Informational/Non-fiction Reflection: Four Perfect Pebbles

Perl, L. & Lazan, M.B. (1996). Four perfect pebbles: A Holocaust story. New York: Avon Books.  

“If she could find four perfect pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape, it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and Papa and she and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen. The four of them might even survive the Nazis’ attempt to destroy every last Jew in Europe.”

         I discovered this book a few years ago while researching Jewish experiences during the Holocaust for a primary source project in a History of Austria class.   As with several other sources,  I included it in a lengthy annotated bibliography and promptly forgot about it when I completed the course.  This summer, as I prepared units of study for my sixth grade students,  I decided to focus on themes of characters overcoming adversity and the resilience of hope; another search of children’s literature helped me to re-discover this writing.  While the authors focus on specific historical events in Marian B. Lazan’s life,  Lazan shares her emotions and revelations about those events, thus making this novel more of a memoir than an autobiography of her life.  This is more than just expository writing to relay facts because Mrs. Lazan shares her first-hand experiences of historically significant events; she tells a history of her life within the frame of the Holocaust. 
          Marian Blumenthal Lazan and her family were trapped in Nazi Germany during World War II.  Planning to escape to Holland as Hitler closes his fists on the Jewish citizens of Germany,  the Blumenthals are faced with devastating challenges and setbacks which keep them trapped within the borders of Hitler’s country.  Although it is non-fiction, this selection is rife with conflict.  Marian’s family struggles to maintain contact as they are moved from camp to camp; they battle hunger, illness, freezing temperatures, utter degradation, and loneliness as well as Hitler’s plan to exterminate all Jews in his quest for domination. 
          As you would expect, Mrs. Lazan tells her life’s story chronologically from her childhood to her liberation from a Nazi extermination camp and then her life after the camps; however, with the help of Lila Perl, she also recalls memories through flashbacks  which is an element of fiction sometimes found in memoirs.  For example, she tells the story of making soup while sitting in a crowded cabin in a prisoner’s camp. As her mother works over the boiling soup, Marian describes how she recalled another time of making soup that was quite different than sitting hunched over a small metal can of boiling water and rotting vegetables.  Likewise, her ten-year old determination to find four, perfect pebbles in the prison camp’s yard is heart-rending and sad; each pebble represents a member of her family.  If  Marian has those four pebbles, then her family will stay together.  Such vivid details, in addition to photographs from Marian’s family albums,  provides the reader with a well-written account of the harrowing experiences of life as a Jewish citizen and prisoner during the Holocaust and the resilient hope of a survivor’s story.   For more information about Marian B. Lazan, please visit her website at http://www.fourperfectpebbles.com/.

          Because of the historical significance of the Holocaust,  this novel clearly falls into the category of high interest reading within informational literature.  Students are curious about the life experiences, the violence of war, and the survivors of this time period.  However, I would caution against allowing younger children to read this novel because of the graphic nature of the photographs and some of Lazan’s detailed descriptions of violent events.   

            Curriculum Connections:  This autobiography could be read in a Social Studies class as a primary source during a study of World War II, Hitler’s rise to power, and the Holocaust.  Likewise, in a Writing class,  an excerpt of Four Perfect Pebbles could be used as an anchor text when studying the nuances and structures of biography, autobiography, and memoirs.

          Big Questions:  Even though we are members of different communities, can we find similarities in our life stories?  How are we all challenged by adversity? What does hope mean to you?