The Big Lie A True Story by Isabella Leitner 12 Copies Class Reading Set

by Isabella Leitner

The Big Lie A True Story by Isabella Leitner 12 Copies Class Reading Set

Genres: Nonfiction, Holocaust, History, World War II, Memoir, Childrens, Juvenile

Paperback

Published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ Cait ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Big Lie: A True Story" by Isabella Leitner is a beautiful and deeply moving account of survival, strength, and loss during one of history’s darkest times. Leitner’s storytelling is raw and honest, and her words made me tear up more than once. Her ability to capture the horrors of the Holocaust while still showing hope and resilience is truly touching. Isabella and her family are some of the strongest people I’ve ever read about, and their bond carried them through unimaginable pain. As someone who is a sucker for Jewish stories about WWII and a WWII history nerd, this book spoke to me on a deeply emotional level. It’s a story that lingers in your heart long after you’ve turned the final page. Stories like these will always receive a five-star rating from me.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

*reread*

[Rachel]

ummary: This is a true story of an Hungarian Jewish girl and her family during the time of World War II. The Nazis had invaded Europe and were relocating all of the Jews to Nazi death and concentration camps. Isabella Leitner, her mother, 3 sisters, and brother were among those placed in these camps. Isabella relates her experiences of the deaths of her mother, two sisters, and friends. In her own small way she was able to fight the German Nazis and "The Big Lie" by simply staying alive for the last year of the war. "The Big Lie" was devised by Nazi Party Leader, Adolf Hitler. He was a Jew hater who blamed the Germans high unemployment rate on the powerless minority of Jews present in Germany. Hitler planned to ultimately exterminate the entire Jewish population.
Social Studies Relevance: This book could be used with a unit on the Holocaust or World War II. It could also be used with a unit on the study of people and their ability to use past experiences to improve their way of life. It is a book that covers the strong bonds of family, culture, and how human beings behave within groups. It would also be useful when teaching about customs of a group and why members of a group are willing to put aside their own beliefs to follow the rules of a group.
Grade Level Focus: 5th grade
Relationship to Social Studies State Core:

* Create individually or in a group, one or more of the following: newspapers, poetry, letter writing, diaries, dialogues, or songs.
* Evaluate with other class members right and wrong actions, according to universal standards, as being morally acceptable or unacceptable.
* Outline a major historical event dealing with people, wars, and documents that played a significant role in United States history.
* Use maps to explain the geographic setting of historical and current events.
* Explain the limits and scope of freedom in a democratic society.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

What interests me about this book is how matter of fact she tells so many of the events that happened in her life, such as the arrival at Auschwitz when Dr. Mengele directed people off the cattle cars either to the left or right. "Those sent to the left by Dr. Mengele, like Mama and Potyo, were sent directly to their deaths." (p. 46) It makes sense to me because she surely has to displace herself from much of it, or she would live her life in misery, never living beyond the atrocious events.

I have never stopped to think WHY so many Nazis followed Hitler faithfully and committed such dreadful acts, so the afterward in which she explains Hitler's Big Lie--convincing the Germans that the Jews were responsible for their lack of employment after the Great Depression. It's scary to think how this could happen again. Think of how people start believing most anything because their situations get bad and they need someone to blame. Let's hope people can think beyond this irrational way of looking at the world.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book about the Holocaust. I read it in first or second grade, and I remember being so horrified that I wrote in pen on the inside cover, "Hannah Gomez hates Hitler!" I still have the book.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent quick read for Holocaust studies! Extremely appropriate for 5th graders and has a really well-written, comprehensive epilogue about the entire time period.

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, excellent book relating the true story of Isabella and her family, Hungarian Jews in 1944. We hear of her experiences in her village and in the ghetto, but mostly of her time in Auschwitz. I've used this 80 page book as a read-aloud in a third grade classroom. It tells simply of the tragedy of the Holocaust without gory details, yet it becomes very real. The afterword is a good summary of World War II for elementary students. A good quick read -- take the time to find this at the library! I hope to read Isabella Leitner's memoir as well.

[Cooper]

I read the book called The Big Lie about the Holocaust which is a non fiction book. The author’s purpose is to show that if you treat others the same they will treat you right. The purpose is to treat others the same; you don't know their story, and you will never know their story. This story is great, knowing that hiding in a dog house can save your life. It is a very interesting story about kids who give their all and fight for their lives.
This was a Very, Very, Very interesting book about kids who fight for lives because they knew that this was their last hope, and this was their last chance to escape and get away from the camp. This was the camp that they were going to where they would be getting put in the gas chamber and be killed along with lots of others.
This story is not like others; it really hits you in the heart and will most likely make you cry. If you don't cry, you’re pretty dang strong. If you are looking for a good book this a book for you and you will love this book. I'm a little hesitant about reading books at times, but this book will keep you up past your bedtime. This book will put a smile and a tear down your face. :) :’(

[Karina Nochvay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book that I read is called The Big Lie. It’s genre is Non-fiction. This book is about the Holocaust. The plot is that Isabella and her sister are prisoners at Auschwitz. My favorite character is Isabella, because she is the person who takes care of all of her brothers and sisters.The characters have many adventures by going through all of these problems. The purpose of this book is to show how much pain Isabella went through.
The book increased my background knowledge by teaching me how much pain Isabella went through in the Holocaust. All the events are true regarding how she was treated in the Holocaust. The Nazis invaded and discriminated against the Jews, and tried to take over.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book because I learned much more than I thought I was going to learn when I read this book about the Holocaust. I also never knew what the Holocaust was really about. I would recommend this book to some people because it has a lot of info about the Holocaust and about the story of Isabella.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading accounts from survivors of the Holocaust because I think even in today's society, it is something we try to overlook or forget about. Isabella's story had me moved to tears, and I must say I learned many things that I did not know from other stories I have read or movies I have watched. One thing that I liked about this book was that in the back, it told the history of World War II. I think this would be good in a history class to read if you were talking about WWII, and having the history of WWII in the back acts as a refresher of the events that led up to the war and what happened during the war. The pictures in this book were extremely simple, but had the desired effect of making you realize something terrible happened to Jewish people during that time. Isabella also told what she remembered of what happened in Auschwitz in great detail, which is part of the reason I felt myself shaking my head and having tears in my eyes as I read the story.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isabella was living in a small Hungarian town in 1944, when the Nazis took her, her sisters and brother, and her mother to the trains for deportation. Despite being in Auschwitz and Birnbaumel before escaping during a death march to Bergen-Belsen, Leitner, two of her four sisters, and her brother survived to join their father in the US as the war wound down.

Told in a very simple way, this 79-page chapter book is a good step between picture books and novels for students with developing vocabulary or very little knowledge of the Holocaust. All related vocabulary is introduced through appositives or direct definitions. The 6-page "afterward," is really a short and concise explanation of the major events of World War 2.

[Lindsay Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was one I read over and over as a child/preteen. There was a time when I was obsessed with World War II and would read any story - fiction or not - I could get my young hands on. The great thing about this book was that it relates the horrific events of World War II in a way that a child can understand without being overtly graphic.

The story of this family and their move from a nice house to a concentration camp and eventually to freedom in America is both moving and heartbreaking. The fact that these are true events from the author's life make it that much more profound.

Definitely would suggest this to any upper-elementary school aged child interested in this specific time in history.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a young Hungarian Jew, Isabella and her family are persecuted and deported to the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz. Separated from her mother and brother Isabella and her younger sisters are left to fight for their own survival. By the end of the war Isabella and her sisters find a way to escape their hellish life.

Reading a true account of holocaust life is always an emotionally heavy experience, and reading this one was no different. The author writes with childlike language which further depicts the atrocities that she and her sisters had to endure. I would recommend this book to male or female adolescents starting at age 12. This novel would be a perfect introduction to World War II for students that have not had any previous exposure to it.

[Michaela Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the book The Big Lie by Isabella Leitner. It’s about Isabella who describes her experience during the Holocaust. She shares that the Nazis forced her to wear a yellow star because she is Jewish. Her purpose is to inform us how the world used to be and to not let that happen again to people or to anyone ever again.
I feel that she was effective in conveying her purpose for the book. The reason that I think this is because it’s telling about her life and the life of her family. I think the one reason this book strikes me is how she survived all of the bad things that happened to her in her life. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes non-fiction books. It’s a great book to read, but it is a short book.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about Hungarian Jewish girl and her family during the time of World War II. The Nazis had invaded Europe and were relocating all of the Jews to Nazi death and concentration camps. Isabella Leitner, her mother, 3 sisters, and brother were among those placed in these camps. Isabella experiences of the deaths of her mother, two sisters, and friends. In her own small way she was able to fight the German Nazis and "The Big Lie" by simply staying alive for the last year of the war. "The Big Lie" was devised by Nazi Party Leader, Adolf Hitler. He was a Jew hater who blamed the Germans high unemployment rate on the powerless minority of Jews present in Germany. Hitler planned to ultimately exterminate the entire Jewish population.

[Isaiah Large · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Big Lie

The author’s thesis in the book The Big Lie is educational. The author’s purpose is to teach people to be kind to each other. The author has not written anything else about this topic. My position towards this book is to read it, if you would like to find out more about the Holocaust that is accurate and meaningful. This book is about a girl who survived the Holocaust with her sister. She survived the death march by running away when no one was looking. I now know that they didn’t just shoot the Jews, they gassed them as well. I liked this book, and I found out that the information was educational because of the way the author tells you what happened to her.

[Susan Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very basic, easy-to-read (considering the subject) first-person narrative of a young woman and her family's experiences during the Holocaust. The book includes many aspects of the Nazi attack on Jews in Europe, including being moved into crowded ghettos and later transported in cattle cars on trains to concentration/death camps. Also described are the cruel "selection" by Dr. Josef Mengele, the gas chambers and crematoriums, and death marches. The brutal mistreatment of millions of innocent men, women, and children, including beatings, starvation, and straight murder is horrific and unforgettable.

Never again.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

As of yet I haven't found a better book to introduce the Holocaust to younger children. This may be suitable for children even younger than pre-teens but as I'm not sure I don't want to make that statement.
Leitner is a talented author and that shows even in this bare minimum story. I'll probably keep this for my daughter for when she's an appropriate age and I wish someone had handed me this when I was younger. Maybe I would have had this interest long before now and I can't imagine all the books I could have read and all I could have learned in the time that has past.

[Mrs. M · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Big Life is a story about Isabella Leitner's experiences during the Holocaust. I am very interested in the Holocaust, so I like any story that can give me insight into the lives of those who lived through such a terrible time. However, as I read this book, I was constantly wanting to know more. It seemed as though this book was a summary of her life, so she did not include many supporting details that would have been interesting to those who want to learn more about what life was like during that time. I did like how she added an afterward that included facts about World War II.

[penelopewanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I bought this thinking it might be something to read with a class of teenagers but it was obviously wrongly advertised as it addresses a far younger public - in a way. Of course the subject matter is not for the very young. I guess I was disappointed by the succintness of this - pretty much just the bones of the events, without much else. The best bit is probably the afterword which provides a fairly thorough and concise summary of the holocaust and surrounding events.

[Araceli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good.this book talks about A girl and her family livening during the holocaust.I remember reading this book when I was 10 in fourth grade.I was so in to the holocaust back then now I just think I spent a month researching that junk!!!!!!but like I was saying that it was about a girl who had to stay a live during this time. While this is happening the dad I in American.but my question is where was Hitler during this book?

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very simple telling of the Holocaust from the perspective of a young Hungarian girl, the book is both moving and informative. I would use this during a social studies class to give students a quick view of life in a concentration camp. Very simple sentence structures make this a good book for ESOL students.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good introduction of the Holocaust to young readers. The author details the atrocities that took place in a matter of fact and simple way that teaches the truth about Nazi Germany without being too scary for the age group that it is intended for. Very worthwhile read for 3-5 graders interested in history.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, learning about the history of the world through the eyes of a child. It's a very different perspective to hear it from a child and not an adult. Very well written book, an easy read for children who are interested in history. Adults, please be aware that this is a children's book.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in 3rd grade, and it was one of the first times I was exposed to the holocaust as it actually happened. I was very captivated. I reread it when I was older, and it was still just as good and honest. Very short, and very worth the time.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story of a woman's survival w/her three sisters as they survive the last year of the war in Aushwitz and Bergen Belsen.
Good short story for youth and someone who might not want all the details of the Holocaust.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I ever read about the Holocaust and it's a truly great tool for introducing children to a subject as difficult as this one. HIGHLY encourage elementary schools to add this book to their libraries.

[Mrs. Hassig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good beginning book on the Holocaust. Isabella also has a second book that goes into more depth but this is a good starter book. Isabella was a Jewish teen in Hungary and although her town was small it wasn't too small to be noticed by the Nazis.

[Erin Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stark account of the Holocaust, and its affect on a young family from the perspective of a young girl. A story of loss, courage, and family. Written for young adults, it gives a good basic account of the horrors of WWII, without being overly graphic.

[Stefanie Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

True story account of a young girl's experiences in WWII. The story is brief and written in a straightforward, matter of fact manner. At times, it reads like a book of facts I've read before, not as a first hand account of events. It's rather emotionless in the retelling.