Prisoner B-3087 is a novel, based on the true story of Jack Gruener’s formative years in concentration camps. Anyone vaguely familiar with the Holocaust will find it remarkably difficult to determine where Mr. Gratz took liberties. At a blush, this may seem a heavy topic for the intended audience of younger students (Middle and Jr. High); however, in its simplicity, I believe that the story is perfectly presented.

The horror unfolds through the eyes of Yanek (later to known as Jack Gruener). He is only 10 years old when Hitler’s armies began to invade Europe. As he listens to the adults “talk politics”, he can’t possibly conceive of how his world will change over the next 6 years.

Because Yanek is such a kind-hearted and optimistic boy, his matter-of-fact delivery allows the reader to experience his own emotions. The simple and basic presentation of the deplorable treatment of Jews is no less than heart-wrenching—for the reader. It is impossible to ignore the young boy’s strength and resolution as he first deals with years of being held prisoner in his own town, to finding the perfect hiding place for his family as mass exodus occurred---who but a young boy would see an abandoned pigeon coop as a home? As he loses family and friends while being shuffled from camp to camp, he relies on inner strength to survive.

I hope that this book becomes wildly popular. Based on my (very limited) time in the school systems, I believe our kids need a true hero. It seems that so many of us have become wrapped up in our own little cocoons that we allow inconveniences to become tragedies. I certainly relished the jolt back to reality---where people truly know suffering and pain. The fresh perspective was welcome. I will definitely be donating copies of this book to school and public libraries, with the hope that someone else will open his eyes as well.buried-under-books99 s2 comments Lisbeth Avery {Domus Libri}196 160

Actual Rating: 1.75

The story of Yanek Gruener is not an outstandingly unique one. His story, or at least something akin to his, has been told numerous times in the past, under different names of course. Nevertheless, I seem to be attracted to reading these sorts of stories even though I know how everyone of them ends.

I picked this one up mostly because of the title and the cover. It's sort of beautiful in a very plain and morbid way. It looks similar to a graphic novel's cover I read a while ago - which I would name except it's sort of embarrassing. It's a beautiful cover, with a beautifully haunting story and artwork. It was depressing and wonderful.

This was neither.

PRISONER B-3087 was a very bland story with very poor writing. I do think that if the writing was better this could be a great book. The writing was so... detached and emotionless. I felt absolutely nothing while reading, unless you can count extreme crippingly boredom as a feeling. It was just nothing. I've never felt less while reading a book especially a book about something depressing these Nazi concentration camps.

I mean, even though characters were dying and everyone was starving:



It was so pathetically boring. I didn't feel anything towards any of the characters. They were just names for me, not really characters and in the same way, the book was just words without any meaning. I spent the entire book trying to connect with the main character but I was just so detached.

Characters
The main character Yanek was the only character that stayed with us for more than a few meager pages. He doesn't really have a personality other than that guy who’s in a concentration camp. He also thinks a twelve year old even though he's 14+ for the majority of the book. It keeps saying the years pass even though there is little sign of that except for everyone is hungrier.

Yanek is also a bit stupid and has little survival skills, which is peculiar since he survived six years in a concentration camp. So he has the perfect opportunity to get some food. A piece of bread is right in front of him. And what does he do?

HE DOESN'T PICK IT UP BECAUSE SOMEONE COULD USE IT.

You idiot. He even said that he needed the bread to survive yet he doesn't pick it up. WHAT.

TL;DR version: Yanek doesn't mature - at all. All he does is get hungrier and stupider.

Plot and Writing
Plot
The plot is basically Yanek moving around. He goes through 10 camps (even though a few of them were just holding cells) and survives. I find this sort of impossible even though it says that it's an true story. How could a kid survive through 10 camps with this little trouble? He barely ever goes through any problems.

Writing
The writing was just messed up. It doesn't only have some of the most detached writing I've ever encountered, but terrible pacing as well. It’s just blergh. I don't want to go and rant because I'm trying to be nice but basically:

It was bad. Very bad.

s and Diss
:
- I guess it's got an... interestingish plot

Dis:
- Writing
- Yanek

In conclusion
PRISONER B-3087 was a pretty bad book. I don't recommend it to anyone. If you want a good MG book about this subject, read The Boy Who Dared which is a great book on the subject. I read it a few years ago but I'm pretty sure I'd still it as much as I did back when I read it.

Find this review and more at my blog:
could-have-been-better disappointed netgalley ...more31 s4 comments Tara Gold325 70

Yanek Gruener is ten years old, Jewish, and living in Poland in the late 1930's. One day, the Nazis take over his town and Yanek's journey through the Jewish ghetto and ten different concentration camps begins. Yanek watches as everything, and everyone, he loves is taken away from him. There's no escape -- only survival. Every time Yanek barely escapes death, every time he watches the Nazi's brutally murder those around them, he pledges to fight by living to carry on the memory of those who were lost.

Prisoner B-3087 is the amazing, gripping tale of Yanek's survival in ten different Nazi concentration camps, and it is based on a true story. The afterward explains the story of the real Yanek Gruener and his real experiences that are included in the novel. That is, perhaps, what make this novel so fascinating and gut-wrencing to read. Comparisons to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas are natural, but Gratz's story takes us into the Holocaust in a way I haven't experience in any other middle grades/YA novel.

Teachers should especially take note here. Because Prisoner B-3087 covers life before, during, and after the Holocaust, as well as experiences in ten different camps (including the salt mines and death marches), it is an excellent classroom read for a unit on World War II. Students could map Yanek's journey, research the different camps, investigate the how the war affected Yanek's movements between camps. Students can map Yanek's journey to Plaszow, Wieliezka Salt Mine, Trzebinia, Birkenau, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Gross-Rosen, and Dachau throughout the story. Most importantly, students can gain an empathetic glimpse into the day-to-day horrors of life as a concentration camp prisoner and the struggle to survive in horrible conditions.

FINAL GRADE: A You need to read this book. Put it in your middle school, high school, and public libraries. Add it to your curriculum. Read it. Cry. Pull your blanket close and be thankful for your warmth, house, food, water, and freedom. Thank you, Alan Gratz, for writing this novel. Thank you to Yanek Gruener, especially, for sharing his story.

ARC from NetGalley19 s Jonas3 5

this was a thrilling page turner that I think a lot of people would l was on the edge the whole book I highly reccomend the book for peoplewho are in to ww2 and to have anxiety the whole time they are reading. anyways thank you alan gratz for the great book.17 s Hillari Morgan329 37

I am not certain what I expected from this book .. maybe a little more fiction: some, off the wall connections and actions that were obviously not something that truly happened. I think I walked into it with that bias, as it continuously comments on it being BASED on the true story of Jack (or Yanek) Gruener. Since it wasn't his complete true story, and it was only based on it, I figured the rest of it would have been bolstered with untruths.

That was what it wasn't, however. At the end of the text, it marches through all of the book's events that Jack truly endured. I'll summarize it for you: basically the whole book. SO, that meant that the text read as all the other Holocaust texts read -- as a long-winded retelling of someone's life. Memoir-. Which left me thinking I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It was the same story on the same topic that all memoirs of the holocaust were. Not at ALL to downplay what happened (this is a "favorite" topic of mine and I take the atrocities of this time to heart, as I devour all the books regarding it that I can get my hands on). But, as I sat there contemplating how it went after I finished it, I realized that even though the story was almost the same as the last 18 holocaust texts that I had read, that I still loved Jack's story. I still wanted to keep reading, even after I had put it down. I still felt raw and vulnerable emotions for his childhood being ripped away. I still identified with him and with his story, because why?? Because I am human.

So I really d this book. Yeah, the story was the same, but it was balanced well with just enough raw, heart wrenching info. I can appreciate that.14 s Harry Brake529 5

You know of Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, and Oskar Schindler, or do you? After attending a crucial seminar in the study of the Holocaust in Delaware, attending the Holocaust Museum, studying the Holocaust at the University of Delaware for a summer, and continuing to return to the very heart of why knowing about the Holocaust is so important, this text does not add any more depression to the theme of the Holocaust, it simply adds to the motivation to educate more and more generations about why this is crucial to be taught to future generations.

Gratz's depiction of Jack Gruener's survival though so many consecutive camps is amazing, and yet this convinces readers to not lay this book down at all - and leads to further discussions on what type of education truly meets the core of students and their education on the world around us. This is a must read alongside some of the most historical fiction and biographical accounts of some very horrifying, yet important aspects of history. 13 s yel ?483 139

3.5 of 5 stars

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It was really difficult to imagine that the events happened at this book was experienced by a lot of people at that time. It was terrible and truly terrifying. And knowing that real Yanek had suffered and survived that horrible nightmare, it was really something no one can really comprehend. As Yanek himself said, even in the most explicit description of the story one can tell, no one can really understand what they've been through. Although this had the same things to offer as a lot of holocaust story out there, surviving ten concentration camps was too much for a single person to endure for even ten lifetimes.

Listening to the audiobook, it was incredible. The way the narrator croaked while saying his dialogues, as if stopping himself from crying, you can really hear the helplessness in his voice. I'm not sure if I would d it as much if I read it physically. As I said, it was some other holocaust stories but it was still worth the read.2020-reads audiobook review11 s Kevin Ramirez2

This Book Amazed me it was epic Yanek had survived throughout his lifetime by leaving and going in the concentration camps. The story starts when he's about 10 at the end he escapes being 18 for that 8 years in danger or his family's life. While in the camps Yanek losing most of his family but later on he meets a few of his cousins after he escapes, If Yanek didn't have the stamina or strength he couldn't of have survived the whole camp. But for me in my opinion it's still and amazing book and I hope he makes more books this.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review10 s Jacob_Tyler21 1 follower

Prisoner B-3087 was one of my favorite books that i've read this year. The book is about a boy who survived through the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to people who history. I really d the book, and I think anyone who picks it up will end up enjoying it. 11 s Skip3,367 527

Yanek Gruener, Prisoner B-3087, is a fictionalized version of the true story of Jack Gruener. Yanek and his family are Jews living in Krakow, Poland, when it is invaded by the Nazi's. It follows the construction of the ghetto there, the consolidation of the Jews, and then their mass deportations to factories, work or death camps. Eventually, teenage Yanek ends up alone, with sage advice from his uncle to trust and care about no one. During the war, Yanek is transferred to ten different concentration camps, which is incredibly hard to believe because Yanek is so naive, has few survival skills, and was hardly large enough to be a worthy selection for a work crew. At the end of the day. the book felt a survey course on concentration camps. 2.5 stars.historical-fiction9 s Steve H.16 30

When I was younger I started reading this, and unbeknownst to me I ended up never finishing it. Until recently when my interest piqued into the works of WWII and I decided I would re-read/finish the book, and I am happy that I did.I would recommend this book to any WWII fanatic such as myself.9 s Margo Tanenbaum816 22

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

This new Holocaust novel by author Alan Gratz is based on the true story of Yanek Gruener, a Jewish boy living in Krakow whose comfortable, middle-class life is turned upside down when the Nazis take over his country in 1939. The title, of course, refers to the number tattooed by the Nazis on his arm at one of the ten concentration camps he managed to survive. In fact, survival at all cost is the theme of this gripping and moving novel, told in the first person by Yanek. From the opening line: "If only I had known what the next six lives of my life were going to be , I would have eaten more," this is a story difficult to ignore.

When Hitler invades Poland, Yanek, the rest of the Polish Jews, has no idea what is to come, despite having heard Hitler on the radio and his rhetoric about making Germany and the rest of Europe "Jew-free." He sees his neighborhood being walled off by the Nazis, with all the Jews who lived elsewhere in Krakow moving in. As things go from bad to worse in the ghetto, Yanek and his parents move into the pigeon coop on the roof, hoping that the location might help them avoid the "selections," when the Nazis took thousands of ghetto dwellers away at a time to distant camps--usually to their deaths. Wild rumors circulated about the camps--rumors that no one could believe. One day his parents, too, are grabbed in a deportation, and at 13 Yanek is on his own.

During the course of the novel, Yanek, too, is deported, and is sent to a series of ten concentration camps. First sent to P?aszów, a camp run by the infamous SS Officer Amon Goeth (portrayed in the film Schindler's List), he learns to be no one, and care for no one--the secret to survival in the camps. But can he survive with his human dignity intact?

Written in short chapters and sparse prose, the novel is filled with narrow escapes from death. Yanek manages to survive work details in salt mines and rock quarries, only to wind up at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he survives the infamous showers and the deadly Death March from the camp at the end of the war. with other Holocaust stories, the reader is overwhelmed by the ability of the human spirit to survive under indescribably inhumane conditions, and wise by the power that an individual's will to live can have.

An afterword tells more about Yanek Gruener, who took the name of Jack in America, and the author explains some of the liberties he took with time and events "to paint a fuller and more representative picture of the Holocaust as a whole." The author explains that these changes were made with Jack's permission to help ensure that "the horrors and realities of the Holocaust beyond those that he personally experienced would not be forgotten."1940s holocaust world-war-ii ...more7 s Jonathon P.28 75

I flew this book because it always had me in suspense. The story was uneasing and it blows my mind what the Nazis did to the Jews. This story was about a little boy named Yanek. Yanek is a Jew and when he and his family get put into concentration camps, they get separated. Once in his first camp tho, he finds his uncle. His uncle told him that everyone else in the family had been killed by the Nazis. It was a very sad book and it was horrifying what these people did. From putting the Jews in gas chambers to torturing them, the Nazis where brutal. I really enjoyed this book and it opened my eyes to how terrible they treated these human beings. 8 s Haley Annabelle300 112

Great book on WWII concentration camps. Besides the Hiding Place, this is one of the best I’ve read on the subject. The author perfectly portrays the horror of it without making it too graphic. history9 s Jack2

This is a review of the book Prisoner B-3087. The book takes place in Poland and Germany during WWII. Yanek, the main character in the story, and his family are Jewish and have to live in the ghetto that the Nazis have turned their home town into. Life is very hard for them, they have very little food, and they are forced to live with 4 other families in their small apartment.

Eventually Yanek is captured and taken to a concentration camp. Yanek stays in the camp for a little while and then is transferred to another one, and then he gets transferred again. This process of him moving from camp to camp keeps repeating, and by the time the story is done, Yanek has been to ten concentration camps. Somehow, Yanek survives all of it and lives to tell us about it. The story is fiction, although it is based off real occurrences that happened to Yanek. I think that this book is excellent, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.


6 s Stephanie Fitzgerald838

Finished this in one sitting because I could not put it down. Alan Gratz has blown me away with another great historical fiction drama; this one based on the actual accounts of two Holocaust survivors. Gratz’s writing is wonderful; the subject, however, is chilling, as all Holocaust books always are.
I think book belongs in all Y.A. history classrooms. For younger readers I think the content would be too disturbing.
Memorable Quotes:
(Pg.108)-“The Nazis were making us work just to work. This was all a game to them, a hand of cards or a soccer match. We were the ball, to be kicked around for their sport.”
(Pg. 170)-“Not long ago, all these half-dead creatures around me had been people, I realized. Which of them had been doctors? Teachers? Musicians? Businessmen, my father? Which of the boys had been students me? Playing ball in the streets after school, laughing and calling to their friends?..
It seemed a lifetime ago.”a-gratz-mg-ya-hf best-of-2020 hardcover-w-dust-jacket ...more7 s Martina387 9

Ondanks het onderwerp leest het verhaal heel vlot. Ongelooflijk dat dit op ware feiten berust, maar dat is eigenlijk met elk boek over de oorlog. Soms met kippenvel heb ik fragmenten gelezen, afschuwelijk gewoon. Bijna niet te begrijpen dat zo’n jongen zo’n overlevingsdrang heeft. Zeker wel 5 sterren 7 s Katrien Van Wambeke191 65

Wat een triestig verhaal. Bepaalde passages gaven me kippenvel; andere deden me walgen. Maar de wil die Yanek (gevangene B-3087) had om te leven is zo ontroerend mooi. Heel mooi boek ondanks het thema.7 s Damien Goodwin12 Read

I think that it is a really good book, and that I really recommend it. 7 s Daphne Veldhuis10

Rating: ???½?7 s Roxa Ro105 9

Prizonierul B-3087 are la baza povestea adevarata a lui Yanek Gruener, un baiat evreu din Cracovia care in timpul celui de-Al Doilea Razboi Mondial trece prin 10 lagare de concentrare incercand sa supravietuiasca cruzimii naziste si a conditiilor grele din lagare.
La numai 13 ani ramane fara parinti si este trimis la Plaszow aflat sub directa conducere a lui Amon Goeth si invata cum sa fie nimeni, cum sa se faca neobservat, aceasta fiind singura modalitate de a supravietui. Urmeaza alte lagare, munca in minele de sare si in cariere de piatra, supravietuirea marsului mortii, a batailor si tuturor ororilor la care este supus.
Este o poveste despre speranta si mai ales despre supravietuire pentru ca pe parcursul cartii observam ca aceasta este cea mai mare dorinta a lui Yanek, sa supravietuiasca.
Romanul este inca o poveste despre evrei, Holocaust si Al Doilea Razboi Mondial care nu trebuie uitata.2022-citite biblioteca fictiune-istorica7 s Rob Baker286 8

I picked up this author, Alan Gratz, because so many boys in my high school classes are reading him these days. Whole groups of them at the same time, boys who aren’t normally all readers, tear through book after book by him. They his war stories, they have told me, and more than once I’ve seen these students try writing battlefield tales of their own, emulating this author they so much. So I had to give him a try.

As it happens, the book of Gratz’s that I randomly grabbed off the library shelves is not an army/battle story, but a Holocaust memoir, based on the true experiences of a man Gratz interviewed. And, all Holocaust memoirs, it is horrific. Similar to other such stories (it frequently reminded me of Elie Wiesel’s Night) in so many awful ways – the cattle cars, the sadistic Nazis, the loss of family and friends — but also unique in many of its tragic details.

The protagonist, Jack Gruener, is ten years old when his town is invaded by the Nazis and sixteen when at last he is liberated from Dachau, having somehow, against the odds, survived ten concentration camps, several death marches, starvation, freezing, beatings (once he is brutally whipped for having lost a button on his striped prison uniform), and random killing sprees by psychopathic camp personnel.

A powerful, devastating, and unforgettable story. nonfiction-independent-reading young-adult-fiction6 s Karen2 Read

I honestly really d this book, because it made me realize about everything that has been done in the past. The book started out really good, up until the point where Poland was attacked. Yanek and his family survived 3 years in the ghetto. Yanek survived 10 concentration camps, where he got beat sometimes for no reason at all. Yanek saw when his parents where deported. Yanek never really lasted long in the concentration camps, for 3 years he moved from camp to camp. Meeting new people and seeing them die. Yanek only ate once a day, and all he got was really watery soup and bread. He learned that if he wanted to survive he had no identity, he had to work hard, but not so hard. He had to go unnoticed or else he would get killed, if he stopped working he would get killed, if he worked to hard he would probably die as well. He learned that he couldn't talk, couldn't make friends with people, he had to survive by himself. 6 s Alex (The Scribe Owl)378 114

This was a scarily descriptive book about a Jewish boy bounced around through concentration camps by the Nazis. He survived the unsurvivable and made it out the other side. This is also the real story of Jack Gruener, and it's almost impossible to think that he survived all of that.

Overall, a decent book for being assigned it by school, but it was also middle grade, which meant that it was toned down a little. If Alan Gratz had changed it up just a little, it could have made even more of an impact!historical-fiction middle-grade required-reading5 s Westin2 2

very good book plz read ending is so happy 5 s Kovaxka598 34

Mindig nehéz csillagozni, s?t értékelni egy holokausztról szóló regényt, pláne ha igaz történet alapján íródott. Sok mindent olvastam már ebben a témakörben, de a 10 koncentrációs tábor és két halálmenetet túlélt Janek élete, hite és élni akarása egészen elképesztett és meghatott. Szívesen olvastam volna részletesebben a megélt eseményekr?l, 240 oldal terjedelemben vázlatos maradt az anyag, de még így is hihetetlen, hogy egyáltalán megtörténhetett és megíródott.20226 s Lucrecia Ramos2

I really d the book Prisoner B-3087. It is a book about a young Jewish boy named Yanek Gruener and his large family who lived in Krakow, Poland in the 1940's. During the time they lived, the Nazis were taking over the Jews because they didn't the Jews by their differences and by how they were. I think that is not fair. Yanek and his family had been hiding so the Nazis wouldn't take them and kill them slowly by the inhumane, terrible things they had prepared to end the Jews. I thought the Nazis would just kill the Jews but instead they made them work so they could suffer to death. One day Yanek saw his parents marching with other Jews that have been caught. Soon he too was taken away to the concentration camps where hundreds of Jews died every day by the lack of daily needs and by abuse.

When Yanek and the other Jews arrived at their concentration camps, they got prisoner uniforms and were told the rules. They got tattooed numbers as their identification. Yanek got B-3087. Yanek saw one of his family members but his happiness vanished when he found out that the rest of his family was dead. Soon Yanek was alone and while working, Yanek had memories of his past stolen life. Years and years past and the prisoners travled from concentration camps to concentration camps in cattle trains, marching in harsh weather with just wooden shoes, thin cloths, and no food. Yanek faced challenges but kept surviving. I think he is a strong, determined person. One day the prisoners were rescued and Yanek was free and goes to America to start a new life.

5 s Eric Boot163 125

Mehhh, ik had eerlijk gezegd beter verwacht. Het verhaal was erg afgeraffeld, en de schrijver had er veel meer mee kunnen doen.

2.5 sterren5 s Aiden B.15 31 Read

This is a good book and I would recommend it. If you WWII and to learn about the conflict between Germany and Jewish people than this is the book for you.5 s Kevin1,475 83

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