Netherlands they were abducted by the SS police of the Nazis. The Nazis were the group of soldiers that were ruled by a cruel man named Adolf Hitler. This man brought anyone in that he thought was different. He tortured them for years! He put them in small bunks stacked three high that were only supposed to hold 3. Instead of grouping them in tree, he put up to six people sometimes! Can you imagine living in the smallest space like that and let alone possibly having strangers with you! It sickens me to think that someone could be so cruel. Now, back to the setting, after they were abducted in Netherlands they were sent to Westerberg in Holland. Westerberg is what is known as a refugee camp. The devilish man, Adolf Hitler made three types of camps. A refugee camp is where he sent anybody from Jews to homosexuals to be traded to the next kind of camp, a concentration camp. These terrifying thoughts about going to a concentration camp makes me want to cry. In a concentration camp, Hitler would make them work all day long! He is basically making them all slaves but the only difference is that he is making them work for no reason, not for his own needs! The other type of camp was a death camp! The death camps would do exactly what they say, and that means they killed people. They would be put in gas chambers and the deadly gas in them would kill them. They would also line them up in a row shoot them and bury them it was as simple as that for them. So as I said earlier, they started out in the refugee camp Westerberg and later on were moved to Bergen-Billson. Bergen Billson was a concentration camp! They lived in there for three years and later on entered the terrifying death train. They were on this train because it was taking them to the death camp they were all afraid of going to, Auschwitz. When they got to Auschwitz they were going to be put in a gas chamber to die but the Russian soldiers saved them. They liberated the train after being on it for two weeks! After they were liberated they got on the boat and sailed to America. They were finally where they had longed to be after six years. They lived in New York City for about three years in before a Jewish organization moved them to Peoria, Illinois. They lived a long and happy life there and that is where they ended up living until Marion got married. When Marion got married she moved back to New York City and is still living happily there to
this day.
Continuation of above......
Evaluation: There were many things I did like about the book such as the pictures and the choice of grammar but there are a few things I disliked. I did not like how the end of the book went by so fast. They had so much detail about the Holocaust and then in the end when they moved to the USA, they just rushed through it.
Conclusion: Well as you can see the life of the Blumenthal’s was not very, well, lovely but they made it work. They were always looking for hope and they found in eventually. The thing I can't believe is that this all really happened. That someone really ruled Europe and killed that many people. I can't stand someone like that and as a matter of fact, who could. I hope nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again.
Final Review: All in all I have to give this book a tremendous review. Even though the ending wasn’t put in a more understandable way I loved reading this story. I will say one thing; it was defiantly a page turner! If there were more books like thins, reading would not be a problem!
Four Perfect pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
My Book Review
***
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place Germany during World War II. At the time, Adolf Hitler was in power. The Blumenthal family had left Germany for Holland, but the Nazis caught them. It also takes place in a concentration camp named Bergen-Belsen from February 1944, to April 1945.This is a story of a family. A little girl named Marion, her older brother Albert, and their parents.
The main point of this story was to portray the horror of all of these terrible events that were going on while Hitler was still in his power. The reason why this was the main point was because the author wanted everyone to experience how she was feeling. The story is told in Marion’s point of view, making it easier to understand what was going on.
One of the strong points in the book is the fact that it is told in first person. Everything is just so much more understandable when you can sort of feel what the main character is feeling. It is actually told from Marion’s point of view, and Marion was actually in the Holocaust. I can’t really think of anything that I didn’t like about the book because I kind of enjoyed it. The book showed a lot of pictures from that period of time, which made you feel sympathy for those who weren’t very lucky to make it out alive.
So in conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is a book that has inspired lots of people around the world to never lose hope, and to believe in yourself and the people you love. I think that this book has helped me to put faith in others. I like the story that it tells and everything in between. Many people died in the holocaust, which is sad, but the people who survived are strong. No one deserves to be treated like this and I hope it doesn't happen again.
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in learning about the Holocaust and those who would like to experience the concentration camps without going to Germany.
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Perfect Pebbles Review
****
Introduction
Marion is telling the story in her point of view. She is Jewish. She has a bother and a mom and dad. She lives in Germany. It is where the war starts. Hitler becomes in control of everything because the chancellor dies. He starts making rules that effect Jewish people. Jewish people can’t own stores. They are blowing up synagogues and they are putting Jews in work camps. They decide to leave Germany and go to Holland. Try to put together a Visa there to get to America.
Description and Summary of Main Points
They move to Holland to get away from Hitler. They don’t get the Visa ready in time and Holland gets taken over. The Germans find them and take them to Bergen-Belsen. It is a pretty bad camp. They got fed rarely. Marion found four perfect pebbles every day to keep them alive. They wanted to avoid being on a train because one could take them to Auschwitz. The got put on a train to Auschwitz eventually. Five days after getting on the train. Bergen-Belsen was liberated. The Russians liberated the train they were on later. They were told to go to Trobitz. They found a house with food and water there. The dad had Typhus and died. Marion’s brother Albert buried him. Then eventually they made it to America. They survived the Nazis.
Evaluation
I think the book was good. She really told her feelings. The good part was how she described the experience. I felt like I was there. The bad part is that there isn’t any suspense or climax easily noticed. It was a good book overall. There was good detail and Marion explained everything very well. I think it is more of a book for adults though.
Conclusion
I liked the book, but I like to feel suspense. It had a good storyline and I understood. Marion and her family lived happily ever after. In Conclusion, it was an ok book that I enjoyed.
Final Review
I gave it four stars because it was entertaining to hear about. It wasn’t my kind of book though. I wasn’t really a big fan of the Holocaust. It was a good book.
-Jacob Branch
Four Perfect Pebbles By Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Holocaust Review
****
The Holocaust was a time period when Adolf Hitler was in charge of Germany’s economy and army. He created a social group named the Nazis and took over half of Europe with Italy and Japan. Originally United States was going to stay out of it but then on December seventh 1941 Japan almost wiped out the United State’s navy. Many Americans were killed. So when that happened United States created WWII and joined up with Great Brittan, and Russia, but before this happen the holocaust took place!
To be more descriptive, the holocaust went on for 15 to 16 years. This put the Jewish people in to a depression. They were no longer allowed to buy or sell anything from the true Germans. The Blumenthals were one of those families affected. Marion’s Grandparents have owned a shoe store for at least 15 years and when this happens they go out of business and don’t have food to buy because they have no money.
The reason Hitler got the German prime minister to elect him as commander in chief is because after the loss of WWII they had no one to turn too. Out of desperation they allowed him to come into charge. A few years after being elected as commander in chief in 1933 the prime minister passed away and Hitler then became prime minister as well. Then he created the Nazis and started making concentration camps. Then, shortly after he started making death camps and before you knew it he was killing everyone and making people do work for free with very little to eat or drink. Most families tried invading into other countries but before they could they were killed or captured and taken to the camps. Hitler’s plan was to turn everyone against the Jews so that they could have a pure bred German economy. The Holocaust is still the biggest racist event ever recorded!
In conclusion, America sailed over into the English Channel and started making their way into Germany. Mean while Germany was trying to take over all of Europe with Italy moving up to join, but unfortunately when they tried taking over Russia they were stopped by the Soviet Union. By that time America and Brittan had already made almost made it all the way across Germany taking out concentration and deaths camps freeing Jews, gays, and Gypsies. Unfortunately, over 5 million lives were taken during this event, and all of Germany went into a bigger depression than they were before. Something that bothered many people was; before United States reached Hitler he shot himself in and underground barrier. So all along Hitler wasn’t they strong person everyone though he was. In the end Russia, Brittan, and America won WWII.
My personal review of this book is defiantly four out of five stars. It is a very good book with lots of detail and pictures.
Elijah Cunningham 4th and 5th
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Four Perfect Pebbles Review ***
Four Perfect Pebbles is about a young girl and her family during the Holocaust. They weren’t taken by the Nazis to concentration and death camps. Marion talks about how at the camps the lice were absolutely terrible. She had to pick them out of her hair and off her skin. It was an awful experience that she had to go through. It’s amazing she is even alive.
The book Four Perfect Pebbles is a memoir of Marion Blumenthal’s horrible experience as a child. For 6 years Hitler and the Nazis stole many Jewish children’s childhood from them. Marion and her family wanted to sneak out of Germany but couldn’t until the grandparents died. They felt like they would be helpless if the left them. When Hitler became in power all conditions worsened for Jews. They were totally and completely helpless.
For the Blumenthal’s during the holocaust it was very hard. For any Jewish male or female it would. It felt like everyone was against them. They were being discriminated in their own country where they belonged. The Blumenthal’s knew they had to take what was coming at them because they didn’t have a choice and they had hope, they knew help was going to come if not now then soon.
Marion and her family for six years or less was held captive by Nazis. They had absolutely no freedom. The camp that they were at was not sanitary at all! They all had lice, had a very distinctive odor, and lost a lot of weight because they weren’t even fed. As usual, at the end of every story is a happy ending. Marion turned out fine she is married and has a steady job, Albert was never married and their mom turned out okay too. The dad a few weeks after liberation died because of typhus.
I gave this book, “Four Perfect Pebbles” 3 stars because I really didn’t get into it. It’s a very sad book to read because your reading someone’s true experiences that happened to them. Some parts made me want to put the book down and start crying because it was horrific of what these innocent people are going through. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to read more about the Holocaust.
-Kyzhay Cox 4/5th period
Four perfect pebbles by lila perl and marion Blumenthal lazon
My Book Review
***
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place in Germany during World War 2 on june 10 1938 . This is the story of a family-a mother and father and there two young children who became trapped in hitlers Germany. They managed eventually to leave that country for Holland,where they were soon again caught in the Nazis web, and their situation grew even more serious. For in the final years of World War 2, when the Holocaust reached of the Blumenthal family were returned to Germany. During their ordeal, lasting six and a half years, the Blumenthals lived in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious concentration camp of Bergen-Belson in Germany. Bergen-Belsen was the camp to which Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were transported to the concentration camp in october
The main point of the story was depressing poetry the upsetting sad horror of all the terrrible moments where happening cause of Adolf Hitler. And this was the main point cause everyone should feel how they felt. Also they told the story in Marion’s piont of view so u could undersant it easier.
Well i'd have to say the mood isa very depressing very upsetting to hard to bare to think about those poor inicent people didnt deserve any of that to be torn from your family and do slavery and starv thers just no way i could do that. After all of that has happened how could you do all of that have the spirit to do any of that im sorry there is just no way to survive that well there are survivers that have told stories about them and the people around them and what was happing to everyon and the cocentration camps. Just think of what Marion Blumenthal lazan done to keep her hopes up this is what she said if i could find four perfecr pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape,it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and papa and i and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen.
So as conclusion, Four Perfect pebbles is a very inspiring book to alot of people another thing is that it remines you of all the people who had to go there and starve. But most of them had alot of spirit to survive all of that like Marion had alot of hope and faith in her and her family like when should look for Four Perfect Pebbles which she was right it worked but the sad part is that she would have to cheat to win so all together no of those people deserved any of that but that is the best story ever.
My final reviw has to be it’s a very sad book very depressing time for jews. Also it’s a very good book as a result and I love how all the good detail’s that make feel real so real you can almost smell and see whats going on.
gabe robinson
4-5
Four perfect pebbles by lila perl and marion Blumenthal lazon
My Book Review
***
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place in Germany during World War 2 on june 10 1938 . This is the story of a family-a mother and father and there two young children who became trapped in hitlers Germany. They managed eventually to leave that country for Holland,where they were soon again caught in the Nazis web, and their situation grew even more serious. For in the final years of World War 2, when the Holocaust reached of the Blumenthal family were returned to Germany. During their ordeal, lasting six and a half years, the Blumenthals lived in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious concentration camp of Bergen-Belson in Germany. Bergen-Belsen was the camp to which Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were transported to the concentration camp in october
The main point of the story was depressing poetry the upsetting sad horror of all the terrrible moments where happening cause of Adolf Hitler. And this was the main point cause everyone should feel how they felt. Also they told the story in Marion’s piont of view so u could undersant it easier.
Well i'd have to say the mood isa very depressing very upsetting to hard to bare to think about those poor inicent people didnt deserve any of that to be torn from your family and do slavery and starv thers just no way i could do that. After all of that has happened how could you do all of that have the spirit to do any of that im sorry there is just no way to survive that well there are survivers that have told stories about them and the people around them and what was happing to everyon and the cocentration camps. Just think of what Marion Blumenthal lazan done to keep her hopes up this is what she said if i could find four perfecr pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape,it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and papa and i and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen.
So as conclusion, Four Perfect pebbles is a very inspiring book to alot of people another thing is that it remines you of all the people who had to go there and starve. But most of them had alot of spirit to survive all of that like Marion had alot of hope and faith in her and her family like when should look for Four Perfect Pebbles which she was right it worked but the sad part is that she would have to cheat to win so all together no of those people deserved any of that but that is the best story ever.
My final reviw has to be it’s a very sad book very depressing time for jews. Also it’s a very good book as a result and I love how all the good detail’s that make feel real so real you can almost smell and see whats going on.
gabe robinson
4-5
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazah
A Holocaust Story
Number of stars: 4
A small Jewish family of four living in Germany was sent to a concentration camp along with many other Jews caught by the Nazis. The family was captured and taken there by the German soldiers because Hitler made the people of Germany believe that the Jews were the ones to blame for the loss of World War II. While being transferred by train to another camp the British soldiers came and freed all of the Jews. They had nothing after the Holocaust because their homes and bank accounts were ruined by the Nazis. Many died of sickness, starvation, or overeating once food was found. The British led the Jews to a small village where there were food and resting places. In the end, the family immigrated to New York, got jobs, learned English, and eventually grew up. \
During the story the Blumenthal family had to go through some very horrible tragedies. A big point in the story is when Marion, the main character, and her family get typhus and lice. In the middle of the book Marion and her mother were trying to make soup that they stole in the camp. The hot soup ended up spilling on Marion’s leg causing a wound that the Nazis would not treat. Marion then developed an infection and began to have lice eating at her infected sore. Marion’s father also ended up dying of typhus.
I really enjoyed most of the book but there were parts that mislead me. I didn’t understand why none of the Jews fought back. The book had very entertaining moments, like when Marion played the pebbles game to keep hope into her life. There were dull moments because the Holocaust was no fun at all. The Jewish people were treated so badly that it made some of the book too much to read. I liked the parts telling about the times Marion wanted to give up but didn’t. The ending of this book is the best part because it shows the strength beneath the smallest people.
In conclusion, I think this book is fantastic! It shows value and hope inside of a young girl who has to go through so much just to survive. I think that its even more amazing that Marion is still alive and gets to share her experiences with people all over the world. I think this book teaches you that anyone, no matter how small or advanced you are, anyone can overcome anything. I think that someone with a life that may not be going great right now should find this book and understand that they can get through anything. There are enough people killing themselves, but the people from the Holocaust who love to have lived to even have the choice. These Jews had to die and couldn’t live a normal live because they were forced to be tortured for believing in a different religion.
I personally would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an inspiring story to read. This book really gives you hope and lets you be sure that you can make it through anything.
Stephanie Allen, period: 4/5
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review of a lifetime
****
It is about a little girl and her family trying to survive the concentration camps of the Nazis. She and her family have to overcome many hardships such as not having food, no proper clothing nor shelter, and they suffered through many different types of illnesses.
The main point in the story is that Adolph Hitler was ordering his Nazis to kill all of the Jews because they weren’t the right kind. Most of the Jews tried to go to other countries but the Germans reached them before most of the Jews got out. Therefor they had set up camps to keep them as slaves or they would kill them instead.
I didn’t like how the Germans would take anybody that was Jewish and send them away to a camp. I also didn’t like that you would have to have blonde hair and blue eyes to be safe from the Germans but yet Adolph Hitler didn’t have blonde hair or blue eyes. What I did like is that the Blumenthals didn’t give up at the worst of times. They always stuck together no matter what the cost was.
In conclusion this was one of the worst things if not the worst thing that could happen to anybody. Nobody should have to go through something like that because that’s just not human. I’m surprised that anybody made it out alive after everything that they have been through. Seeing all of that should be enough to make someone go insane. This was probably the most racist thing I have ever heard. You should not be able to just control people like that without them being able to fight back.
I would recommend this to anybody that likes to read because it is absolutely amazing to see what people would do in times like this to see whether they would fight and not give up or to see if they would just give up and let them take control. I would also recommend this because it is very horrific and it shows what people will do if they want to get rid of someone or something. Austin Cole
Four Perfect Pebbles- Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Holocaust Story
*****
Introduction-
This story takes place in Germany from the 1930's to the 1940's. It moves on to multiple other places as well like Holland and New York. The story takes place over a period of time when Hitler took charge. He then made the Nazi army and put concentration, work, and execution camps into action. Also, he extinguished rights for Jews but that’s not the only thing that makes this story devastatingly real.
Description and Summary of Main Points-
This story is about devastation and hope; freedom and capture. One of the main points of this story is that Hitler takes power over the whole country making it a democracy. He then takes away the rights of the people who aren’t perfect enough for him but mainly Jews. He begins building up concentration, work, and execution camps. He starts capturing Jews and sending them there along with other not politically helpful groups like gypsies and homosexuals. Marion and her family get sent to the concentration camps Bergen-Belsen and Westerbork.
They got put on The Death Train and after two long gruesome weeks they were rescued by the Russian Army. They got sent to a nearby village and lived in the abandoned village until the quarantine they were under was lifted. The Father died there from typhus. They finally got sent home and three years later, were headed to New York and after that Peoria, Illinois. They lived there in protection and that is where Marion meet her husband.
Evaluate-
This book was really good because it makes you see it in your mind and you have to face the truth. It is absolutely tragic but it helps you get into the heads of the people who were abused by Hitler and the Nazi’s. It shows you not to take advantage of what you have because others are a lot less fortunate and it could be taken away from you at any moment. I don’t really think there is anything bad about this book except don’t let younger children read it. They might know of the Holocaust but it is one thing to know and another to actually understand what happened in detail.
Conclusion-
In conclusion, this story makes it that much more real that Hitler was a very evil man who some people might say was so evil because he was communicating with the devil himself. It a very good story and easy to get into but it is very heartbreaking.
Final Review-
I rated this book with five stars because I think it is a great way to learn about the Holocaust but it also isn’t just a boring article. You can comprehend it better and live it through the person.
Madi Cox- 4th and 5th
Four perfect pebbles
By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal
Rated: ****
The book four perfect pebbles was told in the first person. It is a true story about her experience in a concentration camp during the holocaust. The main character and also the author of the book had to to see and feel things that were never okay! Marion and her mother was separated from her brother and father. They were happy they were at a concentration camp and not a death came.
Marion and her family were at the concentration camp Bergen-Belson around the time the camp was infected with typhus. Many people were dying from typhus and also spreading it to new people who came. Bergen-Belson had a lot of dead bodies and nowhere to put them so they stacked them in huge piles all through the camp. As the bodies would decay the smell would get worse. The Blumenthal family was in many different camps through out their life. The ordeal for their family last six and a half years.
The family was aborted onto the so called death train. There were so many people squished into the train it was like a can of sardines. All the passengers on the train was on there for so long with no food or drinks, people were slowly dying. If you had to use the bathroom you had to use the bucket that was already overflowing all over everyone, if you were lucky enough to hold it the train driver would stop for breaks and you could go in the woods. The passengers on the train were set free by the Russians. The people that were set free were locked in a big barn with food and drinks. You could leave as soon as the war was over.
Once they were free to go the Blumenthal moved to Peoria, Illinois. The only thing was that they couldn’t have papa with them because he had died at the farmhouse from typhus. It was sad but they could at least be free now. They had many different things they would have to deal with living there. They look and act different from the rest of the people because they have shaved head and are emotional destroyed.
My final review of this story is that it is a very informational book about a survivor of the holocaust. If you are trying to learn about concentration camps I highly recommend this book to you. I have rated it four stars because it is very informational.
Paige King
4th/5th period
Four Perfect Pebbles
By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
My Review of Four Perfect Pebbles
****
First, the book Four Perfect Pebbles is a good book. Not good as in happy but interesting, the way she words everything and how she explains it like she’s still there. It makes people feel like they’re there and can see, hear, smell, and feel everything she got to. She makes everything feel so real. I think that this book was the first book I read that actually made me feel like I was right next to the person this was all happening to! It crazy how there I felt. I haven’t ever felt like I was going through something someone else did at the same time in a book. I’ve never felt like I was right there by their side the through the whole thing while I was reading a book.
Second, she thought if she found for of the same size and shaped pebbles that her whole family, her, her mother, her father, and her brother would all stay alive through even the Nazis’ attempt to kill every Jew in Europe. Even if all the pebbles didn’t look exactly a like she would still use them and think that they still looked exactly alike just so her family would stay alive. Even though she found all of her pebbles her family still didn’t all live. She was the only person who lived through everything because she believed it would all be over soon, she never thought otherwise. She never lost hope and that’s what kept her pushing through.
Next, honestly, the only part of the book I think was a good, happy part was when she got survived the camps. Everything else in the book was bad, sad, and very emotional. Especially when her family died and she didn’t have anyone when she got out, just herself. I know they didn’t die on purpose but it was really sad that she only had herself when she left. She tried to believe that her family would stay alive but she couldn’t stop the Germans. I think it was very bad and wrong for the Germans to go after all the Jews just because they weren’t German. They weren’t all the same so it wasn’t fair. Well at least not in my eyes, and if it was right in anyone else’s eyes, shame on them.
For conclusion, she went through so much stuff, suffered losing her family, starving, and dying very slowly but through all of that she still had hope she would live. She kept hope and she lived. Not just because she got lucky but also because she believed she would. She went with her own word and everyone else’s word. Which is really teaching me that no matter what everyone else believes in or whatever they say, I should always go with what I believe in and what I think it right. I need to believe in my word just like she did hers.
I would give this book five stars because it teaches you so much, it shows you that your life isn’t even close to as bad as theirs was. I do recommend this book for a lot of other classes. For everyone to read it so that they see that what we are going through isn’t anywhere close to as bad as everything they had to go through.
~Hayley Moss 4/5
Four Perfect Pebbles
By Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review
****
To begin with, this story was written by a woman that survived through the Holocaust, and her name is Marion Blumenthal Lazan. She, mother, father, and her brother, Albert, were all trying to hind and more likely escape this horror film. But, during Hitler’s reign, it was very impossible to escape Nazi Germany at the time. Plus, she was also part of the World War that was taking place between Germany, Italy, and Japan versus England, the US, and Russia.
Secondly, she was part of the Jewish people that were sent to Westerbork, a Jewish camp that was changed to the main transportation camp, before the Nazi’s found them and the camp. Plus, Marion and her family were sent to Bergen-Belsen after they have been entered into the transit camp. Marion was about 6 at the time of this part in their tragic lives. Also, her brother and she were picking out lice from their hair, which they did not want to cut. But, as time flew, it became worse and worse with the lice, and she had seen what will happen if you don’t cut your hair because most of the people there in Bergen-Belsen were dying from the disease of typhus. At the camp, her mother was able to sneak a pot and some water to make soup for their family in secret. But, Marion and her mother were interrupted from an unexpected visit from one of the Nazi soldiers. At that point, she got a severe third-degree burn down her leg from accidentally tipping the pot over. Then, her family was on a list for transportation to Persia, and was never sent because of the Russians coming in and they were all boarded to the only non-terminated train. That ride had lasted another six weeks on the train until it was terminated by Russians. After the termination, the Blumenthal’s were living in a small farm, but not all of them survived. Marion’s father passed away from the typhus disease. But, in April of 1948, the rest of the Blumenthal family made it to America. They were sent to Peoria, Illinois for jobs and a home.
For the Blumenthals, the Holocaust was very hard for them because they had lost many things. Their grandparents, their home, food, clothing, and even their father were only some things they had lost. To add on, they only had one thing left in them, hope.
To conclude, this is a very good story to read if you want to know about someone that had survived the Holocaust, or if you are into history too. Also, this is a good book to do a book report for English.
The reason that I gave this story four stars is that it is a pretty good book if you like to learn more about America’s and the world’s history.
~~Dylan Ozie 4/5~~
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review of a Lifetime
****
The Four Perfect Pebble is an amazing way to learn about how it was like to be a little kid and survive the Holocaust. Her whole family survived the actual Holocaust but the father died in the after effects of Typhus. The other people, Albert (brother), Marion (main character), and Lila (mother) ended up surviving and going to America and getting on with their lives sharing their story of confidence.
One of the main points in this story is when the Nazis were killing people because they were not the “right” kind of people or because you were gay or a gypsy. The right kind of a person was called Arian. You would have blonde hair with blue eyes. In that case, Hitler led his army to kill six and a half million people. They were burned, cut, starved, and let them die of diseases like Typhus. Another point is the fact to survive to not starve to death. This one of the biggest struggles, other than the confidence that you can make it out alive.
I thought this was an amazing novel! It gave amazing details coming from first hand encounters. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was extremely gory and gave very detailed ways of how they died and what they had to do and what they saw. I liked the way she gave details. They were very good on how they described everything.
All in all, the novel Four Perfect Pebbles was a very well put together book that most people can read if you have the stomach for the extreme details and the gore that the authors describe. The most terrible thing I think they did was if you were a woman that either was pregnant or had a baby, it was taken from them and then put into a giant pit of burning wood and the women watched the scream and struggle to survive in the fire.
My final review is for you to go pick up this book and read in your free time so you too can spread the words of Marion Blumenthal Lazan. That is exactly what she wants people to do so that something like the Holocaust never happens again and everyone can be safe and not falls for someone’s words like Adolph Hitler did to everyone in Germany. He formed one of the biggest armies ever to be in existence.
By John Oliver 4/5 period
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Holocaust Story
4 stars ****
In the beginning there was a small family of four. Their family was like every other family in Germany except they were Jewish. Ever since Germany lost the war Hitler was convincing everyone that the Jews were responsible for the lost of the war. Later people that weren’t Jewish were not allowed to buy or sell things to or from Jews. They later became trapped in Hitler’s Germany. All the people that supported Hitler were known as Nazi’s. The Nazi’s would march around gathering the Jews to get them to the different kind of camps. There were four different camps. A refugee camp, a transit camp, prison camp, and a concentration camp.
In many of these camps there were diseases. They also had to shave the prisoner’s heads because there were lice in the camps and the lice could give you Typhus. Almost all of the Jews in the camps were infected with the Typhus disease. When they were liberated all of the people that had the disease spread it from person to person. They later had to bury the dead so the disease didn’t spread even farther than what it already did. The Blumenthal family went through a lot of tragedies. They had to figure a way to survive the camps. And they did! They survived one of the camps for six and a half years.
I really enjoyed the book even though most of it was depressing and sad. One thing I did not understand though is why none of the Jews fought back. The book had entertaining moments, horrific moments, and many more sad tales to tell. Most of the Jewish people were treated so badly it was almost unbearable to read. The story also had dull moments because the Holocaust was no fun at all. I like when Marion and her family wanted to give up but didn’t and fought until they were set free. The ending was a good part of the story to because all the people got let free and became strong and will probably will not let anyone treat them like that again.
In conclusion, I think this book is great! It shows hope inside a small Jewish family that gets taken away from everything they own and everything they care about. I think it is very amazing that Marion is still alive and can share her experience with the world. It is one thing to tell and it is another to live it. I would be terrified to go through all they went through and I’m glad I didn’t have to. Later the dad unfortunately died of Typhus and they had to bury him in the back yard of the barn.
I suggest this book for everyone who loves horror and dullness at the same time. I suggest this because I think many people would be interested in it because I know I am. That is also why I gave it 4 stars because I am not into a lot of people dying.
Haley Johnson 4/5 period
Four Perfect Pebbles
By, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review
****
To begin with, this book is written by two survivors of the Holocaust. Their names are Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan, and they are mother and daughter. This story takes place in multiple places, but they begin their horrible journey in Hoya, Germany. This book is written to explain what the authors had to go through growing up as a Jewish citizen.
In this book it talks about the Holocaust. One of the biggest reasons on the Holocaust is because of a guy named Adolf Hitler. When Hitler rose to power this Jewish family was stuck in Nazi, Germany despite trying to escape. This began to take place in the 1920s and there wasn’t anyone expecting it. Hitler started to gain a lot of power towards himself. He was beginning to not just get a group of people to believe Jews were bad, but he was getting countries to turn against the Jews. When he became Chancellor discrimination towards Jews was the worst it had ever been. The Blumenthal’s family store was quickly boycotted, forcing Walter the father to sell his products to customers in the countryside. Things began to grow worse, but they could not leave Germany because of Marion’s grandparents until they passed away.
In my personal opinion the book was very well written it just lacked the ability to keep my attention. I often caught myself day dreaming, and not paying any attention at times. The best thing about this book is it being a based on a true story, and the authors being able to tell their real life experiences. It is a very good story for the most part. This book is one to definitely read if you’re interested in anything during the Holocaust. However the book did have it’s down side. Basically throughout this story it is about the same topic, and same group of people which might make it more difficult for younger readers to follow.
To conclude this, I would say this book is worth reading especially if you’re into history, and learning about peoples horrifying experiences. However if you tend to lose interest easy this probably isn’t the book for you.
My final review is this book is very well written, but maybe could’ve been written in more detail and in a different manner.
Kaycee Cox 4/5
Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Reviewing a sad but true story.
***
This story takes place in the beginning of WWII. Just before hitler came to power. If you're Jewish you and your family would be taken to a transportation, work, or death camps. there were millions of Jewish personnel. Starts in germany goes to amsterdam then to bergen-belsen, then to Poland. The family who survives travels the globe telling her story to kids in school
Marion was born in germany, 1934. Which was a horrible time to be a Jew. Her and her family would have to move somewhere else. This book is a very true and bitter survivors of the holocaust. They lived through the horrible times in Germany and the rest of the countries surrounding Germany. The Blumenthals had the chance to sail off to the United states to avoid the holocaust and WWII. But Ruth the mother refused to leave the grandparents behind because they refuse to leave their house.
Overall the story is sad and really hard to read and i will not recommended this book to anyone else. I do not like these kind of stories. I dislike these stories intensely. i give this book a 3 out of five stars because I think there were alot of missed points that could have been added.
I cant believe that Marion her brother, and mother, her father passed away from the typhes disease and the rest of her family has survived the holocaust and overall a good grade for this book.
Four Perfect Pebbles, By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Story of the Blumenthal Family
****
The story first takes place in Germany during World War II. The Blumenthal family was living in Hoya. Germany had lost the war and were mad. A guy named Hitler came and made Germans think that the reason they had lost was because of the Jews. Hitler thought that Jews, community, and gypsies weren’t worthy of existence. In 1929 the International Depression helped the Nazis come to power. Marion Blumenthal was living in Hoya with her family when these things started to happen and it affects her because she is Jewish.
The main plot of the story was to infer you on things that happened when Hitler came to power. Also to infer you about what happened to the family when these things started and what happened in the camps. It tells you about how the family was supposed to get out of Germany but never did and was stuck in Germany for 6 ½ years. You have to be strong in these kind of situations. The Blumenthals had faith and never gave up. They kept on pushing and never stopped.
I liked this book a lot. I learned a lot of things and in showed me a lot of things about the Holocaust that I didn’t know. I would have liked to see a movie about this book. I would want the next generation of kids to read this book. It will teach lots of things. A life lesson from this book is to have faith and hope. Things will happen in life but you have to keep faith and believe.
In conclusion, the Blumentahl family got through this and Marion got to tell this story. She taught people things and the experience is unforgettable. I know that she is happy that she got through everything. Her family is very strong people. I don’t think that I could have gotten through that.
This book is a good book. It teaches about the World War II and the Holocaust. I would like to meet Marion and ask her a lot about her experience. In the end Hitlewr was defeated and the Jews were free. They were no longer sepreated from other people. They were treated equally.
Nicholas Trotto, period:4/5
Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl
My Holocaust Book Review
***
The book Four Perfect Pebbles is about the Blumenthal’s experiences in the time of World War II. The family was one of the many Jewish families who were put in concentration camps, and treated like they were nothing. The author tells the story through her young eyes as a girl less than 10. It is another one of the great books written about the holocaust. This is my take on the book.
The book starts by telling a little bit of the back story before Marion’s family was revealed to the tortures of Adolf Hitler. It also talks about their desperate struggle to get out of Germany, and their attempts to escape Hitler’s wrath. It then goes on to describe what it was like to get forced into a harvest camp and how it affected the family. The Blumenthal’s go to at least three different concentration camps before they get on the train. Marion says how each concentration camp they went to was far worse than the first. Farther into the novel, Marion and her family are transported by “The Death Train”, as people call it, before they are finally liberated by soldiers and are finally able to escape to the U.S. The reason the book is titled Four Perfect Pebbles, is because of Marion’s superstition as a child. Every day she had to find four pebbles of nearly the exact same size, shape, and color, because she considered the pebbles the members of her family. She felt that if she didn’t find the four pebbles, then her family would be at risk.
I gave this book only three stars because I didn’t really prefer it. I felt s though the author rushed things in the book when she could have included many more details and experiences. The writing just didn’t suit my tastes well enough. It’s not that I disliked it, but I wouldn’t read it again. However, the view of the holocaust she used was a little interesting and I did enjoy that aspect.
To conclude, the book Four Perfect Pebbles is a straight view of the holocaust through the eyes of a young girl who was put through all of it at the start. Even though this book didn’t exactly leave me breathless, it was a nice gruesome read. The struggles described in this book are like nothing most normal people can understand. It’s hard to truly imagine what people went through during this time. If you have an interest with the holocaust or history, you should definitely consider reading this book.
All in all, it’s not a bad book. It just isn’t the type of writing that grasps my attention or keeps me from putting it down.
Tressa Floyd 6/7
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Terrible Life of the Blumenthal Family
Stars:****
This is the story of a Holocaust surviving Jewish family that was placed into concentration camps by Hitler and the Nazis. This family consisted of four members: Marion, the youngest, Albert, Marion’s brother, Ruth, Marion’s mother, and Walter Blumenthal, Marion’s father. They were sent to almost every corner of Europe to be placed in various camps. The Blumenthal family was tormented and treated like animals for approximately six and one half years until they were finally liberated by Russian Soldiers. The main character, Marion, and her brother Albert basically grew up having no privacy and were constantly being put to laborious tasks. Marion would also play a game where she would collect four identical pebbles and in her mind the four pebbles stood for each member of her family. If she found four identical pebbles, then each member of her family would be safe from illness and death.
The Blumenthal family was first placed into a transit camp in Westerberg, but was then sent to a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen where they were only fed a small ration of food a day and were forced to stand in what seemed like never ending roll calls. Things only got worse for the Blumenthal’s in Bergen-Belsen. Many of the people placed in the camps contracted typhus which was a disease spread from lice and caused death in a matter of days. Before they knew it most people had caught the disease and were very sick. After two years at Bergen-Belsen the Blumenthals were placed on a train and were sent away by the Nazis to hide them from the offending armies. They were on that train for many weeks before they were finally liberated by the Russians. The Blumenthals and many other Jewish families finally found shelter in a place called Trobitz, Germany. What the Blumenthals finally found out is that Walter had contracted typhus and later died after a few days of living there. A few months later Marion and her family made it to America and found their home in Peoria, Illinois.
Personally, I really enjoyed reading this story. It was very informative, but also had me on the edge of my seat as we were reading. This story really made me appreciate my life at home, and realize how cruel people can be. I was also informed that this very thing is taking place in North Korea! I cannot even fathom what life is like for so many innocent people over there. All in all I really like this book.
In conclusion, World War II was a very difficult time for the Blumenthals and so many other Jewish families. They were constantly struggling to stay alive and were provided no privacy for around six and a half years. Sadly everyone made it out alive except for Marion’s father Walter, who died from the disease typhus. In their struggle to get to America, they finally did and made a home in Peoria, Illinois, and found jobs to help them survive. Now Marion speaks all across the nation and informs people of this tragic event.
For my final review on this book I would definitely recommend it to someone who would be interested on this topic. This book really revealed how heartless people can be and how lucky we are as Americans. In the end I would definitely recommend this book to someone around my age that’s interested in these types of topics.
Isaac Swiger
1st Period
To begin with, Marion Blumenthal was at the age of thirteen when she arrived in Peoria, Illinois. This was after the tragedy of her family. They were all sent to concentration camps and bad things happened to them. But soon enough she had a good life. This is my review.
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book about a young girl and her family that were involved in the holocaust. Marion Blumenthal was very young when all of this happened. It was so devastating but she had always kept her hopes up that she was going to make it out alive. With that hope she did make it out alive with everyone but her father that died from a disease called typhus. When she had first came back from Bergen Belsen, she was placed in fourth grade with girls and boys that were at least four years younger than her. Marion was first taught the English language when she was thirteen. As soon as she was a sophomore in college a man had asked her out, and that was how she met her future husband.
There were some things in this book that I didn’t like and there were some things that I did like about this book. One reason that I liked this book is because I always think it’s cool to see how people’s lives were back in those days. The holocaust was a very long time ago and I would love to meet someone from that time period. It gets so fascinating. One reason why I didn’t like this book is because there is a lot to remember and take in. This is one of those books where you can’t just start it, then leave it, then come back to it again. It just confuses me that way. Its where you have to read it all in one session. Also I like the fact that it’s like a mystery you could say. Like you aren’t sure what’s going to happen next.
In conclusion, Marion Blumenthal has been a very strong women that has definitely been through a lot. She was born during the holocaust and soon wrote a book about her experience. I would have liked to meet her and have her tell me her story. She had her bad days at the concentration camps that no one could ever imagine. The holocaust was a tragic time and I don’t think that anyone could ever begin to explain what had happened.
To finish of the review, I would like to say that Marion Blumenthal was an amazing woman. She was brave and had a lot of hope. If I was born back then, I wouldn’t have had that much hope after I was sent to the camps. I wish she was still alive so I could just listen to how much she has taken in. Her own family grew to be large and Marion loved her kids so much. She was such a caring woman who lived a hard life. Four perfect Pebbles was an off the wall awesome book that I would read again.
Kassandra Willis 6/7 pd
Book title and author:
Four Perfect Pebbles
A Holocaust Story
Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazen
Title of Review:
The Life of the Blumenthals
Number of stars (1 to 5):
***
Introduction: To start things off, Four Perfect Pebbles is a true story about a young Jewish family. For six long and hard years, the Blumenthals were taken away by the Nazis because of their religion. They survived at Bergen-Belsen, with an insignificant amount of food to rely on. On a daily basis, they would get turnip soup and bread. That was the least thing to worry about. World War 2 was a very lamentable time in history. It started by Hitler taking over Germany. Considering he was now the prime minster and ruler of Germany, he successfully over-ruled the Jewish and made them penalized. When Jews were taken to camps, many were vetoed. One special woman, Marion Blumenthal Lazen, lived during that time, and she is now telling her story to people all around the world.
Description and summary of main points: In the wonderful book, Four Perfect Pebbles, Marion Blumenthal Lazen, Albert Blumenthal, Walter Blumenthal, and Ruth Blumenthal all suffered the defeat at many camps held by Adolf Hitler. The first camp they were taken to was Westerbork. The atmosphere there was atrocious for a young girl's eyes to witness. Decaying bodies were on the ground, rotting and smelling so that the fumes would run through your nose like a cheetah. The air was cold at night with the breeze of dead spirits roaming the camps. The chills ran down a person's leg, like a mouse hunting for cheese. When you thought there was nothing worse, the guards would take you to the gas chamber. You're eyes, nose, and mouths would bleed. You would scream for help, but no one would hear. It was like you were the only one there! The only reason Marion lived was because she had a special quote. It was," I have three pebbles that are the same. I always try to look for the fourth matching one. I know I am going to live that day because God wants me to find that fourth pebble." Out of all four family members, only one died. Marion’s father suffered defeat as the disease typhus spread, contaminating only him and others. Luckily, Marion lived through those horrific years and she could write this amazing book.
Evaluation: Four Perfect Pebbles is a wonderful, well-written book. I had various likes and dislikes in this book. To start things off, I liked how the book was in Marion’s first point of view. The second thing I liked about this book was it was very descriptive. The description of this book was so well-written that I could picture living through those years. My only dislike was that I’m sure there were more details that they could’ve written about; however, I’m sure the book would have been much longer
Conclusion: In conclusion, World War 2 was a very atrocious time in history and despondently the Blumenthals had to live through it. Luckily after the war, Marion, her mother, and Albert all were offered jobs. That helped them stay alive in the time. Even though the Blumenthals ha a terrible time, they are very lucky to be alive. Unfortunately, her father died during the move from camp to camp because of typhus.
Final Review: Four Perfect Pebbles is a delightful book and I would without a doubt recommend the book to my friends. This book shows the real conflict between the Jews and Hitler. It’s a very special book because it is written in a first person point of view and the writer is still alive, sharing her story.
Angela DeLorenzo 1/2 period
“Four Perfect Pebbles”
By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Stars: ****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a holocaust story about the Blumenthal family. Marion lived in a small part of Germany for the first four years of her life. The town was Hoya. It’s in the Northwestern part of Germany. Most of the story takes place in Europe. Marion and her family were captured by the Nazis. After they had been captured they were sent too many different concentration camps. There they suffered a lot of hunger, and sickness. Marion collected four pebbles every day. They were the exact same shape and size. The reason she did this is because each one of the pebbles represent her family members. She said every time she found four perfect pebbles there would be hope for her family.
Hitler was the leader and had a lot of power. Hitler felt like crippled or deformed people were not worthy of existence. He began his rein in 1933. In 1934 was the day Jews would never forget. Hitler became president. The first thing Hitler did was create the Nuremburg Laws which Jews and Germans could not get married. The most horrible days of all were September 1939. Nazis invaded Poland. Two days later France declared war. April 10, 1940, Nazis invaded Norway and Denmark. May 10-14, 1940, Nazis invaded Holland, Luxemburg, France. Hitler began to invade many countries. The concentration camps Hitler created were invested with lice. Many people died of Typhus. There was no medication, which means there was nothing they could do. On April 1945 the Nazis made a surprise visit to Marion, while they were making soup and Marion didn’t want them to find out so she poured hot soup on her leg so they wouldn’t find out. On April 15, 1945 The British liberated Bergen-Belson but they were not freed yet.
The pros of this book in my opinion are Marion and her family never gave up. Even though she had to fight her way through everything she managed to never give up. She was a survivor. The only thing I disliked about the book was Marion’s father passed away. This book shows the great determination and confidence that Marion Blumenthal had. I recommend Four Perfect Pebbles to everyone.
In conclusion, The Blumenthal family finally was in America. In June 1948 the family headed to Peoria, Illinois. They lived in an apartment with two families. Each person in the family had a job. Their life was going great! A year has passed and there family has improved. Marion had learned English and got a job. Marion met her future husband at the Synagogue. On August 2, 1953 Marion Blumenthal and Nathaniel Lazan got married in New York. Life now is great. Marion and her husband have two children and eight grandchildren.
Book Review: I highly recommend this book to people who like history. What I enjoyed about the book was the pictures.
Elizabeth Williams 1st/2nd period.
Four Perfect Pebbles Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review of Four Perfect Pebbles
4 stars
This story began at the end of the story. It started with Marion curled up in her mothers arms. There was the smell of dead bodies, and people barely being able to stand up. Marion had been living at a concentration camp for awhile now and she just wanted to be able to go back home. They all had to line up to take roll call and some of them were not there due to death over night or early morning. There bodies would be taken on stretchers and they would be burned or buried. Roll call could take a few minutes to a few hours.
The book is about a girl and her family who ended up in a concentration camp when they tried to get to America. While in the concentration camp the girl, Marion, thinks that if she finds four perfect pebbles or four that look the same that it would mean that the Nazi wouldn’t kill them on that day. Thus, she tried to find four similar pebbles every day. Well her family saw a lot of people die while she was there but her family was not one of them. They boarded two trains and the first train took them to another concentration camp. The second train ended up being the train in which sent them to freedom because when they boarded the second one the Nazi started losing and let them go.
I love the fact that she didn’t hind in the closet about what she went through. I love how she told us what was happening around and how she gave us details about the smell and the taste and what the burn felt like when she got burned by the soup. The part I dislike about the book is that of how sad it is. Like a little girl saw things that little girls should never see such as dead people and Nazi walking around with guns.
This story started with a young girl and her family looking to get out into America and instead she ended up in a concentration camp. Her family was devastated about the fact that they might die in a concentration camp. They went through a lot of stuff that we never will and they put up with a bunch of stuff that we will never have to put up with. The fact that they went that long with a bunch of Nazi people telling them what to do is amazing. I probably would have killed myself by the time they boarded the first train.
I think that this author is amazing for the fact that she wasn’t scared to tell her story. For she had gotten over what they had done to her and she was ready to tell her story. I hate the fact that the world believed Hitler when he put all the blame on the Jewish people. For the Jewish people things only got worse than they already were until Hitler’s plan started falling apart.
Quentin Davis 6/7th
Four Perfect Pebbles by: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Four Perfect Stars
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a holocaust story that takes place all over Europe. This book tells about the horrific story of the Blumenthal family. Hitler is the ruler of all the Nazis. He became ruler in 1933. The Nazis trapped almost every German in a death or concentration camp, including Marion, her mom and dad, and her brother, Albert. They were moved to different camps, and continued this for many years. Marion Blumenthal was a part of the holocaust for a long time, and began to make up games for her to play while trapped in the camps.
Every day, Marion would collect four pebbles that would look similar. If she found all four, her family would be okay. If she didn’t find all four, something bad would happen to her family. The Blumenthal family travels through Europe to various concentration camps and soon they start to hear about a terrible death camp called, Bergen-Belsen. The Blumenthal family suffers from sicknesses, such as Typhus, the disease that had killed millions of people at Bergen-Belsen. These prison camps isolated many children. Finally, April 15, 1945 the British liberated Bergen-Belsen, but they were not freed yet. The Blumenthal family became more week every day, and suffered from more diseases every day.
In Four Perfect Pebbles there were many things that I liked and disliked. I liked the pictures, because they helped me imagine the story more clearly. I also really liked how they explained the camps that they stayed in. Although the camps were terrible, they did a really good job at explaining them to the readers. The whole story is pretty much all about how Marion and her family traveled to different camps, so they talked a lot about diseases. That is probably the only thing that I disliked about the story.
In conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is about the Blumenthal family and the terrible trips to death and concentration camps. Marion and her family reach the end of this horrible time in their lives when Germany finally surrendered. They were moved by boat to America and continued their lives Peoria, Illinois. Marion’s mom became a house keeper, Marion became a launder and babysitter, and Albert cleaned the local jewelry store. Later on, Marion got married to a man named, Nathaniel and had 8 grandkids. This book is not only inspiring, but it’s a great story to tell.
I would definitely recommend Four Perfect Pebbles. Like I said, it’s very inspiring. It can really leave you with your jaw on the floor, because it’s unbelievable the things that they use to do to people. I give this book four out of five stars. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and learning new things about our past.
Emma Copley
1-2
Four Perfect Pebbles: a Holocaust Story by: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The 6 and ½ Year Ordeal
***
Introduction: The story was about the ordeal of the Blumenthal Family’s Ordeal during the Holocaust in the eyes of the nine year old young girl as the author. Her family ended up surviving the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. They were liberated on April, 23, 1945 by the forces of the Soviet Union. After, the Holocaust they immigrated to the United States. The book is titled Four Perfect Pebbles because she had a superstition that if she was able to find 4 pebbles with about the same size and shape she and her family would survive Bergen-Belsen.
Description and summary of main points: The events in this memoir take place in Germany, The Netherlands, and the United States. She was imprisoned in Westerbork (The Netherlands), and Bergen-Belsen (Germany). They were liberated and they immigrated to the United States. Then they moved to Peoria, Illinois. Her ordeal was Six and a Half years long.
Evaluation: Something I liked about her memoir was that she told many anecdotes about her experience at Bergen-Belsen. One of my favorite anecdotes that she told was her story about her mother scrapping together water, wood, a pot, a potato, and cabbage and made a makeshift soup. During this occurrence the Nazi’s had a surprise inspection and while hiding the evidence she ended up spilling the boiling water on Marion’s leg and Marion didn’t cry out because if she did she would have been killed that night. One thing I would have liked to see is basically picture what the concentration camp looked like so I could understand the novel better. I was not able to picture the concentration camp.
Conclusion: Her story would be very similar to Anne Franks if she would have survived the Holocaust. Her story was very inspiring and she showed perseverance throughout the novel. Life for her and her family was terrible when they were in Europe. When they immigrated to the United States everything about their lives became better and better. She then married and so did her brother. She is the true definition of a survivor.
Final Review: Her story has been read by millions and it has been part of school curriculum for grades 7 to 9. I would recommend anybody to read this book because she needs people to hear her story because we are the last generation it can be told to firsthand. That was her wish and her wish shall never die.
Hayden Moran 1-2 Period
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Story of the Blumenthal Family
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a story that took place during the Holocaust. Marion along with her family survived while being taken to many different camps. When they were taken to the various camps there were also various different treatments that took place at these camps. Most of the camps were concentration camps, including Bergan-Belson that they were at for a while. Millions of people died. As they arrived at the camps they were ordered to remove their shoes and place them in a pile with the rest of the other people’s shoes. The women and men both had to shave all the hair off of their heads also. Hitler was in charge of the Nazis at the time of the Holocaust. Also, he had killed over 6 million Jews!
The Blumenthal family was one of the many Jewish families that were taken to the various camps. They were one of the very lucky families. None of the family members of the Blumenthal family had died at the camps. People were put into gas chambers where they would no air to breathe so they would that they would die. It took 15 minutes to complete the killing in the chamber. Every day when Marion would go outside she would collect four pebble that were the same or close to being the same as the others. She made herself believe that if she found four perfect pebbles every day that her family would come out of the camp alive and together as one again. She would find a pebble for herself, her brother, her mother, and her father. When the trains came, Marion along with the rest of her family would all get on to one of the trains and be taken to a different camp. While they were one train there were lice everywhere because they had brought them with them from the camp that they had just left. The lice were carrying around a disease that they were also spreading to the passengers on the train. The lice were spreading typhus. A couple nights before Marion had spilt hot soup on her leg so she a a wound on her leg the she wasn’t able to keep clean and she couldn’t keep the lice out of it. While all this was happening Marion’s father had passed away. While the train was stopped Marion and her brother had to bury him beside the rail road tracks. After the Holocaust was over Marion, her mother, and brother went to live in Peoria, Illinois where all of them got jobs.
Personally, this was a pretty good book. There are many things I liked and disliked in this book. One of the things I really liked about this book was the pictured that allowed us to be able to see what things looked like then. Another thing that I liked about this book was all the detail that they had put in it and I was able to picture the things in my head as we were reading it.
In conclusion, this book is about the Blumenthal family who travels to many various death and concentration camps. They were one of the luckiest families that got sent to the camps because all of their family members made it out of the camp alive. Later, they took a boat to America where they lived in Peoria, Illinois where the whole family got jobs. Soon later Marion got married to a man named, Nathanial Lazan and had 8 grandchildren.
This is a book that I would recommend to someone else. It tells a great story about a family during the time of the Holocaust. The book also teaches many lessons such as, don’t take things for granted. I gave this book four out of five stars because it helped me learn more about the past history.
~Kayla Lough 1-2
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Horrific event in history.
****
A short story that impressed me greatly is Four Perfect Pebbles written by Marion Blumenthal Lazar and also Lila Perl. This story takes place during World War II. Although it is a very sad and depressing novel, it is deep and thought and creates multiple different pictures in your head. This story takes you on an exciting adventure back in time to when the Holocaust was in action. It creates such a clear picture in your mind that it almost feels as if you are there. One thing that it cannot create is the smell of the burning bodies. They are in Europe and forced to travel from camp to camp taking their chance on death. These camps were all put in place by the Nazis that were lead by Hitler. Hitler is a man that killed millions of Jewish people and only spared those who had blonde hair with blue eyes.
The atmosphere conveyed by the story is horrific. There were millions of dead bodies just lying around on the ground. To continue, to see your loved ones thrown into a human oven would be terrifying. To my dismay, they had multiple structures constructed specifically for the shoes and apparel of those on their way to death. Although many of them feared the reality of being executed by the notorious death camps, there was nothing they could do to stop this outrageous act influenced by Hitler. Throughout this entire story, the Blumenthal family was always at risk of dying.
During this story there were multiple occasions that I liked especially, and some I despised even thinking about. For example, I disliked reading about some of the vivid descriptions of the smells and sights of the dead bodies. This thought makes me sick and I can’t believe that this happened within the last one-hundred years. To continue, even though some of these things were unspeakable, it was fascinating to learn what life was like for the families and individuals at these different camps. Another thing I really enjoyed about the book was the pictures of some of the Blumenthal family members. These pictures also included burial sites of where the holocaust victims were set to peace. Finally, the last thing I didn’t like about the book is knowing how real this information is. Other than the reasons stated, I really liked this book. It had information that was unbelievable and hard too fathom.
Finally, the realization of this situation is surreal. To be in a rambunctious area like the one the Nazis created would make me wonder, what the point of life is. I do not know if I could possibly stand being practically captured and being surrounded by an electric fence. When they finally got set free, that feeling would be unreal. Many people on the train were discombobulated from the strong notorious scents that filled the air. The smell included the odors from peoples waste and sweat. I know I would have a difficult time taking in these scents and I know they would make me weary.
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend this book to someone interested in learning more about the Holocaust and hearing a horrific story about a young girl’s life during this era. This book kept my attention the entire time. I suggest that everyone who enjoys reading, to read this book.
By Josh Strand 1/2nd period.
Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A review of a true holocaust story
***
The book that I am reviewing is called Four Perfect Pebbles. It is a nice book, except for the fact that it is about holocaust. The part of the story I dislike is the whole fact that it is about holocaust and what happened to the people. It is scary to know that Hitler could do such a thing and that people supported him. This story is true coming from a person that has actually survived that period of time. She had been to concentration camps and transfer camps. Many of the people who went to those camps often died of typhus and other diseases. Just like many others Marion Blumenthal Lazan had sadly lost her father of the horrible disease typhus. Typhus is such a nasty disease to have because it is such a slow painful death.
Marion Blumenthal was only the age of nine when she and her family had been sent away into a concentration camp. She was at a concentration camp named Bergen-Belsen. That place was such a terrible place to be sent because hundreds even thousands of people died each day. You never knew if you going to live each day of your life. When Marion was at Bergen-Belsen she would often be freezing cold and starving. The horrible camps would only give the people only a certain amount of food each day. Everyone got the same amount of food, which was bad for bigger men and people. The men would receive a couple of cigarettes every couple of days, and since Marion’s father did not smoke he saved the cigarettes that he got. He then would trade those with men who did smoke to get food for him and his family. One time a guard risked his life and gave Marion’s’ brother a whole apple. Although he did not eat it all by himself, he split it up into many pieces and shared it with some of the other men and boys in that side of the place. After so long of being kept in a concentration camp, Marion’s family finally got to leave the camp to where they thought was good. They were supposed to be traded to go over in trade of German soldiers. Sadly, that never happened. Eventually after about six years Marion and her family got released, without her father. Her brother had to bury him alongside other men. Their father never got to return to freedom.
I think that the book was a good example of what the holocaust really was like. I do not however think that younger kids should hear this story yet. That is simply because it is just way to graphic and disgusting for them to be hearing or reading about. I think the story taught me a lot about what truly happened and how it happened. This book made me interested in studying more about the holocaust and what happened. It made me fascinated to know that there is still living people from the concentration camps. This book is a good way to show the power of persuasion because just one man, Hitler, started the whole thing about Jews and other people. I think the book is bad for certain people to read because it may cause them to cry or have a mental breakdown because that fact that it is so horrific. I gave this book three stars because it was a great book but I believe it could have been a little bit easier to understand. Some of the grammar was difficult to understand. I think that the pictures were great to look at to see what things were like.
To be continued…
~~Autumn Sorrels 6/7th period
Continued from above…
In conclusion, the Blumenthal’s had a very hard life once the holocaust began. That is because they were Jews and Hitler believed that those types of people should not live. Hitler killed millions of innocent people. The holocaust was a very hard period of time. Many people who got killed did not deserve to be killed. They deserved and equal chance at life just like the rest of the people who lived. Even though the Blumenthal’s did not have a very great life after it all started they made it work. They were a family and that’s all that mattered. Marion used her free time to see if she could collect four pebbles that were exactly alike. That is impossible, but she didn’t believe so. She thought if she found four alike pebbles every day, god would keep her and her family together another day. I think the book was a great way to learn and read. I made me want to keep on turning the page.
All in all, the book was harder to read for beginners because the grammar was more sophisticated and older. The book was written by one of the last generations of the holocaust survivors. I couldn’t imagine being able to write a book this much in detail about what live was like. She was a very brave woman for doing this. I gave the book three stars because it was a good book. I think that the book deserves more recognition though. If there were other books like this, I would definitely read them. It seems like it would teach me more about what happened. Also, the book was great for people who love reading about things that happened in the past.
~~Autumn Sorrels 6/7th period
Four Perfect Pebbles: Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
“The Perfection of Four Perfect Pebbles”
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is in my opinion a great read that can really change one’s look on life. This book is one that will leave an impression on you for years to come. The duo of Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan is one to be kept in the history books for many reasons. This book is one that is very special to me, since it really left a mark on me. Since it was a true story written by the person who experienced the gruesome ordeals, consequently it is extremely graphic. For this reason, it feels as if you are transported into the world portrayed in the novel, living all the terrible nightmares in it. This is a major part of why the book is amazing and one to be read over and over.
The memoir is an autobiography following the events of the Holocaust and World War 2 through the eyes of a 9 year old girl, Blumenthal, who is a Jew trying to avoid and escape the Nazis and the prejudice they bring to Germany and all the countries invaded by it. Along with her parents and brother, Albert, they attempt to escape Hitler’s reign of terror and make it to freedom. Through heartbreak, betrayal, devastation, and starvation the family still finds hope and survives the events of death and disaster. In the end 3 out of 4 family members make it to the freedom and liberty they yearned for in America, losing their father along the way.
It is perfectly detailed to recreate the horrors of being hunted down by the government. Another important part of this book that adds to the effect is the groups of pictures that show what the life was like for the Blumenthals and other Jewish families living in concentration camps. The pictures give a window to look through and see what the conditions for one living in a camp were like. The information provided by Marion along with the pictures and the detailed descriptions add up to a near amazing portrayal of the life of a Jew during the 1940’s.
The ending of the novel is my favorite part since it shows how the Blumenthals defied the odds and survived total extermination at the hands of the Nazis. By the end Marion and her mother and brother finally make it to America and earned the freedom to be who they are. Despite hardship and prejudice they make it and start a normal life. The finally have found happiness and I just love that.
All in all, the book is fantastic to read and one that I can't wait to read again. As I said before, the descriptions, pictures, and information given from Marion are what make this book one to be kept. Not only is it interesting, but it is fun to read! I wish there were more books like this one out there today.
-Spencer Dublin 6/7th
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
My Review on Four Perfect Pebbles- A Holocaust Story
****
INTRODUCTION
The book, Four Perfect Pebbles, takes place over the course of approximately six and a half years, from 1938-1945, during the time of the Holocaust. Everything started when Adolf Hitler, a cruel dictator, became the leader of Germany and established a group of loyal followers, the Nazis. Once Hitler took over as leader, he convinced his “favorite” kind of people to be prejudice against everyone else, including Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and many others. He also forced millions of people to live in horrific concentration camps under unimaginable conditions. Everyone there was expected to perform exhausting manual labors, and they were fed little to nothing. Not to mention, they killed hundreds of people per day! This book tells the story of a Jewish family, the Blumenthals, which consisted of Marion, the narrator of the book, her older brother, Albert, and their parents, Ruth and Walter Blumenthal, and their survival of the Holocaust.
DESCRIPTION AND SUMMARY OF MAIN POINTS
In the beginning, life is normal for the Blumenthals. That is, until Hitler comes to power. To start things off, on The Night of Broken Glass, the Nazis abducted many Jewish men, including Marion’s father, seized and destroyed all the Jews’ possessions, and shut down all of their businesses. Later, the Blumenthals were placed in a transit camp in Westerberg; afterwards, they’re sent to the notorious concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen. Once there, they were always fed little to nothing and forced to perform laborious tasks. In addition, the conditions they lived in were horrendous, and thousands of people were dying from the disease typhus, caused by out of control lice. After spending two years living in this nightmare, the Blumenthals were placed on the “Death Train” by the Nazis and traveled for weeks in an attempt to hide them from Germany’s enemy forces. Finally, the Blumenthals were freed by Russian soldiers, but Marion’s father had previously passed away from typhus. The remaining family members made the move to America and now live in Peoria, Illinois.
EVALUATION
For the most part, the story was interesting, but at times, it was difficult for me to stay engaged. I felt it stated too many facts and would sometimes venture away from the story. However, I really enjoyed the plot and how inspiring the story was, and the illustrations throughout the book helped me picture certain scenes better. I also liked how the story was told from Marion’s point of view because it made it easier to follow along and more enjoyable. Marion used great details to describe each situation and the sheer desperation she felt. Even though they were left with absolutely nothing and were treated like slaves, the family’s hope and positive attitude really touched my heart.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Holocaust was a terrible time, and hopefully nothing like it ever happens again. Millions of people died, and those who didn’t constantly struggled to stay alive. For six and a half years, the Blumenthal family, along with many others, were forced to live in horrific conditions and treated like slaves. However, they never lost hope and always had faith that things would get better. Their strong will and hope have really touched my heart.
FINAL REVIEW
Overall, the book, Four Perfect Pebbles was, for the most part, entertaining book with an amazing story behind it. Although it was sometimes hard to follow along, I really learned a lot from Marion and her hope throughout the book.
Kylie Bushko
6th period
Four Perfect Pebbles Written By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Childhood Memoir
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is the memoir of a girl that survived the Holocaust. It is an excellent read if you are interested in the Holocaust and the things that followed. Reading this book takes you back to Germany and other European countries before, after, and during the Holocaust and Hitler’s reign. How this little girl and her family was able to survive the life threatening sicknesses and torture is unbelievable. Enjoy this good read, as God gave this family a miracle, to survive. It has been awarded an ALA Notable Book, IRA Young Adults’ Choice, and many more. In this first person narration, experience the life as a Jew through the eyes of a little girl through these events.
There were many main points in this book. One of which I thought was a good one was when Marion always tried to collect four perfect pebbles because she thought that if she did, her family would be safe and be a whole. Another point is when the Russians finally liberate the death train that carries the Blumenthal family, and everyone receives food and medical treatment. Also, Marion’s father dying is a main point as well. In addition, there are many more, but over all, they all have very important roles to play in Marion’s and her family’s lives and survival.
Over all, I thought it was a pretty good book. It is a true story since it is a memoir, which makes it even more significant. But, in every book or memoir there are going to be positive and negative points. Positive periods in the memoir were when the Blumenthals found out that their payment to go to America is still accounted for, and when Marion found that she loved bubble gum. Negative periods of the memoir were when Marion and her family got sent back to Bergen-Belsen, and when Marion’s father died of Typhus. The photos that were included in the pages of the book told stories of their own. They gave you a different view of what life was like then for Marion’s family and other Jews.
In the final analysis, Four Perfect Pebbles is a memoir of a Jewish girl’s past. The memoir is about how Marion and her family survived the Holocaust and all the concentration camps. Even though her father died trying to make it back to the world, the family was ok. I even think that Marion wasn’t the one in the family that was most effected. I think that parents were, especially that father. This is because the parents had to watch their children suffer everyday in the concentration camps and not being able to do anything about it.
Final Review:
I gave this book four stars because I liked the book, but it would not be my choice if I were to choose. I liked how they included pictures in the book. I do wish they would have written a little more about Albert’s and Marion’s adult lives. Over all, it was a good book.
Madison Brotosky 6/7 period
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
My Personal View on Four Perfect Pebbles- A Holocaust Story
****
Introduction
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place over six and a half years during the Holocaust. The Holocaust began when a man named Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany and established his political party, the Nazis, into the government. Germany having lost the first World War and was suffering deeply in financial debt, grasped the opportunity to rise to power, and gave the people something to blame which was primarily those of the Jewish religion. The citizens of Germany quickly followed along with what he said and practically all Jewish people were being mistreated and stripped of their rights. Then as time progressed, Hitler started ordering the removal of all Jews from their homes and placement into concentration camps where he then killed millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and many others. These living conditions of these camps were absolutely horrible and the treatment people were put through was horrific. This book tells the story of Marion Blumenthal and her family and how they survived the Holocaust.
Description and Summary of Main Points
The story begins in Marion Blumenthal's hometown of Hoya, Germany during the start of Hitler’s rule over Germany. Marion, along with her brother Albert and her parents Ruth and Walter, were of the Jewish religion and because of this they along with millions of other Jewish people were forced to leave their homes and be held captive in camps. For many years, they endured staying in Germany with Marion's grandparents who could not leave the country as they wished but by the time they were able to finally go; their access to the U.S. was denied. Thereafter, they remained in the Westerbork Transit Center, originally a refugee center, for many years until they were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp which was one of the worst camps created during the war. Times were not easy for the Blumenthals and each day was a struggle to remain alive, but with a strong will and great determination, the family survived and stayed together. After another few years when they were finally free from the concentration camps, although sadly Walter passed away, they left for the United States and eventually settled down in Peoria, Illinois.
Evaluation
I felt that the story was very interesting, but for the majority of the book I couldn’t keep very engaged on what was going on. The story was very detailed and informing but it seemed to skip around periods of time and I’d feel like something was either missing or there was more than what needed to be there. The book made good use of the illustrations and pictures it had and those gave me a much clearer picture of certain things and provided a better understanding to aspects of the story for me. Marion described her experience very well and really explained how difficult it was for herself and her family.
Conclusion
To summarize, the Holocaust was a very tragic and dark point in the history of our world and hopefully nothing like this ever occurs again. For many years, the Blumenthals endured very harsh living conditions and were treated terribly but still, they never lost hope and had strong faith things would get better. Their will and courage really inspired me and I hope it did the same for others.
Final Review
All in all, Four Perfect Pebbles was an interesting and inspiring story that really tells a lot about what the Holocaust was truly like even though it was difficult to follow along with at some points.
-Max Stewart 6/7 Period
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Story that I will Never Forget
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a book that I guarantee will change your life once you read it. We have all heard stories of the Holocaust, but nothing like this one. This book is written by a Jewish woman who personally experienced the horrors of the Holocaust when she was a young girl. You will be amazed by this compelling story of a young Jewish girl and her family who endure life through the horrific concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. This story will definitely bring you to tears and make you realize how grateful you should be of your life.
Marion Blumenthal, her father, her mother, and her older brother had a normal life living in the town of Hoya, Germany on the third story of their family-owned business. All of this was soon to change when Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. He discriminated against Jewish people, and he wanted them all dead. He had his followers, the Nazis, capture any Jews and take them to concentration camps where they were punished. The Blumenthals tried to save themselves from this cruelty by moving to Holland, but it was not long until Hitler invaded there as well. Eventually, the Blumenthals were discovered as being Jewish and taken to a concentration camp known as Bergen-Belsen. There they suffered in horrible, disgusting living conditions for many years. Millions of people died living in camps like those, but the Blumenthals somehow managed to keep themselves alive and keep their family together.
Four Perfect Pebbles is a very wonderful story to read, but it is also a tear-jerker. Marion Blumenthal and her family face many hard times throughout this period of their lives that will make you realize how truly lucky you are. We have all heard of the Holocaust, but this book shows you the harsh reality of it through the eyes of a survivor. You will surely not forget this story.
Marion Blumenthal's story of her life as a Jewish girl during the Holocaust is definitely an emotional one. The Blumenthals have so much hope and positivity that more than likely played a big part in keeping them alive. At any time they could have given up and stopped fighting against Hitler and his Nazis, but none of them ever did. To anyone reading this, that is a huge reality shock because we often take our lives for granted and this book shows us how grateful we should be of our lives.
I gave this book four stars because it is an amazing story, but also extremely emotional, which some people don't like. The details and the pictures in the book are a little sad and gruesome. In other words, this book is very good, but possibly too harsh for some people.
Alli Crites
6/7 period
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Depressing Time
*****
To begin with, Four Perfect Pebbles was a very emotional book. There were a lot of unfair deaths, and horrible living environments. For example, the Blumenthal family as well as other families encountered things that no human being should encounter. They were piled into a box train that was crawling with diseases, stuffed in bunk beds that they shared with hundreds of other people, and suffered from starvation everyday just because they were a different religion from their “leader.” These events left families in despair.
The title of this book came from when Marion was young and was first placed in her first camp in Bergen-Belsen, she believed that if she collected four pebbles that looked exactly alike her family would not be harmed in any way for that day. Also, in 1943 the president Von Hindenburg died and Hitler became chancellor and the president of Germany. After he became president he passed a law that was called the Nuremberg Law, which meant all Jews were stripped off their citizenship. While the Blumenthal family was imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen the living quarters were so bad that an infestation of lice was very horrible during their stay, and as they traveled. Many died from the disease that the lice left on them as the insects bit the livings skin! Marion also said she remembered the piles of dead bodies, and the smell of burning flesh from those who weren’t able to last until the soldiers came to stop the torture.
I personally think this story is so upsetting. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like to actually be present during this time. By just reading about all of the struggles and horrors made me appreciate our freedom even more than I did before. All of those children didn’t even get to have a childhood, they were ordered around like slaves by the NATZ’s and lots of people were separated from own families… Some parts in this book were so out of proportion that I just couldn’t believe the things that these people had to go through on a day to day base, and suffer every day of their lives. One good thing out of this book was that no matter how tuff things got inside of the camp the Blumenthal family tried to never give up hope. They tried to stick together till the very end, and helped each other survive.
As you can see, Four Perfect Pebbles was a hard book to read. Every page felt as if it was tugging at your heart. Just the things the Jews had to go through were absolutely horrible. N human being should ever have to go through that type of torture.
Finally, I would recommend this book to anyone! It teaches you a lot about the Holocaust and its history. Therefore I gave this book five stars! I’ve learned a lot from this book, and I will never forget it’s contents.
Sydnee Boyles, 6-7th
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Title of Review: Keaton Linger’s Book Review
Number of stars: ****
Introduction: In Europe around 1939 a war started that brings memories to many people and sad feelings to new people to learn it. I will be writing about "The Four Perfect Pebbles". The setting was in Europe when World War II started with the Nazi's. Hitler controlled the Nazi's and stared a army. Hitler did not like the Jews so he began to kill them and send them to camps such as Prison, Concentration, and Death camps. He killed over six million by many ways. One of his worst camps was Auschwitz which if you were going there your life was going to end brutally.
Description and summary of main points: The mood in "Four Perfect Pebbles" is very sad and horrible. It's terribly sad to think of what all happened not to even imagine the mood of people in Europe and in camps. I don’t think I could mentally survive in the camps but the Blumenthal’s did. Waking up to dead bodies around you and eating nasty food. I don’t feel that I could wake up to this like Marion did each day seeing people die and get burned on a daily bases.
Evaluation: I think this book was great. It kept my attention the whole time and was very interesting. Many people who are new to this and help them learn in the eye of someone. I think anyone should read this book and I advise to read it to understand how it was back when we were not alive. Although listening to what happened then can make you sick of thinking how it would be for you and your family.
Conclusion: The topic on "Four Perfect Pebbles" is very interesting and terrible to think of. When Hitler's power increased the Blumenthal family was trapped in Germany with nowhere to go. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was taken over by the Nazis. The Blumenthal’s been forced to live in many camps and had a bad life but Marion still survived and is still positive to this day.
Your Final Review: Overall this book is amazing it is filled with so much information and puts you in someone’s eyes from back during the holocaust. The horrible things that happened makes you feel so thankful for who you are now and the people protecting you from harm like the holocaust and wars. Although you should already know about the holocaust that way this just shows a first person story in the holocaust.
Four Perfect Pebbles Marion Blumenthal
****
Four Perfect Pebbles takes place in the 1930s to 1950s. Marion Blumenthal is the author of Four Perfect Pebbles. The book is about the Blumenthal’s will power to escape and survive the holocaust.
The summary of the main points would be hope and survival. Her Family was shuffled around all kinds off concentration camps with all these diseases and sick people. They starved and watched people pass away, be burned, and a lot of other things. But they still had hope. They starved, was dehydrated, sick, cold, and sad but they still survived.
The Blumenthal’s were shuffled around camps and was starved and open to all kinds of diseases. The Blumenthal family faced a lot of stuff they had to overcome but maybe the worse would be riding on a train where you know you’re going to die when you arrive at the location. Or maybe the train was the best part because the Russians freed the train.
In conclusion the Blumenthal’s faced a lot of bad things but in the end the survived and never gave up. In all it was probably hard and they did want to give up some points in time but they didn’t.
Kevin Brewer
1-2
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Pear and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Courage Saves Lives
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a story about a family that survived the Holocaust. They were in concentration camps all over Poland. The Blumenthal family was in these camps for 6 ½ years. Disease was everywhere and if you didn’t already have Typhus you were going to catch it soon. It’s extordinary that they survived after so many years.
The Blumenthal family was first sent to a transit camp. They went to a camp called “Bergen- Belson.” There, they were fed a chunk of bread. The prisoners traded cigarettes to get extra rations. At this camp Marion would try to find 4 perfect pebbles. This represented a pebble for each one of her family members. Marion believed that if she could find four perfect pebbles her family would survive another day. It was Marion’s courage that helped her stay alive. Marion’s strength and courage showed greatly when her mother was trying to make soup and a German soldier came in. Her mother quickly had to get rid of the boiling water and when she did some of the water spilled on Marion’s leg. Marion did not make one sound because she knew that if she did she, and her mother would be killed. After this happened, the family was put on “the dealth train”. It was called this because most people did not survive the train due to disease. It was packed tight with more people than the train car could hold. Lice were everywhere which caused Typhus (a deadly disease). The passengers were given a chunk of bread to last those eight days and there was dead bodies everywhere. During this awful train ride the war was coming to an end. The Russian soldiers rescued them and told them there was houses in live in with food. In May 1945 the Blumenthal’s came to America to start over. They live a normal life now and Marion goes all around the world to tell her story.
I personally liked this book. Although it was hard to read at times, I still learned a lot more about the Holocaust. The family was very close which I admire. They would always try to meet and the son would try to get extra food. The mom and daughter stuck together through everything. It made me appreciate my mother more. Marion was just a little girl with courage that helped her stay alive. This also helped her family stay alive. This book is both sad but also inspirational.
In conclusion, this book is about a family that survived concentration camps. The family went through a lot of hard ships. The Blumenthal family was in and out of different concentration camps for 6 ½ years. The young daughter, Marion, believed that if she could find four perfect pebbles then her family would survive another day. It was her courage that helped keep her alive.
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. You can learn more about the Holocaust while still hearing an inspirational story. I would like to meet Marion some day. To hear her story and outlook on life from her perspective would be amazing. Her story has touched hearts all over the world. If your ever at the library and you want to pick up a historical book with a story, Four Perfect Pebbles is the book to choose.
-Jenna Petracca 1/2 period
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Holocaust Story Review
The introduction of the story starts out with Marion in her mother’s arms in the wooden barrack in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. It is described that all around her is the sound of other women and children in the three-decker bunks. The moans and cries of the others could be heard through the barrack. Marion begins to tell what a normal day would be like in the camp. How some of the prisoners were not able to stand anymore.
The Blumenthal’s bought a ticket to leave Germany and to go to the United States. The Nazis caught them before they could leave on the ship. After they are liberated from the Nazis they are allowed to board the ship even though the tickets cost much more than they did before. Marion had to go through a lot of experiences but not as bad as her brother Albert. He had to bury his own father by putting him in a wheelbarrow then dig a grave.
I like how the book is started. The book starts in the camp then flashes back to the past. The past shows how they tried to buy a ticket to leave ,but have to stay behind due to the grandparents being ill. It is a very good book that everyone should read.
At the end of the story the camp is liberated by the Russians. Many people die after being liberated due to eating too much food at once. Marion goes back to the camp after awhile when she is in the United States.
I would recommend the book to anyone younger than the 8th grade due to it being a sensitive time. The book should be a mandatory book to read in high school.
Cole Weaver 1st-2nd
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles, Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Title of review: Marion Blumenthal’s Life
Number of Stars: ****
Introduction: A little girl named Marion had a bad beginning to her life. She was a Jew and had to experience many different concentration camps. Her and her family was taking all over to places to be tortured by the Nazis. They barley ever got anything to eat, so they were very skinny. The people never got to clean themselves, so there were many diseases spreading among the camp. Marion had a little game with four pebbles to keep her mind off what was really going on. This was a terrible time to be living especially for a little girl that was only three years old.
Description and summary of main points: Marion and her family were Jews which were captured in this story by German soldiers. Her and her family was captured for six years, living in all different kinds of camps. The first camp they were sent to was a camp called ''Westerbork'' in Hooghalen. In this camp they were tortured, by having no food, nothing to drink and no shower. There were lice and tones of other creatures living in their beds and on their clothing. The parents had to work during the days, while the children did small chores around the camp. Sometimes the innocent people of the camp got some extra food like little bits of bread. The people were so desperate that they traded cigars with bits of food, because they were starving. ''After a while they got moved camp to camp suffering for the long days. Marion didn’t have anything to do while she was there so, she made up creative game. The game was that every day she would find four matching pebbles that would be one for each family member. If she didn't find the matching pebbles then she would think one family member wouldn’t survive. So every day she had to find the four pebbles or in her mind everything would go wrong.
Evaluation: I think the book the Four Perfect Pebbles is a interesting story on Marion’s life. It is really hard to believe that these terrible events happened to a poor innocent girl and her family. It really shows that we don’t have that hard of lives. Everyday people complain on how horrible there life is but I can’t even imagine if something happened like that now. I think it is awesome how she wrote a story about it, so they whole world can know what it was like during this time.
Conclusion: In conclusion, living in this time would be horrible for anyone. It is not fair for anyone to be treated that way. They were treated horribly and it basically ruined their lives. Hearing people tell their stories today is really upsetting. It makes me feel so bad for them, because what they lived through. Some of the people tell their stories like it didn’t even happen. Sometimes I think my life is miserable, but really it isn’t. I need to be more thankful for what I have!
Your finial review: I think Four Perfect Pebbles is really worth your time. It is really an interesting story about how someone’s life can be that way. It takes you back when things were different than our time now. It really makes you want to learn more about the Holocaust. It also makes you feel horrible for these innocent people. This book makes it better because it is a true story. This book is really worth reading!
Kaitlyn Vilain 1-2 period
4 Perfect Pebbles By: Marion Blumenthal Lazan & Lila Perl
Not-So-Perfect Pebbles.
****
I can tell by reading the first Chapter in this book that it was horrible back then. I realized that the “Nazis” attacked the “Jews” for no apparent reason. They put them in camps in which they had to work and be starved. This book has changed peoples’ lives, knowing that she went through 6 camps and still lived in hope. This book became to be a Children’s book in the field of Social Studies.
Marion had an Unforgettable childhood, when she was 2 her father had to go to a camp, but came back. It was a bad time for each and every adult and kid who was Jewish. When Hitler rose and became leader he thought and obeyed a law that consists of the “Jews” to be treated horribly. He didn’t care for their health and/or their life. Even though you think it’s bad when you read it you should think about the people, they were there and threaten and harmed. They were extremely low on food, and water. The typhus had become worse; there were more and more lice each day. More and more people shaved their heads' to try and get rid of the lice. Also they had died from typhus every day. This is only some of the actions towards what the camps did.
Something I didn’t like about this book is how it was written; it confused me in every way. One moment it would be Ruth speaking, the next Marion They should have had chapter of what happened to each family member, then some about everyone about their family. When it would say “Marion said” it confused me.
I think that this story should be told to everyone, even though she has a book, she still tells everyone. Yes, it’s a great book and I give it four stars. She’s alive today and telling her story to other kids. Even though she didn’t talk much when she was little, now she talks a lot. I never met her and of course I want too.
Nichole Grant 1-2
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Marion’s Adventure
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a very interesting story about the Holocaust. The whole story is about a little girl named Marion who survived the Holocaust. They were taken too many different concentration camps. Bergan-Belson is one of the ones they were at for a while. Every morning that they woke, there would be someone else dying. Hitler is the one who was doing this to all of these innocent people. He killed over six million people. Then one day the Blumenthal’s troubles all came to an end, when a train arrived to pick them up.
The Blumenthal family was one of the hundreds of families that were taken too many different concentration camps. Luckily they were one of the few families that did survive. While they were at all these camps they saw at lot of things happen to people that you should never have to see. Marion was ten and only weighed thirty-five pounds, and her mom weighed seventy-five pounds. They also had to deal with terrible cases of lice and typhus all around them, and even including them. That just comes to show how horrible things were for them. On top of everything else Marion got burned by soup they were trying to sneak to cook. Marion was a girl who had tons of hope. She believed that if she found four pebbles of almost the same size and shape, that her family would remain a whole. After six and a half years of going to concentration camps, the day finally came when they were set free. Shortly after they made it through everything Marion’s dad died of typhus. In the end they ended up living in Peoria, Illinois.
I would recommend Four Perfect Pebbles to others. I thought it was a very interesting story to read. It teaches you to appreciate what you have, because there are always people worse off than you. I liked how you could just imagine what they were going through just by reading it. I think that if more people read this book that they would be more appreciative of what they already have, even if it’s not the best. So if you’re ever looking for a good book to read, you should choose Four Perfect Pebbles. Even if it doesn’t sound like a book you will like, it won’t hurt to give it a shot. I didn’t really think I would like it at first, but after I read it I liked it. It really teaches you a lot of lessons and more.
In conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is a great book. It taught me to live life at its fullest, even if it’s not the greatest. Marion went through a lot of hard times, but she never stopped believing that they would all survive. With all the hope she had, her family all survived until her dad got a disease called typhus. Even though he didn’t live afterwards, he still made it through the Holocaust because he had a family who believed they could do it. So that is pretty much the book Four Perfect Pebbles.
For the final review of Four Perfect Pebbles I would have to say that it is a book that I would recommend. I gave it a four out of five rating because it taught me a lot of important things. The main thing it taught me about was life. No matter how hard times got for the Blumenthal family, they never wanted to end their lives. They always saw good in everything that happened. So that is they story Four Perfect Pebbles.
Mariah Thompson 1st/2nd period
“Four Perfect Pebbles” by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl
“A young girl’s triumph over the Holocaust”
3/5 stars
Four Perfect Pebbles is about the life of a young girl during the Holocaust. It takes you through the years her family was transported from concentration camp to concentration camp. It shows the struggles of being locked away in a camp with very little food and no sanitation for over six years. This story tells of the ways Marion kept her spirits up in a hopeless situation and the triumph she felt after overcoming the ghosts of the Holocaust.
The story tells of when Marion and her family went from being a happy family in a small town to outcasts in their own community. It shows how after all Jewish people had been boycotted and their business finally fell they had to leave their small town and try to go to America. Their lives changed drastically when they were sent to a concentration camp. Marion’s family had to live for six years in concentration camps with very little food and very close quarters. Disease plagued the camps with hundreds of bodies being buried of burned every day. After being on a “death train” for two weeks, they were set free and they populated a small farm town in Germany. Death still plagued residents of this town and they started to die off. Eventually, Marion’s father joined them. After a year of living in Europe, the Blumenthals finally got to move to America.
CONTINUED BELOW
Chloe Wean 1st and 2nd period
CONTINUED
I feel that this book teaches a very important lesson. It shows the importance of family and keeping hope when there is none. I would recommend this to someone who is willing to read it to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and how they could have a life much worse than the one they have. This book reveals the disgusting facts about the fate of so many people.
To conclude, I think Four Perfect Pebbles would be a great story for someone to read to teach them of what happened in the Holocaust. I feel it is important to remember this and the history that builds us. Even if some of the world’s history is horrible and disgusting, it is important to remember how lucky we are that we do not have to go through that. I applaud Marion Blumenthal Lazan for staying strong through those years and still keeping it together to this day. She shares her story all around America.
I think that this is a very good book. It may not be the most pleasing book to read, but I feel one should know of the horrors of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to someone to teach them about how you must keep hope that things will turn out alright. I think this story is an inspiration to look on the bright side for yourself and others.
Chloe Wean 1st and 2nd period
Marion’s Holocaust Battle
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles by: Marion Blumenthal-Lazan
Title of review: Marion’s Holocaust Battle
Number of stars:*****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a story that was once lived by Marion Blumenthal-Lazan. This was once her six and a half year battle with holocaust. She was only four years old when she was brought into her first concentration camp. After that she was transferred with her family to different camps through Poland and the Netherlands. Once they were liberated by the Russian army it was a fight between typhus and staying alive. She was very ill during this time, so was her father at this time. She had a horrible leg wound that was infested with lice. But that was healed, but her father died of typhus and her brother had to bury his father by himself.
During this time period Marion saw some of the most horrific sights of death and disease. She was lucky not to contract typhus from the lice infestation and all the others that had it. There were lice infested clothes and bed sheets along with the bed itself and she wasn’t allowed to change nor wash them. Every morning they would have to line up in the freezing weather and wait to be called on to see if they were still alive. There were people that died in the night from disease and the lice infestations. She saw dead bodies everywhere from her little room to outside where piles and piles of dead unknown bodies lay and were on their way to be anonymously cremated.
I loved the entire book and realization that this did happen. But I hate that this happened to all of those innocent people that no one will remember in 10 years. Well I surely will because this is a big step in history and I will always remember it. I love that Marion is able to step up and talk about what has happened to her in this horrible time period with her family. She almost lost this horrible battle against the Holocaust but lucky she kept fighting with perseverance. And the will to live and to get those Four Perfect Pebbles to represent her family. And she almost made it out with her entire family. But her father then died and didn’t get the chance to see America.
After her liberation she lived a happy life. She got to move to America and lived her life in New York for a while. Then met a boy that she would soon marry, his name is Nathaniel Lazan. They met at a Synagogue service and he asked to walk her home. And she let him and that’s how it all started. Her brother moved to California, and she continued her life in Hewlett, New York. She still to this day speaks on her holocaust filled childhood around the states. She even came to the high school once. I hope she can come again and talk to us.
My final review about the book is that even though this was a horrific time period its very interesting to learn about and look over. It’s sad that this happened to any of those innocent people. But we can’t change the past, and it made how things are today. I just wonder what it was like to actually be there. How it was to actually suffer from all the death around you. I wonder what it was like to live in those rooms with hundreds of other people. And what the smell was like, that probably still there from all of the bodies decaying and being burned. It was horrible, and I hope all the souls of those unfortunate innocent people can properly rest now.
-hydia george 1/2 period
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Marion Blumenthal
Four Perfect Pebbles
Number of stars – 5
Introduction
Marion Blumenthal, her brother Albert, her mother Ruth and her Father Walter were all put I concentration camps during the Holocaust period in the mid 1900’s. They went from camp to camp. The Blumenthal’s started at a camp called Bergen-Belsen and they were there for Westerbork for other times. They went from prison camps, to transit camps, and refugee camps. Before they got captured and took to contraction camps they tried to hide out in Holland the place that stayed neutral during World War 1 but they were soon captured by surprise. Hitler had a problem with Jews and pretty much anyone or thing that supported them. When he took over power all Jewish people were put in camps where most of them died. He shut down all Jewish ran businesses and prevented anyone to shop at those stores.
Description and Summary of Main Plot
Marion had a superstition that if she found four perfect pebbles everyday then for that day none of her family members would die. She said “Well sometimes I cheated and the pebbles weren’t just alike but it was my game. I made it up.” Her superstition worked until they got on a train named the death train. They called it that because when you got on that train her superstition worked until they got on a train named the death train. They called it that because when you got on that train you headed to an extermination camp Auschwitz. But on the way there the Russian army saved them from the death train and led them to a barn with food to eat. While at the barn, Walter got a disease called Typhus. He later died from that disease.
Evaluation
I think the book was 5 out of 5. I think this because it was very well written and tells us about the struggle going through all of the events of the Holocaust. In my opinion losing my dad would have to be the hardest thing I would ever go through in life besides losing my mom. I think of my dad as a best friend and that’s why it’d be hard for me to go through what she went through. I also don’t think that I wouldn’t go bad and visit the place where I was held.
Conclusion
This book shows the relationship between a family that always sticks together. After the Russians save them they go through the agony of losing a father. After his father’s death Albert took on the man role and took care of his family at the age of 14. Im 14 and couldn’t go that.
Final Review
I would recommend this book to everyone that wants to know the devastating story about a holocaust survivor. It really makes you think about how lucky you are and that the problems that you go through in life are not as bad as you think compared to what the Blumenthal’s went through.
By: Caleb Masters
Book title and author: Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Title of Review: Marion’s Battle
Number of starts: ****
Introduction: Four Perfect Pebbles was written by Marion Blumenthal who was in the holocaust for six in half years. She experienced very thing!! She stayed alive she had this little thing she did everyday she would go out and find four pebbles that are just alike ,and she said when she found all four the same then she knew that her family would all live today. Sometimes she didn’t find rocks that were exactly the same so she just said they were. She was four years old when she went to her very first camp. Her family was transported through Poland and Netherlands. She became very sick through the Russian army she had to fight from getting typhus and staying alive. She had a real bad wound on her leg that got lice in, and her father died from typhus and they had to bury their father! From all the different camps she went to she saw some terrible sights. Like dead bodies just lying around while people just come through and scrap them up. Marion was lucky that she didn’t typhus she was on that train with so many people who had it she was a very blessed person, but not to blessed she still had the lice infestation in her leg from the wound she had. They were in the freezing weather. A lot of people froze to death, and some of them had typhus. Marion and her mother would wait to see if her brother was still alive waiting to hear them! Marion saw piles and piles of the little room! There were a few times when Marion thought that they’re were going to get set free, they was just going to another camp!
Description:. Four Perfect pebbles is about a young girl and her family experiencing the madness of the holocaust. Marion Blumenthal explains how her family went to different camps and the motional side of a eight year old little girl she knows so much about her surroundings Marion Blumenthal and her family were in the holocaust since Hitler raised the power that Jewish people went. It was Marion, her father Walter, her mother Ruth and her brother Albert they were captured in Nazi Germany and they were trying to escape! Nobody be expected Hitler to raise his power that soon, but if you caught you soon became concerned. When Hitler became discrimination against the Jews there was a boycott and Walter had to sell his products to a people in the countryside. The Blumenthal wanted Germany but they couldn’t cause the grandparents till they died. Their grandparents weren’t strong even to just up and leave they were old and if they would get typhus they would die instantly. Once their grandparents died.
Evaluation: In all honestly and truth it’s not that it wasn’t a good book it was by all means talked about a person life at the age of four years old how she had to go into the holocaust it gave great details and pictures with the book to get a point of view of how it would’ve been you in her shoes and living the life like she did. She went from camp to camp, she was hurt, and she lost her father and had to bury him. She stayed real strong! I just didn’t like the book as much as alt more people did. That is just my honest option. I did like how they made the book like how they put pictures in the book to show you what it was like. There were real good parts to the book.
Tameka Burns 1st/2nd
Conclusion: Marion after life the holocaust she didn’t really like to talk about what happen in the holocaust she also lost her father in the holocaust so that is another part of a reason she didn’t like talking about it. Once they got back to the United States Marion was placed in the fourth grade and by taking extra classes to help her and attending summer school. She graduated from Peoria Central High School. She ranked 8th in her class out of 267 people. After she graduated she met this person named Nathanael and they soon became married and she moved with him and lived a happy life with him! Also she started speaking in schools about what happen to her in the holocaust.
Your final review: Even this was a very very bad time period. About the holocaust and everything it’s a real good life lesson, well it’s not really her fault that she was jew and that she had to get sent there. I’m sure she learned a lot of from it. To hear her tell people about the story ad life in the holocaust it would be real interesting I wouldn’t doubt it!
Tameka Burns 1st/2nd
Four Perfect Pebble is about a young girl named Marion from Western Europe that fights for survival against the German Nazis, because Marion was a Jew but the way she survived was unbelievable because she fined for perfect pebbles that are the same shape, size and color for every person in her family. The Camp that they used the kill Jews was called a Concentration camp; the worst of all camps was the extermination camp that killed over six million Jews. And this was spreading all through Europe and a part of Asia, the person that was controlling all of this was Adolph Hitler, Hitler was really mean.
The summary of the Main points of Four Perfect Pebbles is, the reason how she survived is because she had hope and had a positive attitude the whole time and never gave up on herself and found four perfect pebbles everyday but sometimes she had to cheat. She waited for her mother everyday from working in the kitchen, he mother worked because to get extra rations. Some people died because the diseases that were at the camps for example lice, ticks, parasites and more, and the German Nazis hung people from the bob wire fence from people trying to get away. They were trying being a threat the Jews to get them scared and worried, but Marion kept a positive attitude from the beginning to the end, some people would be dead in the first 10-20 days or less because they wouldn’t have the health or the braveness and faith and hope that Marion does, she could’ve died in the first 20 days but she didn’t cause she had hope.
What I think about the book is that I kind of like it because you learn more and more about the Holocaust and what Hitler did to people, and how he did it, it was just offal and sickknen but Marion kept her cool and never had a negative attitude, people need to realize how bad this thing happen in the world ,people don’t what happen to children , Adults, They had no food, water or cloths just lice, maggots, and potatoes, I like the book, but I don’t I really don’t like talking about people dying like that. What if you were like Marion?
The book is about a named Marion that’s has a lot of hope and courage, but the Nazis were trying to get Marion and her family scared. The Jew didn’t know what was going on because the Germans took them right out of their houses.
My opinion about the book is that is great for young adults but not young children. Things in life that are bad are not as bad as what happened in Western Europe
Dante Stills 1/2
Four Perfect Pebbles: By Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
***
Four Perfect Pebbles did not interest me, the story was good and it was written very well but I do not like this type of book. It bored me too much, and did not entertain me. This book is great for Learning more about the holocaust but not a book to entertain you for it will fill you with sorrow. The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.
Marion Blumenthal Lazan's unforgettable memoir recalls the devastating years that shaped her childhood. Following Hitler's rise to power, the Blumenthal family -- father, mother, Marion, and her brother, Albert -- were trapped in Nazi Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was occupied by the Nazis. For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps that included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious Bergen-Belsen in Germany. Though they all survived the camps, Walter Blumenthal, Marion's father, succumbed to typhus just after liberation.
It took three more years of struggle and waiting before Marion, Albert, and their mother at last obtained the necessary papers and boarded ship for the United States. Their story is one of horror and hardship, but it is also a story of courage, hope, and the will to survive.
At the onset of the war, the Blumenthal family left Germany to flee to America. But, while they were in the Netherlands, Germany invaded and bombed the ships that would have taken them to safety. For the next six-and-a-half-years of her childhood, Marion struggled through the Holocaust, surrounded by death, starvation, filth and disease.
Marion's stories suggest that self-discipline and a strong imagination helped her to survive. At one point, her mother had somehow scrapped up bits of wood and a potato and decided to cook up a meager soup on her bunk in the barracks. Of all nights, the Nazis had a surprise inspection that night, and, in the rush to hide the soup, the boiling water spilled on Marion's leg. If she had cried out, the Nazis most likely would have discovered their attempt to cook illegal soup and killed both her and her mother. So Marion swallowed hard and pretended as if the severe burn on her leg wasn't there.
After all that she's experienced Marion's temperament is surprising. She smiles easily and stresses the importance of optimism. “I'm determined not be bitter and angry,” she explains, “On the contrary, I'm determined to be cheerful and positive as much as possible.” She believes that life owes her nothing, and it's her job to make the best of what she's given. “None of us is spared hardships,” Marion explains, “It's not so much what happens to us, but how we deal with the situation that makes the difference.”
Today, Marion is on a mission to teach the public about the Holocaust. Her memoir Four Perfect Pebbles is taught in classrooms throughout the world. And, although she's been speaking publicly about the Holocaust since 1979, her speaking engagements have significantly increased since the publication of her book. Marion lectures to adult groups, synagogues, churches and civil organizations, but her favorite audience is an auditorium full of students.
“You, the students, are the very last generation that will hear the story first hand,” Marion explains to her eager listeners.
My Finale review is still a 3 just because I have no intrest in these type of books but other may like it.
Keyshawn Mcclung 1/2 Period
Book Title/Author: Four Perfect Pebbles written by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Report Title: An Inspiring Story
Number of Stars (1-5): * * * *
Four Perfect Pebbles is an inspiring story about a young, Jewish girl and her family who survived the Holocaust. The family suffered through diseases and hunger. Through this story the young girl, Marion, believed that finding four pebbles that looked exactly alike every day would keep her family alive for that day. They were sent back and forth to different concentration camps for six years. Marion was only four years old at the time when they were sent to their first concentration camp. Even though she was young and went through some traumatic experiences she always had a positive attitude.
The Blumenthal family went through rough things that a child shouldn’t have to go through. When Marion’s family was in the Burgen-Belsen concentration camp Marion spilt boiling soup in her leg and tremendously burnt her leg, but when this happened she didn’t scream or cry so she could her and her mother from getting caught with making soup. Also, when the Blumenthal family finally got off of the death train in 1945 her father soon died of typhus and Marion and her brother had to bury him. Soon after that they were truly free and they were able to ride over on the boat to New York.
In my opinion, I found this book truly inspiring. It had multiple life lessons that can help you through life. I gave this book four out of five stars because even though it was a wonderful story I didn’t enjoy the fact that some of the parts in this book were drug out a little too long and it appealed to be boring to me. Other than that this story was very entertaining and interesting to me. It taught me to always stay positive even through the bad times.
In conclusion, Marion, her mother, and her brother’s life after the holocaust turned out to be pretty good. When Marion first left Burgen-Belsen she weighed thirty-five pounds and three years of eating fatty foods she was able to gain one hundred pounds. In 1948 they HIAS offered them free housing and a chance of schooling and work. Once they arrived in Peoria, Illinois their living condition included living with two other families in which they had to take turns using the bathroom and preparing meals every day. Albert got a job sweeping at a jewelry store and her mother worked at the Hokins. Marion worked part time at a department store. Marion had struggled with only one subject in school it was English, but with extra help she was able to excel in the subject and she graduated high school. A few years later Marion met her future husband after service at the synagogue. On August 2, 1953 Marion got married to Nathaniel. Life now for them is very good her and her husband now have eight grandchildren and they live in Heweltt, New York.
I definitely think anyone should read this book without hesitation. It is inspiring and true to life. It teaches you the true meaning of life. I love this book and it is definitely one of my favorite books. If I were you I would read this book is filled with mixed emotions. This book is overall inspiring
Gentry Morrone
Four Perfect Pebbles
Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review of the Four Perfect Pebbles
3 out of 5 stars
The book starts out with Hitler just coming into power. The Blumenthal family saw what was coming. So they started trying to get papers to leave Germany. While they were trying to get papers Nazis started standing outside the Jewish owned stores and businesses and making sure no one used those places. Soon enough they just closed them. Before the Blumenthal family could get the correct papers to go to the United States They were caught and sent in and through camps.
Some of the main points in this book would be them getting caught. Then sent in and through many different camps they were in a Transit camp, Concentration camp, work camp, And even a death camp. But the Blumenthal’s persevered through them all. Only after they were rescued did Marion’s dad die. Then they got the correct papers to go to the United States. They waited about six months to go to new York. Then they left to the states while on the boat right before they got there the whole Blumenthal family stood on the deck awaiting the beautiful sight of Statue of Liberty.
I think this book will teach a life lesson to people that read it. This book shows us how lucky just how lucky we actually are. You might complain when you don’t get shoes or a game you want, But look what they had. They were lucky if they had something to eat. Let alone new pair of shoes or clothes. So just be thankful for what you have next time you cant get something just don’t complain be thankful for what you have.
The conclusion is the Nazis getting defeated. All of the camps getting liberated including Transit camps, Concentration camps, work camps, and even death camps. The Nazis tried keeping the Jewish prisoners as long as possible. So right before one camp was liberated they loaded all the prisoners on a train and moved them to another camp. This is what happened to the Blumenthal’s except they got caught on the train and were liberated by I believe some of the Russian army soldiers. Then they occupied some of the abandoned farm houses left before Hitler took control of Germany. Then they lived in the farm houses for about six months. Then went to America were they were helped by a local Jewish group in the states to have a temporary living space.
My final review of the Four Perfect pebbles would be it is a great book. Defiantly worth reading. If you have anytime where your free get this book. How Marion made up games. That’s were the name of the book came from. How she needed to find four pebbles with about the same size and shape, Then her family would be okay for that day. When she couldn’t find the pebbles she would get some pebbles she had hidden just incase she could find new ones. The four perfect pebbles is a great book and I would suggest it.
Joshua Wilson
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Story of a 4 Year old Girl
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is a horrific book about a family of Jews during WWII. This family suffered diseases, hunger, and the only people they had were each other. Being a Jew back in 1938 was a pretty dangerous thing. When Hitler, the Nazi leader, became head of Germany, he had a plan to take all the Jews away to camps. First he wouldn’t let any of the Germans to buy from the Jews. Now if you were a Jew, you had to wear The Star of David. Eventually, they took all of the Jews away to the camps. There were four camps. The Refugee, Transit, Prison, and Concentration camps were all over Europe. Hitler wanted all the Jews gone.
Marion was only four at the time, so she didn’t know fully of what was happening. The Blumenthal family was waiting to come over to America. They had all the stuff they needed to go. All they needed was their names to be called. Name after name the Blumenthal family was never called. Since the family had to stay, they were sent to all of the camps between six year periods. Bergen- Belson was where she was at during the end of WWII. Everyday Marion would go outside to find for perfect pebbles. If she could find four perfect pebbles that meant her family was going to be okay. Marion only weighed 35 pounds at age nine. People were suffering of the Typhus disease. It was caused by the lice people were getting. Each day Marion had to pick the lice from her hair one by one and squish them.
Marion and her mother were making soup one day when the guards came in for a surprise checkup. Her mother tried to quickly hide the soup when it tipped over on Marion’s leg. This caused severe burning. Marion was smart enough not to scream, so she held it all in. That’s pretty tough for a nine year old to do. One day they moved all of the Jews to a tent outside. They started getting more diseases from the cold. They were all freezing to death. The only thing they could do to keep them warm was to pee on their selves. More and more diseases were coming in. One day the guards came in, and took all the Jews on the train. Every day they would stop the train to let everyone out. When night came, everyone got back on the train. At one point in time, the train stopped for two days. When morning came, a bunch of guards came in the train doors. They were Russian soldiers. They were all freed from the train. Later, Marion’s dad died of Typhus. They all had the disease, but were treated.
The book was very devastating. I found it very inspiring. It shows that we should be grateful for what we have. Nobody could ever understand what they all went through, but all we can do is listen and learn. I think everyone at our age should read this book to learn more about the Holocaust.
Marion and her family came to America and lived their lives they should’ve before. Marion and Albert returned to a highschool. They didn’t tell anyone for 35 years that they were in the Holocaust. Marion met a guy and got married with kids, and now has grandchildren. Albert now has a wife too. Now, the Blumenthal family goes around telling everyone their horrific story of the Holocaust. They inspire many kids, and even older people.
The Blumenthal family should keep going, and tell their story. They inspire so many people. Marion still has trouble telling her story after all this time. I think the book was a great for people to read. More people should read it though.
-emily osbourn
FOUR PERFECT PEBBLES, BY marion Blumenthal
****
TITLE OF REVIEW:
THE STORY TAKES PLACE ALL THROUGH EUROPE during WWII MARION BELIVED IF SHE FOUND four PERFECT PEBBLES EVERY DAY HER FAMILY WOULD SURVIVE. SHE WAS RIGHT. HER FAMILY WENT TO SOME OF THE WORST CAMPS IN THE WORLD LIKE BERGIN BELSON, ALTWISHS AND MANY MORE.
The book four perfect pebbles was about the holocaust and the killing of millions of Jewish people. IT WAS ALSO ABOUT A FAMILY TRY TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE HOLOCAST. THE MAIN CHARCTER IN THE BOOK IS MARION. Ever day she collect four pebbles just alike if she gets all four she family will live another day she did this every day and her family lived .
I think this book is a lesson to tell you some thinks that people think are stupid can get you through any thing in life. I think if people read this book they would not think things people do to help them self are stupid and they probly would not make fun or judge.
The conclusion is the war ending and the nazi soldiers losing and the USA wining. It also ends with Marion her mother and brother her father died when they were freed.
I personal like the book. I think the story is very sad and heart warming at the end I give the book a four out of five. Would reamed the book for all 8 graders to read. Over all it is a great book.
Jalen lee 1/2
“Four Perfect Pebbles” by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl
“A young girl’s triumph over the Holocaust”
3/5 stars
Four Perfect Pebbles is about the life of a young girl during the Holocaust. It takes you through the years her family was transported from concentration camp to concentration camp. It shows the struggles of being locked away in a camp with very little food and no sanitation for over six years. This story tells of the ways Marion kept her spirits up in a hopeless situation and the triumph she felt after overcoming the ghosts of the Holocaust.
The story tells of when Marion and her family went from being a happy family in a small town to outcasts in their own community. It shows how after all Jewish people had been boycotted and their business finally fell they had to leave their small town and try to go to America. Their lives changed drastically when they were sent to a concentration camp. Marion’s family had to live for six years in concentration camps with very little food and very close quarters. Disease plagued the camps with hundreds of bodies being buried of burned every day. After being on a “death train” for two weeks, they were set free and they populated a small farm town in Germany. Death still plagued residents of this town and they started to die off. Eventually, Marion’s father joined them. After a year of living in Europe, the Blumenthals finally got to move to America.
I feel that this book teaches a very important lesson. It shows the importance of family and keeping hope when there is none. I would recommend this to someone who is willing to read it to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and how they could have a life much worse than the one they have. This book reveals the disgusting facts about the fate of so many people.
To conclude, I think Four Perfect Pebbles would be a great story for someone to read to teach them of what happened in the Holocaust. I feel it is important to remember this and the history that builds us. Even if some of the world’s history is horrible and disgusting, it is important to remember how lucky we are that we do not have to go through that. I applaud Marion Blumenthal Lazan for staying strong through those years and still keeping it together to this day. She shares her story all around America.
I think that this is a very good book. It may not be the most pleasing book to read, but I feel one should know of the horrors of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to someone to teach them about how you must keep hope that things will turn out alright. I think this story is an inspiration to look on the bright side for yourself and others.
~Sophie Delligatti~
Title and author: Four perfect pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Pearl
Title of review: a holocaust survivor
****
Introduction: The story four perfect pebbles was written by Marion Blumenthal and her mother Lila Pearl on January 1, 1996. She and her family which consisted of her, her brother and her mother and father who survived the holocaust.
Description of summary: some of the main points of the book are when Hitler takes over Germany. Some of the pictures were the women are peeling potatoes in front of the stacks of dead bodies and the people with typhus( a disease spread by lice).
Evaluation: some of the good things about the book are that Marion and her family always had hope where ever they went and what ever happened. Some bad things that happened were that they didn’t get fed like they should have, Marion got burned, and they could never have the correct hygiene.
Conclusion: So in summary as you can see this family has been through a lot in their life time. Through the entire tragedy they had hope which in my opinion helped them survive.
Final review: I gave the book four stars because to me I learned more from it than I ever did learning about it in class and I think the book deserves it because its about a woman and her family that survived, with hope.
Tabitha Garrett 4th and 5th
Four Perfect Pebbles, Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The review of Benjamin Karek Cox
*****
This story is one of the most heartfelt stories I have ever heard in my entire life of reading this story will explain the Blumenthal’s fight to stay alive against the Nazi’s in those concentration camps.
This story is about a horrible time where I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to go to, this story tells us about how all these people where not fed properly, and was diseased with horrible lice that have gotten into their skin and hair, also caused them to be very sick. For Instants these Jews were burned and killed, and also beaten for being a Jew, all just because Adolf Hitler tricked the Germans into believing that Jewish people caused them to lose the war, even when Adolf Schiklgrober Hitler was a Jewish monster himself. This monster despised Jews in when I mean hated, he hated him with a crave, but the Blumenthal’s would never give up hope they kept hope and tried so hard just to get the heck up out of there, and eventually when they were stuck on that ugly horrible train the Russians moved in and saved the Blumenthal’s and every other Jew that was on that train, and they got home.
My Evaluation or opinion on the story is that it’s a great moving story to me this movie has had me on the ropes for all 3 rounds I personally think it’s a great story in my eyes, but it is also gets me mad because of all the horrible things that the Germans have done to the Jews personally they owe them an apology for doing these things to these people. Matter of fact they should of payed with their lives in prison.
In conclusion this story great and horrible at times, this story will get you mad and angry at the same time. When you read this story you will be at the edge of your seats wondering what will happen next. For instance the way this story is said will make you just keep on reading and don’t ever want to stop. So in conclusion this story is great and bad at times, but I personally think this story is a real great peace no matter what anyone else thinks this is one of the best books for young adults to know about history.
Yes, I would recommend it to young adults and to older ones as well because if it wasn’t for them telling us their story we would not even know what it would even comprehend what it was like to be kid, and have to work in a concentration camp matter of fact we still don’t know only the elderly that was once a kid in that time would know. This story just lets us know a little bit because no one I know except Ms. Constable literally went to one of those concentration camps for her field trip so yes I would recommend
KaREK COX
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Blumenthal Story
***
This story, Four Perfect Pebbles, taking place in Germany during World War II, is about depression and how Marion and the rest of the Blumenthals lived through the tragic period of time during the Holocaust. They go through many crazy experiences. It lasted 6 years. This man named Hitler became the cause of this imprisonment. It all started in 1933 when his rein had started. Many years later, he started a World War II, which was dated from 1943 to 1945. Instead it lasted longer. Which made it worse for the Blumenthals and the other Jew held in the camp they were held in, considering they were all getting sick.
This story is very depressing. Many events, such as starvation, death, and spreading diseases occur in this story. In one point of the story they are rescued. The whole story wasn’t depressing, but most of it was. Starvation was one of the reasons most of the Jews. They were not fed. All Jews that went to the camps had a small chance to survive. Marion and her family were the lucky ones. Her dad was the only one in the family to die. There was a disease that killed a large amount of the Jews. It was caused by lice and filth, which everyone eventually caught since they showered once a month.
My evaluation of the story is that I like that at the end of the story, they were rescued and fed by Russian soldiers. I just don’t like the remainder of the story with all of the dying and slavery. It’s just not something I could listen to. I don’t like to hear about people being neglected and punished for something they didn’t do.
At the end of this story, Marion and her family are really devastated by the dad dying. In conclusion, this story was very depressing and made me look at life a different way. When I get mad at the little things in life, I could just compare my situation to this one and think of it in a different way. I don't think I would stand a chance in these camps. I would not be able to survive. Marion and her family are very strong people.
My final review of this story is a three out of five stars. It was well written, but it was just too much going on. It made me sick to have to read about. Everything was organized and was a great story, but stories like this are not for me. It was a blessing that they were rescued in the end. They deserved it, considering they never did anything to anyone.
Markell Drake
Book Review
Four Perfect Pebbles
By: Lila Perl and Marion lazan
*****
I am doing a book report on four perfect pebbles. I will be telling you the summary and main plots. I’m going to evaluate the story for you in paragraph form. Then finally I will give you my conclusion for my whole book review. The end will have a final review for you to read if you want to.
First, the main plots in this story are the problem of the holocaust. The holocaust was really big in Europe. Hitler was the reason for the coming of the holocaust. He made them think that Jewish people were the reason for them losing the war. The story is about a very young child in the holocaust since she was nine to when she turned about fifteen.
Second, I think this book was good through the whole thing. The things that made it good were that they never gave up on hope. The thing that probably made this bad was the fact that they were killing people for something they did not do. For the most part the book was really good especially at the end. That is what I thought of the book. What was your opinion?
In conclusion, the book was pretty good. I thought that I would like to encourage people to read this book. I wish I could hear some thought from Marion in person. What do you think about this review? Do you think that you would like to read this book?
Final review, the reason I gave this book five stars is because it was good and interesting. I thought that it was educational and historical. I hope you will give five stars like I did. I want you to read this please. It will give you the idea on what the holocaust was like.
summer west 1-9-14
Four Perfect Pebbles – Marion Blumenthal Lazan, Lila Pearl
One Sad Story
****
This book was one of the best Books I have ever read, but not the best one out of all of them. It was also one of the saddest books I have ever read too. It is sad because it tells all what they went through to get to America to be free from all of the madness in Germany and the start of the war.
When they were in the concentration camps at Bergen-Belsen and they described what all they saw at the camp there and the stuff that they heard, smelled and felt during that time in that concentration camp. The author described all that happened to her and her family and what she and her family did during the time in a concentration camp and on death trains.
The story was always talking about how she never thought it was going to end for them and always talked about how she thinks that if Anne frank had hope like them then she would have lived through it all. Plus she was the only one left in her family; at least she thought that she was, she didn’t have any more hope for living so she gave up.
I think that her games that she played to run down the time and for her good luck gave her more strength to live more. Her and her family had a lot more strength than a lot of the people in the group that where there at Bergen-Belsen that is why they all lived to a happy life after words.
I still think that the story was still really sad and also had a very good ending to it. The rest of the story was also good to. I think that when they all were on the train for the last time was very suspenseful, because it took them forever for them to get to the safe zone at the barn with the fruit. It was sad though when they could’ve died from eating too much. Over all it was very good
Colby Gwynn
Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan ***** A Holocaust Story
The Holocaust started when Hitler came into power, he told everyone that the reason they lost the war was because of the Jews. At first he did nothing but as the years passed he did more and more. He started small with singling the Jews out by making them wear the Star of David on their outer clothing. He did this so you could tell who was a Jew and who wasn’t. Then he did something that he thought would start to eliminate them. What he did was mean but there was even worse to come. The thing he did was tell everyone not to buy from the Jews and they put sighs on the doors or the Star of David on the windows. But just a little after that there was the night that they shattered all the windows and burned all there holy books. About a year after that had happened Hitler started to send people to the concentration camps. Thousands of people died because of Hitler and many suffered.
I gave this story five stars because it was very good. It was descriptive but it was also the memories of a girl who lived through the Holocaust. The girl was young when this started but she was able to remember mast of the horrible things that had gone on there. Also she gave basically all the details of what had happened to her in the concentration camps. She was a very luck girl to have lived through all of it and just being a child made it worse. But no matter what had happened she kept going. The thing that made it good and descriptive was that she didn’t just say something like there was dead bodies all over she described it.
Also, this girl but her thoughts into the things that had happened to her and she was talking about. For example, when she saw all the dead bodies and smelled all of the rotting and burning flesh she told how it made her feel. Like the smell of the flesh mad her sick and that it was getting worse every day. Some of the bad things in this book were that at some parts she may have been to descriptive and at other parts not enough.
The story Four Perfect Pebbles is about a girl who lived through the Holocaust. When it first started she was about four years old just a baby still. Her father had a store and it got hard for them when Hitler made the law that no one was to buy from the Jews. But they could not leave because their grandparents would not. But after they had died then they started getting ready because it was getting worse for the Jews. But not soon after they had left Hitler came and conquered the place that they were at. Their father had made plans to have them traded for German soldier who were captured but they were never called and the place they were at turned into a camp. They lived there for years and near the end they were all put onto trains and moved so they weren’t found. But at the end they Germans ditched them And they were found by the soldiers.
Juliana Maes 4th and 5th
Four Perfect Pebbles By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Blumenthal’s Holocaust Story
****
Four Perfect Pebbles is written by two Holocaust survivors. It takes place mainly in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, when Marion was nine and her brother, Albert, was eleven. The Blumenthals were imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen for one year and two months. On April twenty-third, 1945, the Blumenthals along with other families were liberated from the Nazis. Two months later Walter Blumenthal, Marion’s father, died of typhus. On April twenty-third, 1948 Marion, Albert, and their mother arrived in America and live there still.
Four Perfect Pebbles is about the survival of a family of four in the Holocaust. The family members are Walter, Ruth, Albert, and Marion Blumenthal. It starts out with Marion’s mother telling her the story of how they were captured. The Blumenthals were captured when trying to escape Germany. They were transferred between three camps until they were put on a train. The train kept traveling to avoid capture and freedom of its prisoners. Then after a few days Russian troops liberated the train. After liberation the Blumenthals along with other prisoners took refuge in farm houses. During the summer typhus started spreading and Walter Blumenthal caught it. Soon after catching typhus, he died from the symptoms. Albert had to bury his own father by himself. A few months later, the rest of the family went to live in Holland. A couple years later, Marion and the rest of her family moved to America where they remain to this day.
In my opinion, Four Perfect Pebbles was great. The details were vivid and painted a clear picture of what was going on in my mind. I would defiantly recommend this to any thirteen or older. The only thing I didn’t like was when they were on the train that was liberated. Marion and her mother didn’t explain that part well.
Jacqson Munro
Four Perfect Pebbles by
Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Book Review for Four Perfect Pebbles
* * * *
This story takes place during WWII in Germany. The story has four main characters, Walter (the father), Ruth (the mother), Albert (the son of Ruth and Walter), and Marion (the daughter of Ruth and Walter). They were all Jews and were sent to concentration camps because of it.
Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazis. Hitler became chancellor and president of Germany and sought out destroy ever last Jew including the Blumenthal’s. The Blumenthal’s escaped two Holland and went to Westerbork. They were staying there until they could get their visas the leave for America. Two months before they were scheduled to leave the Nazis took over Westerbork. They were later moved to Bergen-Belsen. They were later freed and sent to a farm until the typhus was gone but before it was gone Water died from typhus. Once they left the farm they used their visas that they bought before the where captured to go to America. They lived in a small apartment with another family until they moved to Peoria, Illinois.
This book is very good and descriptive. It described ever detail but some of the details weren’t very pleasant. They were about the smells of the dead bodies and how the dead bodies look and they were very descriptive but gruesome and nasty.
Donovan Hatchett
Four Perfect Pebbles
By Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl
A realistic autobiography of a young girl
****
Have you ever noticed that children always have a different perspective on things than you expected? I definitely have! As with the diary of Anne Frank, four perfect pebbles is the story of a young girl’s experience with the holocaust. Although, unlike Anne Frank, Marion Blumenthal writes of what happened inside the torture machines they call the concentration camps. This story was not written inside the camps, but later by a holocaust survivor. In summary, four perfect pebbles is the perspective of a young girl who survived the concentration camps.
To begin, I will give you the basic run down of the plot. The book basically begins with her family living in the transit camp of Bergen-Belsen. It tells of her belief that if she found four perfect pebbles every day her family would be safe for at least that day. Then it goes to a flash back to the beginning of the Nazi revolution. The flash back goes to the Blumenthal family while they owned a shoe store and lived in Germany. The first piece of racism towards Jews was when Hitler encouraged people to boycott Jewish stores by stationing soldiers in front of all Jewish shop. In response, to the new coming racism they moved to a town near the border and they got themselves on the list to go to America. That is when the day of broken glass came. This event was characterized by the destruction of all Jewish businesses and the kidnapping of many Jewish men. They eventually got their dad back because he was on the emigration list. They then moved to Holland which was eventually taken over by Germany. Later on, they were going to be exchanged for captured soldiers, but their hopes were destroyed. Eventually they were put on the “death train” right before Russia took over the camp. They were eventually freed and let loose to take over unoccupied farm houses. They later moved to New York an then Illinois to recuperate.
Now here comes the review which basically explains why I rated it four stars. To begin, I would like to point out the dark, realistic viewpoint at which they look at the holocaust. They don’t baby you at all. They will tell you every detail no matter how disturbing it is. Next, I would like to tell about the emotional experience that this book takes you through. When reading this book it’s almost like you are the young family going through such an excruciating moment in time. Every time their hopes rise and then fall again I feel like I could just cry. Lastly, I would congratulate the Blumenthal’s for making it through the hard times. I think it’s amazing how an interesting plot comes around so naturally in the world around us.
In summary, Four Perfect Pebbles is an amazing book about a very young family surviving the holocaust together. It’s incredible that they could stay together the whole six years of mutual survival and all the sacrifices they made to help one another. I rated this book four star because it’s wonderfully written to tie into your emotions. Yet, I don’t think it is quite a five star book , but close to four and a Half. Overall, it’s superb and I will never forget about it.
In conclusion, this book will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that you won’t want to get off of. I hope you read it.
Four Prefect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal-Lazan
***
The book was about a little girl named Marion and her family during the holocaust. Her family was moved to several different concentration camps during their lives. While Marion was younger she would think that if she finds four perfect pebbles that she and her family will live. That static worked for awhile until they'd found their way to America. The holocaust al happened by one powerful man, named Adolf Hitler. During the trips from one concentration camp to another she had met Anne Frank and her sister Margot Frank. Then suddenly everything changed.
The whole book was about a family during Holocaust. One day while Marion and her mother was making soup to eat the guards can in for a surprise round, while trying to cover up what they were doing the boiling soup spilled all over Marion’s leg. While the pain kept growing she refused to scream up because she knew it would cause her and her family lives. The men and women were separated. While her and mothers were one on side of the camp her father and brother was on the other side. The Nazis killed so many Jews that they build mass graves everyday but still had to stack dead bodies upon dead bodies for room. Still until this day if you visit the camps and pick up a hand full of dirt there will still be bones from the dead people. Then camps were filled with many diseases. On her burn she would pick the lice of one by one and kill then with her fingers. Then when they did count they would be in the cold for hours at a time, so to prevent frostbite they would go back to their beds and urinate on their hands. So after awhile they got to America and by the time they arrived her father died of Typhus. Her leg did heal up and it i functioning great. Marion and her remaining family are still living to this day.
I like that she didn't let the Holocaust didn't bring her down and that she sees the world and her life as a gift. I also liked that she was so vivid in the details. I didn’t like that the book was so short. That the world was so cruel and made out of arrogant people.
In conclusion the book is a very heartbreaking and feeling novel.
Review rating was three for me. The reason of that was because I had a lot more of dislikes than likes. Also the book overall was good so that is why I rated it as a 3
Four Perfect Pebbles, By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
A Review of a true holocaust story
***
This is the book that I’m reviewing. And it’s called Four Perfect Pebbles. I actually like this book a lot because it tells the readers how their life was in the holocaust days. It’s kind of scary thinking back when you had to life and survive those terrible days. The Jews had to battle a lot of things in their life. Like getting sent away to a concentration camp with people that became very ill and had typhus. This disease was so deadly back then that it killed ten thousand Jews. There was a lot of women and young girls that had lice so the Nazi soldiers had to cut off their hair and lock it up in this one room. Like there was rooms filled with this one specific thing. Like there would be all the shoes of the Jews in one room.
Marion Blumenthal was only nine years old when her and her whole family was captured and sent away to go concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen in north-western Germany. When Marion was there she was often starved and scared that she might go to the gas chamber. Concentration camp was a place where only Jews went to do hard labor for a long time, you’ll get starved to die literally and lice was everywhere you go and when the Nazi soldiers was done with you they would say time for a shower but really there were going into the gas chamber to die. If they were nice they would give you food but a really little amount. No one deserves this kind of treatment. Every time you would get sent to the concentration camps then you would suffer from typhus or get lice you would have to get you have chopped off so you don’t spread it.
My opinion of this book is, I loved so much with all of the details in it and how it was a great example of a surviving a holocaust story! I loved how this book was called Four Perfect Pebbles because when the Nazi soldiers would let them take a break she would always play this game where she would have to find four pebbles that look all the same and she would count those perfect little pebbles as her family and if they are all the same she would think that all of her family that would make it out alive.
Basically this book is based about on a true story where a family of four that is Jewish and was captured by the Nazi soldiers. They tried so hard to live a secret life but they found them. They had to leave behind a lot of treasures and values to them because they were Jewish. So they had to be taken to Concentration camp. And many times all four of them was starved to death and worked all day in the hot sun or in the cold rain. And when they thought it was enough for them, the Nazi Soldiers sent them all in a gas chamber and let them die. And every time Marion got a break of work she would try to find four perfect pebbles. And if she did than that meant that her and her family would make it out alive.
I loved this book so much! It’s actually my favorite novel on trying to survive at concentration camp. I think I would definitely give this book a FIVE star rating because I loved everything in this book and I loved how and what it was based on! And I didn’t see anything wrong with this book!
Desiree Williams 6/7
Caleb Miller, 6-7 Period
Four Perfect Pebbles: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
“Four Perfect Pebbles; how this book changed me”
****
Four Perfect Pebbles has probably had a greater effect on me than any other book I’ve ever read. The events of this book have implanted themselves into my mind and probably will never leave. I think it’s really special since it’s written by Marion herself, who actually endured these horrible times. The fact that she is so young made this book even sadder, but strangely a little more interesting. While reading it, I felt as though I was Marion, going through the torture and starvation.
Four Perfect Pebbles is an autobiography that follows the horrid events of the Holocaust and World War 2, all through the eyes of a now 9 year old Marion. Marion and her mother, father, and brother, Albert, are taken to their first concentration camp in the year 1942. Throughout 3 years, they are transported into many different camps. The family must endure torture, starvation, and separation. Finally, in 1945, Bergen-Belsen (the camp they were currently in) was liberated by the British. They were loaded on a train called the Death Train, which got its name from all of the passengers that have died from Typhus. Later that year, their father, Walter Blumenthal passed away. The Death Train was liberated in late 1945, which forced the inhabitants to live on the countryside. Soon enough, the Blumenthals lived a normal life.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the fact that it was written by one of the survivors. For me, that adds a sense of realism to it, which makes it more interesting to read and harder to put down. Basically, the only thing I really disliked about it is the fact that it’s about the Holocaust. I know it really happened, but I like to think it didn’t. I don’t do well with this kind of topic. I also liked that Marion is willing to go back and write about that dark period in her life. If it was me, I’d find it extremely hard to talk about. Albert and their mother don’t really talk about it, so I’m glad that this story is told by someone.
In conclusion, Four Perfect Pebbles is a really good book about a really sad topic. I would recommend it to everyone.
Four perfect pebbles by: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Interesting story
****
World War II took place in Germany. It lasted 1939 to 1945 it involved other European countries and involving the United States. The leader of the Germany army and the Nazi party is Adolph Hitler. Him and the Nazi party started taking over other cities like Holland, Poland, Denmark, Czechoslovakia and lots of other cities. They had lots of camps concentration camps and death camps. The camp with the highest deaths was in Bergen-Belsen that is where Anne Frank and her sister Margo had died her sister died before her and she died three days after Margo had died. But there were some survivors in the camps like Marion Blumenthal and her mother Ruth Blumenthal and her brother Albert Blumenthal. But her father died of typhus but he had typhus over six weeks after the British rescued them when they were on the train on the way to another concentration camp. Typhus was a disease the killed over like two million Jews it was being spreaded by when Jews are in a train on the way to another camp and the doors are shut and people can't drink or eat and they stop so that they can dump out the bodies of the dead people that was already killed by typhus. Typhus is started by lice and the lice carry typhus so that was how typhus was spreaded and how many people it has killed.
The Germans took over half of Europe and Italy became their allies. They bombed the British and they tried to take over them but they wouldn't let them take them over. The date of when the Germans attacked United States was on December 7th, 1941. Then United States began the World War II. Then the war between Germans and United States took about five years until the United States was winning and then Hitler killed himself in his underground and hidden place he made and then United States won the war by dropping atomic bombs on China and Germany then they surrendered after they dropped seven bombs.
My evaluation is that this is a good review. The details are fantastic and it kind of describes some of the WWII.
I really loved this review and it was a great review. I loved the way he described the whole war and the rest of what happened on WWII.I loved the book on how it is in Marion’s point of view and the way she describe about how they were treating all of her family and the other Jews and about the dogs barking .
My final review is I gave it four stars because I loved this review. I really loved the book to is was pretty horrifying and nasty but I still loved it.
Four perfect pebbles
Marion Blumenthal lazan
Best book
*****
World war two took place in nineteen thirty nine in Germany and other European countries along with the United States. Along with other people Adolf Hitler was one of the main leaders of the Nazi party. Among the Jews and other people that were killed Anne frank and Margo frank died of typhus from lice bites and the spread of disease. At first the Jews were told they had to were stars to let people know they were Jewish but from there it got worse because the Jews were not allowed to have any one but from their business and stores because the guards would not let anyone through. All of the death camps were put there so the Jews were either locked up or killed in death camps or by disease on the train rides. Some of the names were very dramatically terrorizing along with the name of the train that took you too Auschwitz was the death train and it carried the typhus disease and many others in it. Most of the people did not even make it one day in the camps because of their already weakened bodies from the transit to these camps. The camps were so terrible because of the death rate of some of the camps. Auschwitz had one of the highest death camp rates with at least five thousand people dyeing each day.
The book was very sad but at the same time made very clear points. The book was wrote during the period of world war two and in a Nazi camp either death camp or a work camp whichever one Marion Blumenthal was in at the time. The mood she said the camps had were horrifying and very sad because the smell of dead bodies and the lice in the peoples hair. The train rides to these camps were very long and hard due to the fact that the lice would eat you up in the train. Then the allies came to save the Blumenthal’s along with other Jews and other denominations of religions the Nazis despised.
The evaluation of this book is there are very many bad things but the good things out way the bad by some much because you could have them at one point almost die but them be saved be the allies and the bad things would be the death camp smell and the dead bodies will make you feel sick no matter how hard you think it is to get you sick.
The story was very sad and gloomy because the war was not helping the Jews until allies liberated the camps and got them out but even before that over six million Jews and other people were killed before anyone could even get on enemy soil. The Jews that died were not at all worthy of their deaths or their trapping. The mood for the Jews went from worse to better when the allies came over to enemy soil the Jews knew that before long they would be put out of these camps for ever. After the war the Jews could not go back to original life because of the rebuilding that needed to be done, and because of the bombing of churches, houses and stores that the Jews owned.
My final review of the book would be that the book was a very good book and a lot of people that care in this world would fell so sorry and appreciate the things that they have more than the things that others have. Also people that did not care what happened to anyone but themselves would feel less of them and feel more towards others. And the people that had these things happen to them would feel more and more for the people that went through that. All and all the book was very good and a lot of people should read it.
Four Perfect Pebbles
By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
An amazing, horrorific story seen through a little girl eyes.
****
Have ever heard of the Holocaust and the disgusting descriptions of the camps and the Jewish people? Well have you heard it from a nine year old girl? I know I have and it gives me the chills! It gives me the chills more than hearing creepy old ghost stories! I’m talking about the book called Four Perfect Pebbles. This story is about a nine year old and her family trying to survive while they are held in the concentration camps. This book was written by the nine year old girl, her name is Marion Blumenthal.
Marion and her family was a Jewish family that lived in Hoya but later moved to Hanover because they lost their house. At age three, Marion experienced the terrible day called Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass. That was the day when Nazi’s destroyed two hundred synagogues, eight thousand Jewish shops windows smashed, all their Torah scrolls and holy books burned. They killed ninety-one Jewish men from street violence and took more than thirty thousand Jewish men to concentration camps.
The Blumenthal’s had gotten passports to travel to America but realized that they were taken to a concentration camp. The guards at the camp called out names of families who would be leaving to America. The Blumenthal’s wasn’t called. The dad went to a guard and asked if they forgot to call out there name. Consequently, the guard yelled at him to get in line. The Blumenthal’s were stuck in different concentration camps all across Europe for several years. Finally on April 23, 1945, the Russians stopped the train the Blumenthal’s were on when they were sent to a death camp. The Jews were set free. Sadly, the father died from the lice that were passed around all through the train.
The good parts in this story were when the family was not in the concentration camps and living a good life. For example, at the end of the story, Marion meets her future husband at a church in Indiana. On the other hand, the bad parts were the sad parts in the story. For example, when they were taken into the concentration camps. Another example is when the father dies and Marion’s older brother Albert had to bury his own father.
In conclusion, this is a really good book that is told in a little girl’s point of view. This book gives me the chills when I read it because it’s horrible to be in a situation like that. I think a lot of people should read this book so they can an understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust.
Over all I give this book four stars. I give it four because it’s a very interesting book that’s all about the Holocaust told by a little girl. I think a lot of people should read this book.
For Perfect Pebbles Review
Review for a True Holocaust story Lauren Brooks 6/7pd
****
I would give the book 4 stars because it tells a true story of what happened to them. The Blumenthal’s were a real family in the life of a concentration camp. This is an ennobling story of the triumph of a human spirit seen through a child’s eyes. The writing in the book is direct, no rhetoric or explanation, and devastating. It’s often moving and horrifying. It is well spoken as if it was talking to you. Innocent people were put to death for no reason. There was some confusion in the story with the German language they used. I don’t like that it doesn’t tell you what they were saying in English when they would speak German. The book wasn’t long and it was disappointing not to hear the end of the story. I would give the book a 5 star if it was written by Marion Blumenthal but instead written by Lila Perl. The book has more of a documentary feel to it.
Four Perfect Pebbles is a first person narration. It’s a family struggling to survive from this horrific time. After Reading Anne Frank and other accounts, this one does not carry the same emotional punch. It was still a sad story to read. Marion was a little girl who struggled to make it by. The whole family tried to stay together as one. Marion believed if she found the four pebbles that were identical to each other that they would survive the holocaust. This story was unbelievable to all the pain that they had suffered. After all these years she survived to be a free lady of the United States. She goes around telling about her life In the Holocaust, and I bet it’s even better than the book only because it was told by her. I could never place myself in her shoes. She is a strong independent woman.
The book is a good book, but it isn’t a bad book. The book is an okay book to read but I wouldn’t say hey, this book will help you with your report. It’s more of a just to read about a family going through trouble. Anna Frank would have to be the best book by far. I hate to give it a low score because this is what really happened to her. It would be better to see her tell her perspective rather than read it. I would say go listen to her speech rather than read it. She will soon be gone but her speeches will never be forgotten. I only can say from other peoples experience to her speech. I hear that is amazing and breath taking and that’s something I will never experience. The holocaust is something that no human being would never want to be in. You can see how one human being can be so powerful and bring harm to the world. So now that I am finished I would have to say this book is a four star book.
Four Perfect Pebbles
BY: Lila Pearl, Marion Blumenthal
A Book that will sting your feels.
*** (3 STARS)
This book takes a young girl, Marion, on a journey she will never forget. With disappointments and challenges at every turn, you will be both happy for Marion and feel bad for her. Marion was a young girl, trapped in the Nazi death trap. This book is of her adventure.
The book starts out with Marion, inside one of the Nazi’s camp. There is not a very good description of the camp, but you can sense the evil in the air. You know of the bat that they are in trouble. It quickly bounces back to Marion’s mother telling stories, and so the book really picks up speed. We get Marion in her regular life, and you really get to realize her as the hero. And so, when they are sent to camp, Marion creates a game. If she can find 4 very similar pebbles every day at the Nazi camp, she believes her family of four will survive. It is her way being up-beat about the situation.
I rated the book 3 stars, an average score. I had originally given it a 2, but I realized that the book has an amazing sense of heart and family. I would say the story is very eventful, delivering blow after blow to your heart. It is this powerful feel, this ability to make you feel so helpless, a horrible feeling inside for this girl, that makes this book as good as it is. I almost cried, twice. The description is outstanding at certain parts, but feels lacking at others. Overall, I finally decided 3 stars was the most fair overall rating.
In conclusion, I think that this book delivered. It landed right in my heart, becoming a book I will never forget. I learned allot, also, about just how bad her and her family, along with so many others, were treated. Although it may not be the most enjoyable read, it is one you probably won’t forget either.
The book had many good qualities, but also lacked slightly. It was touching, really, but I felt they could have done more for the story they had. Some parts of the book, like the very end, seemed to be compressed into only a piece of the book, when really they should have been longer. Although the description at some parts was excellent, it lacked at others and really tugs at your imagination for some back up. I would defiantly recommend this too a friend who is into history and core literature, but not someone who is into fiction allot.
BY JOREN CLOUTIER
Four Perfect Pebbles, By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Holocaust survivors share their story
****
The book I am reviewing is called Four Perfect Pebbles, written by: Lila Perl, and Marion Blumenthal Lazan. I liked this book a lot but it was just too depressing. It was very sad because Marion talked about the many horrors of concentration camps, and just the Nazis themselves. The things that Adolf Hitler (the supreme leader of Germany during that time period) and his many followers said did and even wanted to happen were just sickening. Even though this book is so depressing if you want information this book is chocked full of it. I would suggest this book to a curious person or a teacher of a higher grade level (such as 7th grade up) to read and teach about its many horrors. I think this book has helped learn that you shouldn’t take what you have for granted.
According to Marion, It all started the night of kristallnacht when her father was taken to Buchenwald for a long and painful eleven days. They fled to Holland where they would wait for there still-lacking visa to the United States of America. They lived in Rotterdam, Holland for about three months jumping from refugee camp to another. Soon after, they got an opportunity to move to Gouda, Holland where the parents would work while the kids stayed at the refugee camp for kids ages 8 to 15 they stayed there for the rest of the summer. Then they went to Westerbork which was a refugee camp for all ages. Westerbork was captured by Nazi soldiers and it became the first concentration camp. After awhile they were sent to Bergen-belson where they stayed until they were sent to the death train on their towards Germany, six days before Bergen- belson was liberated by the allies. After a few weeks the train was liberated by the Russians the sick were treated at a nearby base camp and the rest were quarantined at trobitz were they took the houses of Germans who fled in fear.
I thought the book was great but it seemed a little too sad. If you are trying to learn about how the Jews lived in the holocaust then I would strongly recommend this book to you. It would be great for a teacher to read to his/her class like I mentioned before.
This book is good and I believe that all people should read this book because it helps you learn that you should not take what you have for granted. It teaches about the holocaust and shows why the holocaust is such a big deal. It really was an eye-opener for me.
I recommend this book and think everyone one should read it. It is such a good book that I learned from it. I’m not a very big reader but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I strongly recommend this book to any one over the age of ten years of age. If you are curious then this book will help.
-Cameron Williams
Four Perfect Pebbles
By Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Review of Four Perfect Pebbles
Stars (1-5) ****
This book starts out with the Blumenthal family living in Hoya Europe. Their father was a shoe salesman and their mom stayed home with the kids Marion and Albert. When the Nazis first turn hostile all they did was put mean and insulting signs about Jews. Then they guarded stores that Jews owned so that they didn’t get business. After that Nazis would start harming Jews possessions like in Kristallnacht. Once moving to Holland the family eventually got sent to a camp where they lived a good chunk of their life.
A few main points in this book would be the camps and cities that the Blumenthal’s lived in. They first were in Hoya were the kids were born and lived their young childhood. After the Nazis started to take over they moved to a port city in Holland named Rotterdam where they planned to take a boat to America. Once the family got captured they departed from the Westerbork railroad station directed to go to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. After they lived in Bergen-Belsen they were sent on the death train to go to Austswicht . After that the lived in a nearby village then moved back to Hoya for one last visit before moving to America and living with their cousins.
I liked the book but I didn’t love the book. It was a good autobiography about the Blumenthal’s and their life as a prisoner. I liked the history aspect of the book like learning the numerous dates about the war. That was pretty interesting. The parts of the book I didn’t like was that there was no fighting or heavy duty action. I get that it is about Marion but I like some action. It was a good informative book overall.
In the conclusion to this book, the Blumenthal’s started at Bergen-Belsen. It was a notorious concentration camp. The family stayed there for about seven years. It was horrible because of the lice and disease that sifted through the camp taking lives. Next they were put on a death train and six days after being on the train Bergen-Belsen was liberated. The Death Train was headed for Austswicht but it never made it because the Russians liberated the train setting them free.
My final review of Four Perfect Pebbles is three stars. I say three stars because it wasn’t my favorite book but I also don’t like biographies that much. I would only read them to get information on a particular subject. I liked the story and information of the war in this book. Overall I liked the book and it kept me interested.
Nate McCartney 1-2 Period
Four Perfect Pebbles
Four Perfect Pebbles; Lila Pearl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
****
Introduction: Four Perfect Pebbles is the memoir of Marion Blumenthal Lazan's experience as a child during the Holocaust. When Hitler rose to power, this young Jewish family, Marion, her father Walter, her mother Ruth and her brother Albert were stuck in Nazi Germany despite trying to escape. No one expected Hitler to rise to power in the 1920s but as his political message of Germany economic recovery and anti-Semitism caught on, they became concerned. When Hitler became Chancellor, discrimination against Jews began in earnest and the Blumenthals' family store was quickly boycotted, forcing Walter to sell his products to customers in the countryside. As the situation worsened, the Blumenthals wanted to leave Germany, but they could not abandon Marion's grandparents until they died. Thus the Blumenthals stayed in Germany until it was nearly too late to escape. They applied for visas to enter the United States but they were not granted permission to travel in time to save them.
PLOT SUMMARY: The Nazi’s are taking over everywhere from Germany, to Poland, and even Holland. Marion and her family happen to be Jewish and become caught in the web of hatred precipitated by Hitler. Every time a ray of hope shines, darkness returns to cover it. Despite the hardships of the many camps Marion spends her childhood in, she never gives up hoping that her family will one day be reunited and find freedom. Marion believes that if she can find four perfect (identical) pebbles – they will symbolize that her family can stay together no matter how trying the times. The family eventually made it to Holland where they lived in a refugee camp for a few years but when the Nazis, life quickly worsened occupied Holland. Their refugee camp turned into a transit camp that sent Jews and other minority groups to the death camps, including Westerbork in Holland. Eventually they were forced into the Bergen-Belsen death camp in Germany where they lived for two years, struggling to survive disease, starvation and murder. While the family remained alive, they were deeply traumatized. As Germany started to lose World War II, the Blumenthals were moved further in Germany and more and more Jews were killed. They were placed on a "death train" for two weeks before the Russians liberated them. Afterwards, they lived in the East German city of Trobitz, where they lived off of abandoned food and shelter. Confined there for several months due to a typhus epidemic, a third of the population of Jews died, along with Walter, Marion's father. Soon thereafter the remaining Blumenthals were released.
Evaluation: This story is about Marion and her family’s journey from Germany to Holland and back. One of the things that struck me in this book was that she was actually thinking about which one was worse: hunger or the cold. She decided the cold was worse because her stomach shrank after being hungry for so long. Can you imagine trying to decide which of these things were worse?
Once she thought she saw a truck load of firewood at her camp-it was just a truck with dead bodies on it.
At her time of liberation in 1945 Marion was 10 1/2 years old and weighed only 35 pounds. Her mom weighed 75 pounds. Some people even died after being liberated for overeating since their bodies weren’t used to it. 3 years later at the age of 13 1/2 Marion weighed 135 pounds. She had gained 100 pounds in 3 years because of her love for fatty food.
This was another story that will exhaust your emotions.
Conclusion: Marion, Albert and Ruth returned to Holland where they waited for three years to acquire permission to emigrate to the United States. Moving several times in New York City, a Jewish organization responsible for Holocaust refugees sent them to Peoria, Illinois where Ruth, Albert and Marion gradually got on their feet emotionally and financially. In the end, they flourished, Albert and Marion married and Marion ended up with three children and five grandchildren. When the book was finished, Ruth was still alive and Marion had been speaking about her experiences during the Holocaust for fifteen years. Marion wrote the book with the help of writer Lila Perl. In the epilogue, they report that both Marion and Albert were able to return to their former homes in Germany and visit their father's grave.
REVIEW: This book is a riveting read. It provides a heart wrenching recollection of just how terrifying and uncertain life as a Jew in 1930s and 1940s was for many people. The survival of the Blumenthal family is miraculous yet still not untouched by tragedy. The accounts of living conditions in the camps are vividly detailed. This book would be a good accompaniment to any study of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and World War II. This book is a must read – because every student needs to know how dark the human soul can be and why they must learn to stand for the rights of others no matter how unpopular that may seem at the time. This book could be tied into the others about bullying – Hitler was the perfect example of a bully at full power.
By: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
The Rough Holocaust
*****
The holocaust is where the Nazis and the jews got into a big war and the Nazis would take the jews to a consentraition camp and kill them by gasing them to death. Sometimes even beating them to death.
This story was a description of how it was back during the times of The Holocaust. This shows how Jewish people were treated by the Nazis it just wasn’t fair and they couldn’t fight back or they would get beat up or get killed. Most died from typhus and starvation.
I love the way that they used a lot of detail on what it looked and smelled like I mean I could imagine it I would hate that I feel bad for the people who had to go through all that. I am happy for the ones that got out of there alive but feel sad for the ones who lost loved ones and the ones who died because they probably didn’t deserve it. I also love the fact that they used pictures so we could also get a feeling of what it was like for them there.
In conclusion, the holocaust was a terrible time for adults and children that were jewish because they were abused if they were to do something that the Nazis didn’t like.
Most of them were sent to consentration camp and were killed or died from typhus or starvation which was just so terrible and unfair for them.
by bobbi uphold 6/7th period
Introduction: Have you ever red the book “Four Perfect Pebbles"? It is a scary story of a family making their way through the Holocaust. The Blumenthals have survived except for the father who died of typhus. Albert was Marions brother who was smart boy his
The setting of the story is in a small town named Hoya. It is located in the north of Germany. The Blumenthal’s lived in Hoya for their most of there life until the Holocaust was put in action. When this horrible event was put in to motion lots where killed by the SS police of the Nazis. The Nazis were the group of soldiers that were ruled by a hanious man named Adolf Hitler. This man brought anyone he thought was different. He tortured them for years He put them in small bunks stacked three high that were only supposed to hold 3. Instead of grouping them in tree, he put up to six people sometimes Can you imagine living in the smallest space like that and let alone possibly having strangers with you. after they were abducted in Netherlands they were sent to Westerberg in Holland. Westerberg is what is known as a refugee camp. The crazed man, Adolf Hitler made three types of camps. A refugee camp is where he sent anybody from Jews to homosexuals to be traded to the next kind of camp, a concentration camp. . In a concentration camp, Hitler would make them work all day long! He is basically making them all slaves but the only difference is that he is making them work for no reason, The other type of camp was a death camp. They would be put in gas chambers and the deadly gas in them would kill them. They would also line them up in a row shoot them and bury them it was as simple as that for them. Bergen Billson was a concentration camp! They lived in there for three years and later on entered the terrifying death train. They were on this train because it was taking them to the death camp they were all afraid of going to, Auschwitz. When they got to Auschwitz they were going to be put in a gas chamber to die but the Russian soldiers saved them. They liberated the train after being on it for two weeks! After they were liberated they got on the boat and sailed to America. They were finally where they had longed to be after six years. They lived in New York City for about three years in before a Jewish organization moved them to Peoria, Illinois. They lived a long and happy life there and that is where they ended up living until Marion got married.
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