“Anyway pal, I’ve never heard of a ghost in short pants.”
“Excuse me, there are lots of us. Did they keep it a secret from you in the army? The Holocaust? Adolf Hitler — may he ch0ke forever on herring bones! You didn’t hear he told his Nazi meshuggeners, those lunatics, ‘Soldiers of Germany, have some fun and go murder a million and a half Jewish kids? All ages! Babies, fine. Girls with ribbons in their hair, why not? Boys in short pants, like Avrom Amos Poliakov? That’s me, and how do you do? No, I wasn’t old enough for long pants. Me, not yet a bar mitzvah boy when the long-nosed German SS officer shot me and left me in the street to bleed to death. So, behold, you see a dybbuk in short pants, not yet thirteen but older’n God.”
(from The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, page 5)
Freddie T. Birch is a former sergeant in the U.S. Army, a bombardier during World War II, an orphan with nowhere to go after the war ends. In 1948, when The Entertainer and the Dybbuk opens, Freddie is a ventriloquist doing shows across Europe and trying to scrape together a living. After a show in Vienna, The Great Freddie returns to his hotel room to find a dybbuk, the glowing spirit of a Jewish boy killed during the Holocaust. Avrom Amos Poliakov’s life was cut short before he had begun to live, and now he seeks revenge.
When the dybbuk asks Freddie if he can borrow his body, Freddie refuses, but he doesn’t stand a chance against the spirit, who is made strong by grief and hatred. However, the two find that they need one another, especially Freddie, who is booed during his shows because he moves his lips when throwing his voice. His act improves and generates much attention when the dybbuk supplies the voice of the dummy, but Freddie will receive more than a career boost from the dybbuk.
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk is a short book for younger readers that aims to introduce them to the Holocaust through a boy with whom they can identify and a supernatural plot that will grab their attention from the first page. Avrom once led a carefree life with his parents and his sister, but then he is forced to hide and run to avoid being captured by the Nazis. Because he was gunned down before his bar mitzvah ceremony, he will be forever a child, and readers are forced to think about the future he could have had if the Nazis had not wanted Jews, young and old, to be eliminated.
I’m not sure about the author’s story, but Sid Fleischman obviously has been personally affected by the Holocaust. Although the story is told simply and quickly for the benefit of younger readers, there is so much emotion and even bitterness in his words…and yet, it never feels too heavy to bear because of the little bits of humor he has the dybbuk add to the stage show, particularly jokes about the Nazis that are amusing and sad at the same time.
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk is a new type of Holocaust story for me; most of what I’ve read are memoirs or fictional accounts of survivors and how they move on, but I’ve never read one about a spirit focused on revenge. The revenge aspect of the story raises some important questions, taking it beyond a novel for young readers. When is revenge justified? Is it ever? One could say two wrongs don’t make a right, but when you stop and think — really think — about what they went through, how entire families were lost, how many futures were never realized, and how many survivors were unable to move on, is it justified then?
I found The Entertainer and the Dybbuk while perusing the YA section in my local library, and I was drawn to the creepy cover. However, even though a spirit is the main focus of the novel, the book is not creepy at all. I highly recommend it for readers of all ages because it is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Just think of all the discussions you could have with your children while teaching them about a period in history that should never be forgotten.
Disclosure: I borrowed The Entertainer and the Dybbuk from my local library. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I’m glad to see the book is so good, because I think the cover is rather creepy.
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When I saw the cover, all I could think about was R.L. Stine’s Night of the Living Dummy books, and I was so excited to find out it was a more serious, contemplative book.
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Wow, that sounds really interesting. I’d probably read this one.
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It’s really short, so you should give it a go. The pages are short with fairly large print, so the 170 or so pages were read by me in just a couple of hours.
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I have had a lot of students check this out and like it. I thought the cover was creepy too!
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The Girl got a copy out of the library, too, based on the creepy cover. Even though it’s not what she expected, she still wants to read it. I hope she gets a chance to before it’s due back at the library.
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Interesting – might be a good choice for a parent/child book group (with all the ethical discussions that would arise).
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Definitely! I hope The Girl finishes it so we can talk about it.
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Oh, this one is new to me. Sounds interesting.
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I the cover hadn’t been facing out on the library shelf, I never would have discovered it, so I’m glad for that!
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Wow Anna, I got chills reading your review, another one I need to read. I’ll also recommend it to Alex from The Children’s War http://thechildrenswar.blogspot.com
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
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I hope you get a chance to read it. It’s right up your alley!
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[…] We each grabbed a copy and planned to read it together. I finished the book first (check out my review), while The Girl read it more slowly as part of her daily in-class reading. A recent class […]
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This is a fascinating story and it sounds like a very good one for introducing children to the horrors of the holocaust. I find ventriloquist’s work and those dummies creepy so I think the cover is creepy. The revenge aspect of the story and the dybbuk of Avrom makes me feel that this is a book that should be read as part of a school assignment and/or with a parent since these are more adult idea that probably require some explaining. I’m glad Sid Fleischmann was able to use humore throughout the book because the bitterness and emotion of the story alone, without the humor, would make this a very different book.
This is the second children’s/YA book I’ve read about in the last day that focuses on subject matter usually found only in books for adults but is written in such a way that children can read and learn from the book. I’m not saying what I mean quite right, but anyway, thank you for reviewing this book that sounds compelling & riveting!
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I agree that the cover is creepy! We initially were looking for a creepy book, and we spotted this one because it looks like Slappy from R.L. Stine’s Night of the Living Dummy. When I noticed the WWII connection, I just had to read it.
The Girl already knows quite a bit about the Holocaust, so I didn’t feel like I had to read it with her, but we talked about it a little after she finished it. I think if you’re introducing children to the Holocaust through this book, then it would be important to have a discussion about it, especially given the revenge theme.
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[…] War by Ann Rinaldi (American Civil War) 28. Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles (American Civil War) 29. The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman (post-WWII) 30. Displaced Persons by Ghita Schwarz (post-WWII) 31. My Vicksburg […]
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