Mapping the Bones

 Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen

ISBN:  978 - 0399257780
 
Publish Date: March 6th 2018

Read Date:01/19/2018 - 01/24/2018
 
**** Apologies for the repost, I accidentally deleted this review****

Thank you to Jane Yolen, Goodreads, Penguin Teen and Philomel Books for an advanced uncorrected galley of Mapping the Bones. I received my copy of this book as a giveaway, and my honest review is not required.

Normally a 413 (ish) page book takes me around 2 days to get through. This book however, took me a couple more days. It was a hard, albeit good read. The subject matter is a hard one to stomach.

This fictional story based in 1940s during the Holocaust follows the life of 4 children, Chaim, Gittel, Sophie and Bruno.

This book is basically split into 2 parts.

The first half of the book is the story of the 4 children and how they were forced from their homes into a Polish Ghetto by the Nazis, where they lived in squalor waiting for their " wedding invitation" to relocate them once again and their escape to the Polish border.

The second part of the book follows the childrens capture by German soldiers and their placement in a labor camp where the children try to survive unclean water, spoiled food and the inhumane experiments done by the Doctor. (The Doctor is modeled off of Dr Mengele)

While it was a very good read there were parts that i could have done without. Throughout the book, Chaim doesn't speak due to a severe stutter and uses hand signs that only his sister knows to communicate, but is able to proficiently speak through poetry. Because of this there is quite a bit of randomly placed poetry. Bruno has a superiority complex, which renders him rather annoying. I am not certain this was not done purposefully. The way the children are written rather annoyed me, because i felt a bit of their story was added mush, that could have been left out.

My general annoyance with the children did not take away from the book as a whole, as i still gave it 4 stars.

There is minor graphic explanations of the experiments performed at the camp.

Marketed as a Young Adult Fiction genre for ages 12-18, I felt uncomfortable reading parts at 36. I would allow and encourage my teenagers to read this book, but provide them with a word of caution.