Author: Elie Wiesel
Title: Night
Genre: Non-Fiction
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Penguin Books, 2008.
Grade
Level: 9th
Pages: 121 pages
Night by Elie Wiesel is the story told from the perspective of 15-year-old Jewish boy, Eliezer, who survived concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Eliezer recounts the experiences that him and his family faced as they were rounded up and forced to work in unlivable conditions by the German Nazis during the Holocaust.
Possible Teaching Concerns:
This novel is very graphic. There is so much violence in the very few pages of the novella. The reader watches the disturbing atrocities that the Nazis commit towards the Jewish people. Eliezer witnesses many people, including his father, die very gruesome and harsh deaths. I recommended this book for high school because I think it takes a certain maturity in order to fully understand these events that are recounted in this book's pages. People are shot, beaten, and hanged. It truly is extremely graphic and teachers should be aware of the violence and possible historical trauma.
Personal Reactions:
I read this book as a 5th grader and there are two scenes that I remembered vividly when reading this novella. The first was when Eliezer's father makes the comment to not look strong or rebellious when they are being examined by the Nazis, and the second is when Eliezer's father died. This book is one of those stories that truly haunts you, but that I think is so important for students to have exposure to. It is important for students to learn about historical atrocities such as this one. Although these are often hard to learn about, they did happen and it is important that we educate ourselves so that we are not responsible for the repetition of history in our own lifetimes.
Canonical Work:
The Book Thief is a powerful book that is also set during World War II. It follows the lives of Liesel Meminger, her adoptive father and mother, and her friend, Rudy Steiner through the perspective of Death throughout the novel. This book has been taught in grade levels 8th through 10th grade to talk about themes that surrounding the Jew's persecutions during World War II. Although both Night and The Book Thief talk about these themes, The Book Thief gives perspective from the German commoner's point of view. This is a very grabbing and powerful story. It is equally as heartbreaking as Night and provides students with opportunity to relate to these horrible events through characters that they have connected with.
Interview with Elie Wiesel
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