The Garden

After the War #2

by Carol Matas

As the United Nations prepares to vote on whether the Arabs and Jews should be separated in 1947, Ruth Mendolsohn, a Haganah member, finds her family life paralleling the outside world as her brother, an Irgun member, also prepares to fight.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Holocaust, Israel, Fiction, Young Adult

102 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[C.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember when I was younger and read this book, which is the sequal to "After the War", it really pissed me off that the girls on the covers don't even look alike! Ir is supposed to be the same person, and it is totally not.

[Sarah Patt · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing Matas' After The War I had to read its sequel The Garden and I am so glad I did. This book chronicles life in Israel for the same group of young Jewish immigrants who survived the Holocaust. Even though it was only 100 pages, Matas's depth and details to the story and the history were heartwrenching and valuable for those readers who don't know the hardship it took to create Israel into a state. The trials and tribulations among more unnecessary deaths was unimaginable. I appreciated the glossary too at the end. I learned a lot in this short historical novel and highly recommend it. I finished it in two days and so will you!

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very emotionally difficult. Violence, warfare, and death. I did learn quite a bit. I would NOT give this to anyone under 15. Not just because of the violence, there are also a couple of sex references, which were not present in After the War.

[Charlotte]

informative and education, but rather horrible in its (realistic, but still awful) violence. Not the book about tending a garden I'd hoped it would be, simply Jews and Arabs fighting at the birth of Israel as a nation.

[Sequoyah Branham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very rough book to be in the middle grade section.
War is real, but I don’t think I’d want my kids to read about it in such a raw and harsh manner.
The prose themselves are very rough as well.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth Mendelson, a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp, and other Polish refugees are living on a kibbutz in Palestine. Ruth's main job is to tend the garden which she does with devotion and intensity. The flowers bring her the peace and solace that has been missing from her life for some time. Ruth and some of the other young kibbutzim are members of the Palmach, an elite fighting unit of the Haganah. Ruth, Zvi, Ruth's boyfriend, and Nate dress as medical personnel, enter a British military installation, and steal guns. In retaliation, the soldiers tear the kibbutz apart including Ruth's garden. Soon after this the United Nations votes to make Israel a country, and real trouble begins. Million of Arabs mass on the borders of the small new country. Ruth is sent to Jerusalem with a gun hidden in her clothes. On the way the bus is attacked and the girl sitting next to her dies. Then Kibbutz David comes under attack and the Palmach group is sent to clear it out. Ruth's friend Assiya's father is an instigator. After this, the group blows up Arab military convoys and rides shotgun on Israeli supply convoys. It is sent to clean out more Arab villages. Many of the young Israelis fight with a fanatical zeal trying to avenge the death of family at the hand of the Nazis. Ruth is sickened by the slaughter that occurs during the attacks. In one foray, Zvi's legs are badly hurt. Ruth is with him on the day that Israel officially becomes a country. That night, Jerusalem is attacked by Arab jet fighters. The hospital is a target. Ruth and a young man named Ben, help Zvi out the hospital. Ben is hit while they make their way to a ditch. Then Ruth takes a bullet in the shoulder. In the noise and malay of the attack, while lying in the ditch, Zvi relives his parents death and finally screams away his long-hidden grief. The next day, lying in adjacent hospital beds, Ruth and Zvi plan their future.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book chronicles life in Israel for the same group of young Jews who Matas introduced in After the War. It is a young adult novel--while there are definitely difficult parts, I appreciate that Matas kept the information age appropriate. However, while After the War felt sufficiently fleshed out, I think this book would have benefited from being longer to add depth and details to the story and the history (it was only 102 p with the glossary). Nevertheless, a VALUABLE book that doesn't attempt to make the Jews perfect, but does give depth to the variety of responses of the immigrating Holocaust survivors.

[Miss Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

gr 8+ 98pgs


Nov 1947-May 1948 Israel-Arab War. 16 year old Ruth now lives at Kibbutz David and is a member of Haganah. As the UN vote for the partition of Palestine gets closer tensions increase between Arab and Jewish neighbors. When the vote passes war erupts. As a member of the Palmach, the crack troops of Haganah, Ruth works to defend convoys and kibutzim from attack.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I thought that it was neat to read abut what happened to the people AFTER the holocoust. Also, I had never really known much about he struggle for land between the Arabs and the Jews, and now I do. It was a very easy read and had a very unique way of telling history.

[Marie-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Survivors of the Holocaust settle in Yretz Israel and fight for survival. Awesome book.