The title grabbed me first. But, Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust by Leanne Lieberman is worth reading, regardless of how the title makes you feel. It is a smart, funny novel about trying to find you place in the world.
Lauren Yanofsky doesn’t want to be Jewish anymore. She’s tired of reading about it, attending Jewish youth camps and family vacations to Holocaust memorials. She sees it as a religion of loss, grief, and persecution. And hen, But Lauren sees some of boys from her school, including the boy she has a crush on, playing Nazi war games, she is faced with a terrible choice: betray her friends or betray her heritage.
I liked many things about this novel. First, it felt real. These are pretty ordinary kids and they deal with all the issues that high school students are forced to deal with on a daily basis: friendship, identity, belonging, etc. Next Lauren and her brother Zach are learning to exert their independence from their parents in a positive way. Finally Lauren’s struggle with her heritage is described in an entertaining and also thought-provoking way that make the novel highly readable for teens.
A good read that takes a slightly different tack on teen issues.
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