Our Holocaust Readers Guide

1. The book takes place in Israel, and deals with Israeli children's and adults' memory of the Holocaust. Is the Israeli memory different than that of Jews who emigrated to the United States after WWII? Does the American reader 'know' the Holocaust and survivers described in the book? What are the similiarities and differences?

2. The book takes a notable look at the use of humor. Are we allowed to use humor in relation to the Holocaust? Is humor, paradoxically, a tool to understanding the horrors of the Holocaust, as well as the mindset of the survivors and their offspring?

3. The book combines factual history and testimonies with fictional stories, interweaving real people together with imaginary characters. Is such an approach dangerous in this day and age, when Holocaust deniers attempt to 'prove' that the Holocaust is an invention and a lie? Why do you think the writer, a child of Holocaust survivors, opted to combine reality and fiction?

4. The book is based on actual historic events. Are you familiar with the descriptions in the book? The intensity of the horror? People's daily existence during the Holocaust? Their behaviour?

5. One of the main characters, the attorney Pearl, opposed executing Nazi leaders after WWII, preferring that they be kept alive in the camps to explain "their side." Do you think her standpoint is logical? Do we understand the Naz's more today, 60 years after the war? Must we understand them?