First championed in the English language by Irving Howe and Philip
Roth, AHARON APPELFELD was born in a village near Czernowitz,
Bukovina in 1932. During World War II, he was deported to a
concentration camp in Transnistria, but escaped. He was eight years
old. For the next three years, he wandered the forests. In 1944, he
was picked up by the Red Army, served in field kitchens in Ukraine,
then made his way to Italy. He reached Palestine in 1946. He has
written many novels which depict the Holocaust, including Badenheim
1939 (1978)and The Conversion (1998).Today, Appelfield is Professor
Emeritus of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University at
Beersheva, a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and
Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has won numerous
prizes, including the Israel Prize; the MLA Commonwealth Award in
Literature; the Prix Medicis etranger in France; the Premio
Grinzane Cavour and Premio Boccaccio Internazionale; the Bertha von
Suttner Award for Culture and Peace; and the 2012 Independent
Foreign Fiction Prize. In 2013, he was a finalist for the Man
Booker International Prize.
JEFFREY M. GREEN began to translate for Aharon Appelfeld in the
1980s and has translated a dozen or so of his novels. Green is the
author of Thinking Through Translation (University of Georgia
Press), as well as short stories, poems, novels, book reviews, and
essays.
"Deeply moving and powerful: unforgettable." —Kirkus
Reviews
"A fine addition to elementary and middle school libraries looking
for tender friendship and survival stories set during the second
World War." —School Library Journal
"Adam and Thomas is at once a finely wrought fable and a
realistic tale of survival—a tale of resourcefulness, of
friendship, of the kindness of strangers, of the mysterious ways of
fate. It’s a book that shows us how sheer will and hope can
sustain life in the direst of circumstances. It’s a book that
teaches us to marvel at simple miracles: a piece of bread, a sip of
milk, the sight of a familiar dog. Most of all it’s a story
of generosity, one that suggests that the act of giving may be as
necessary to our survival as food or drink. Thank you, Mr.
Appelfeld, for the gift of this magical book." —Julie Orringer,
author of The Invisible Bridge
"Aharon Appelfeld is a living legend, an artistic giant who has
distilled his personal experience of absolute evil into a pure and
powerful art." —Dara Horn, author of The World to Come and A Guide
for the Perplexed
“A real masterpiece ... The best book of the year.” —Lire
"The story is one of quiet perseverance and growing friendship
between two very different boys experiencing the
world together in a horrific time and
place." —Booklist
“Aharon Appelfield’s first book for children has the beauty of a
classic tale, the woods/forest referring to the origins of the
species and man. The adventure is enthralling, the words simple,
the drawings by Philippe Dumans deeply touching. The questions,
immense." —Telerama Enfants
“All the talent of Aharon Appelfeld is here in his way of tackling,
in a calm and fragile voice, the great themes of our existence—what
is love?, what is hate?, what is courage?—without our wishing for a
second to close the book. Whether one is a child or not.” —Le
Soir
“Aharon Appelfield chose to use his personal experience as
inspiration (as a child he escaped from a concentration camp and
survived a few months in a forest, after his mother was
assassinated by the Nazis) without treating that experience in an
overly dramatic way, and instead tells a tale in a simple and
accessible style. A touching and captivating tale that will be
appreciated by young readers and adults.” —Lecture
“A mind-blowing novel.” —L’independent
“A deeply moving tale that the delicate drawings by Philippe Dumas
powerfully illustrate.” —La revue des livres pour enfants
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