Don't Forget

by Patricia Lakin

"Sarah didn't think the Singers talked about long ago. That was when the Nazis gave them the blue numbers and put them in the concentration camp -- just because they were Jews." As Sarah buys ingredients for a surprise cake for her mother, the shopkeepers tell her not to forget their baking secrets. But Mr. and Mrs. Singer have another secret that makes Sarah afraid to even enter their store -- until they teach her the life-affirming message that no matter how difficult, the past should never be forgotten.

Genres: Picture Books, History, Holocaust

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Ch_jank-caporale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure exactly which shelf to put this one on. Sarah wants to make an Orange Sponge Cake to surprise her mother for her birthday. She has a list of ingredients she must gather before she bakes. Her shopping takes her into the shops of what appears to be a Jewish/Russian New York neighborhood. Each shop keeper provides another ingredient from her list and a piece of advice she is not to forget. Sarah is hesitant to shop at the Singers' because they are nice but they have a secret that makes her uncomfortable- they have tattoos on their arms, and she knows how they got them, but is afraid she'll stare. When Sarah apologizes to the helpful Mrs. Singer, and tells her she knows her secret, Mrs. Singer replies, "The numbers should never be a secret...If no one knows about bad things, they can happen all over again. Don't forget."
The message of this story is important on several planes. First, Sarah learns important things from each of her adult neighbors. She also learns that bad things should not be kept secret. Not all Holocaust survivors want to talk about their experience, but no one wants anyone to forget what happened to them. Much of my interest in Holocaust education stems from the fact that when I was a child, it was never spoken of. The first person I encountered with a number tattoo pulled her sleeve down and turned a cold shoulder to me when she caught me trying to confirm whether or not I'd seen what I thought I saw! It was years before I'd gathered enough information to confirm what I'd read in Leon Uris' Exodus as a child. The march in Skokie furthered my determination to know more and to share what I know; it also prompted the formation of the Illinois Holocaust Memorial Foundation which established the Illinois Holocaust and Education Center.
While this book is fiction and the Holocaust is alluded to but not told about, the book does a good job of opening the discussion about respect for people's privacy and our need to know. The simplicity of the story to frame a complex issue makes this an excellent choice for classroom use.

[Jacklyn Descano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great way to describe some effects the holocaust had on people and the scars it left on their lives. I reccommend this book to any type of reader because it really helps you understand some of the results of the wars back then.

[Mason Ogren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good, but it didn't really explain the Holocaust the only thing about the Holocaust was the store owner having a number on his arm

[Owen Boskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It reminded its audience of how you should never forget your heritage and your own story in the past.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lakin, P. (1994). Don’t Forget. New York: Tambourine Books.
Sarah is on a mission: to buy all of the needed ingredients to bake her loving mother a cake. One of the shops she does to is owned by concentration-camp survivors, and she notices the numbers tattooed on their forearms. They see her staring and invite her in to bake the cake for her mother while they talk about the importance of forgiveness and the value of love. The art in the book is fairly realistic, and the illustrator does a very good job of drawing the reader in to the story. This book can be tied to various units and themes, including love, forgiveness, World War II, the Holocaust, food, and post-World War II society. I would use this book to show my students how survivors
responded to the hardships they endured. So often, books are written about how terribly the Jews and other Nazi victims were treated. These portrayals are important, but I want my students to be able to move beyond the atrocities of war and understand the realities of survivors’ lives and how they rebounded from tragedy.

[NS - Cami Houston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appropriate for 2-5 grade, a little girl wants to bake her mother an orange sponge cake as a surprise for her birthday. But she is afraid to go to the store because it is owned by a Jewish couple who survived a Nazi camp. They still have the blue tattooed serial numbers on their arms, and Sarah tries not to stare. The wife reassures her that it is okay that she saw the tattoo, and reminds her that we cannot forget the bad things or they will happen again. The strength of this book is its powerful message for young readers. This story ends sweetly when the wife helps Sarah feel comfortable in her store and even takes her back into the kitchen to help her with the cake for her mother. All throughout the story there are little things that Sarah need not forget, such as her money and her list of items for the cake on the way to the store. But it also speaks to the larger context of the tragedy of so many Jewish live lost during the rule of Hitler; lest we repeat the same horrific mistakes, then Don't forget.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just wasn't feeling it. Supposed to be a "life-affirming" story set against the backdrop of a post war Jewish neighborhood, but it just doesn't follow through. The little girl on the front cover looks completely stressed as she looks at her list of ingredients to buy for her mother's birthday cake. Apparently, she wants to avoid the Jewish grocer because she feels uncomfortable looking at the numbers on his arm. the point of the story is that the numbers should not be forgotten but I felt like the story could be told in such a better way. It lacked a real story.

[Brianna Carcione · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl, Sarah, who wants to make a surprise cake for her mother. Now,there are owners the shop, the Springers, who know special baking secrets. They were apart of a concentration camp and he, Mr. Springer, has his number tattooed on him. Sarah is pretty much afraid to go into the store, but at the end she learns some new things about the owners and makes the cake for her mom.

[Rose]

E Lak

[Alfajirikali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how the message of remembrance (of the holocaust) was dealt with in this book.

[Kiera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story contains a lot of Jewish culture and history. Contains a recipe at the end and would be good for an activity involving cooking, especially ethnic foods.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautiful story post-Holocaust about a little girl who was baking a cake for her mother with the help of a couple of Jewish shop owners who had been in concentration camps.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very moving book about don't just look on the outward appearance of a person,but it is what is in the inside that make you ... you

[Matt Ciocco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about a girl who is tiring to bake a cake with out her mom knowing. But she does not want to go to the Singer's store because they were Jews in concentration camps

[Lila Ernst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story about a girl trying to find ingredients for a cake for her mom and learns about the people with numbers on their arm who own the local shop.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book but it was pretty confusing.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice story.

[Anthony]

I thought it was confusing and didnt relaly make any sense