Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust

February 25, 2013
Lauren Yanofsky, an intelligent and inquisitive high school junior, decided three years ago to renounce her Jewish faith, deeply disappointing her parents. She grew up going to a “cliquey” Hebrew school and having a Holocaust historian for a father, which meant that most family vacations involved visiting sites of Jewish persecution. A combination of learning that several of her ancestors were killed in the Holocaust and diving headlong into researching the subject led Lauren to distance herself from Judaism (“Why would anyone want to belong to a religion that was all about loss, grief and persecution?”). Meanwhile, at the public school Lauren insisted on attending, her friends are growing apart, and her crush, Jesse, shows an unexpected interest in her. When Lauren catches Jesse with a group of drunken boys pretending to be Nazis, however, she reconsiders her relationship with the religion she’s turned away from. Lieberman (The Book of Trees) smoothly weaves humor and knowledge about Judaism through Lauren’s story. Lauren’s narration is contemplative and from the heart, and readers should relate to her attempts to identify her beliefs and tackle life’s big questions. Ages 12–up.

March 15, 2013
A Jewish teen who has decided to become "un-Jewish" experiences a soul-searching junior year. Lauren found herself with a newly formed nonreligious identity after questioning her Jewish education, her father's profession as a Holocaust historian and her discomfort with Judaism's commemoration of centuries-old persecution. After eight years of Jewish day school, Lauren convinced her parents to let her attend public high school, where she has strengthened friendships with some of the gentile kids from her neighborhood. But these kids are changing too, and some of their new interests (Bible study group and the smokers' crowd) leave Lauren lost in a teen world in which she is unwilling to participate. When she comes across a group of her male peers playing war games as Nazis, Lauren's discomfort with her own reaction creates powerful psychological turmoil, which is complicated when she dates one of the boys. Lauren's Judaic background includes her grandmother's Holocaust past, in which 11 family members perished. Lieberman, known for her edgy, provocative Jewish-themed novels, Book of Trees (2010) and Gravity (2008), creates another strong female protagonist, whose characterization of Judaism as a religion "about loss, grief and persecution" will raise eyebrows with both Jewish and non-Jewish readers. A thought-provoking exploration of a teen's evolving ideals. (Fiction. 13 & up)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-After attending a private Jewish day school since kindergarten, Vancouver teen Lauren Yanofsky convinces her parents to let her attend public high school. But because she refuses to participate in Jewish activities, they won't allow her to get her driver's license. Lauren considers that a small price to pay since she doesn't want to be Jewish anymore. Her father is a professor of Holocaust studies, and Lauren is "sick of the Holocaust being the defining element of being Jewish." She feels as if she knows too much about the destruction of European Jewry during World War II and has even toured Polish concentration camps. When she discovers a group of popular boys, including her crush, Jesse, wearing swastika armbands and playing a Nazi war game, Lauren has no idea how to handle the situation. Jesse tells her to relax, and her friend Brooke says, "they play all those war video games...and need to burn off some of their testosterone by pretending to shoot each other." Are the boys anti-Semitic? Should she tell her parents, report them to the school, or just forget about it? Brooke is hanging out more with the Smokers and pining after Jesse. Lauren feels utterly alone. Lieberman provides a realistic, satisfying ending that doesn't tie things up too neatly. Teen issues of changing friendships, first kisses, family friction, and drinking are combined with fully developed characters, spot-on contemporary dialogue, and a unique plot that will give readers of all backgrounds plenty to think about.-Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
Grades 7-10 Heavy topics get a lighthearted treatment in this smart, observant story of a girl who has had it with being Jewish. A recent non-Jew by choice, 16-year-old Lauren is numb to the tragic history always being brought up by her Holocaust historian father. At my house, she says, every day was Holocaust Remembrance Day. While trying to distance herself from her family's traditions, she comes up against a related moral dilemma. The cute boy who is finally paying attention to her plays a squirt-gun war game with friends in which he wears Nazi insignia. He doesn't mean to offend, but can she forgive such offensive stupidity? Lauren senses hypocrisy everywherewhy, for example, do other genocides she learns about in school get none of the same attention? Lieberman draws a strong portrait of a girl who can't find comforting answers, and that is the strength of this book: despite an overly tidy conclusion, satisfaction eludes Lauren, and life remains as messy and conflicting as ever.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)