A True Story of the Holocaust - Four Perfect Pebbles

I loved this book, because it tells of a young girls struggle against the most evil power the world has ever known. When I read the book, my mind was there suffering with the millions who were caught up in the madness of that day, all because they were Jewish.
The world must never, never forget this horrible time in history.

This book was a true eye opener. After reading other Holocaust books, this one covered the life of a true survivor in one of the worst Nazi camps imaginable. It was appalling but is so necessary that this history is learned so it is not repeated.

We were lucky enough to hear Marion Blumenthal Lazan speak here in Des Moines. I knew that I wanted to share her story with my grandsons. We have to teach the Holocaust to our young people so that history will not be repeated!

I thoroughly enjoy reading about the Holocaust because it makes me so appreciative of what I have. I don't think I could ever have done what so many people did -- survive the hunger, back-breaking work, loss of family, cruelty and imprisonment. I have the utmost respect for all those who suffered.

This is a good read but it is not exciting. I could take it or leave it. Its interesting to see how they recall and tell the events of the holocaust that they went through, but its not something that I would run out to get to read. I think Number the Stars, Annie Frank or The Hidding Place are more gripping that this one.

Perhaps the most surprising element of this autobiographic treatment of the holocaust was how long the Blumenthal family avoided the death camps. This account tells of the injustices they endured, the confiscation of anything valuable they owned, the overcrowded cattlecars they were stuffed in for transport to camps, and all that one would expect in a book of the holocaust. However, this book is different in that they held on to family pictures and other personal items. They avoided the worst camps until 1944—one year before the end of the war and after millions of their fellow Jews had already been exterminated. Plus, if there is such a thing on this topic, it had a happy ending—almost. The mother, son, and daughter (the author) were finally able to immigrate into the United States and start a new life. In later years they were able to visit all the stops their journey had taken them.

It is a story well told from the memory of a very young girl’s experience. Many early details were filled in from the memory of her mother and the stories she had told the children. If you want to know what these years were like without having all your emotions trampled by Nazi SS boots, I think you will enjoy this book. Plus, it is a short read—only 128 pages. It makes a great companion for passing time in waiting rooms, transportation terminals, or long rides.

I do not mean to diminish Marion's incredible story of survival, however, I am a bit surprised at the high number of five-star reviews. What I criticize in my review is mostly the form and content of this book, not the story of survival.
I have read quite a few autobiographies on Holocaust. Which is why I was annoyed with this book on several levels:
-printed double spaced, I read it in 2 hours.
-as a result, the descriptions were superficial at best. It seemed more like a book for your grandchildren as keepsake rather than a true book. Perhaps Marion did not remember much. But it was not as engaging as many other stories I have read on this tragic event in world's history.
-many paragraphs seemed to contain basic historical facts which left me wondering if these "history lessons" were "fillers" used to pump up the number of pages.
-perhaps I would recommend this as a read to a young teenager (12-14) but as an adult, I found it too brief, too shallow in descriptions.

FOUR PERFECT PEBBLES - by Lila Perl & Marion Blumenthal Lazan

The story is about Marion Blumenthal's experiences growing up as a Jew in Hoya, Germany. Marion was just a child when her family had to leave for Holland to escape from Hitler's clutches, in 1940. The family lived in Westerbrook a refugee camp in Holland. To pass the time away Marion makes up games to keep herself occupied. She finds three white pebbles all perfectly matched. She constantly on the lookout for a fourth. The pebbles symbolizes her family. She is hoping by having these pebbles it would keep her family together during these dark times.
During this time Marion had lost a childhood and had to witness the horrors of evil from hate filled speech that led to an extermination of a culture of people. No child should ever had to live through that. Her family had fought their will to survive always trying to find a safe place away from the Nazis. Each time they tried to leave their hopes were dashed.
In April of 1945 the family boards a train the "Death Train" as its known. The train made many stops along the way to dump off the dead as it continues to roam the countryside. The next stop something happens, Russian soldiers have told them that the war was over and now they are truly free.
I could never imagine myself living through such horrors. Yet, despite these atrocities inflicted upon them by one hateful person. The Holocaust survivors had an inner strength to live to witness this piece of history to tell their story to the world. One does not forget the memories that have forever been etched into their minds.

Though this story is told as Marion saw it as a young child, it nevertheless remains a powerful and moving documentary of the most devastating war our planet has ever known.
This book is also a very good WWII primer. It would be required reading for a class entitled "WWII 101".
Marion Blumenthal spent her early childhood in Hoya, Germany with her brother and parents. They were a happy, prosperous Jewish family who owned a successful shoe retail business. But Marion's safe, secure world was shattered by the rise of the Third Reich in Germany. The Nazis, the dominant political party of the Third Reich, implemented their radical racial attacks against Jews, Gypsies, Slavics, Homosexuals, Communists, and whomever else was seen as a threat to Aryan purity. This meant the end of life as Marion knew it. Each passing day was a struggle to stay alive and out of the Nazis' clutches.
Despite their best efforts, the Blumenthal family fell prey to the Nazis. They eventually landed in Westerbork, a camp from which the prisoners where shipped to their deaths in places such as Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. The Blumenthals were transferred to Belsen, and despite their bleak future, Marion clung tenaciously to the hope that better times would come for her and her family. To bolster her and their spirits, she set about collecting four perfectly-shaped pebbles from the grounds of the camp. This was her metaphor for her family which, hopefully, would remain as one till the end of the war.
As the war dwindled to a close and Germany suffered one defeat after another, camp prisoners were shuttled along the remains of the Germain railways as the Nazis tried to desperately conceal the evils they had commited in the abandoned camps. Just when it seemed the war would drag on forever, Marion, her family, and their fellow prisoners were intercepted and liberated by Russian troops.
A beautiful story of inspiration, courage, and keeping a positive attitude even in the most dire of circumstances.

I am warmed and heartbroken, at the same time, by this story. The true facts are horrifying, and the ending is beautiful. I never learned about the holocaust in school. I first heard of it watching a documentary, and from there studied it on my own. Now, as a homeschool teacher, I want my children to learn and know this tragic part of history. I do not want these people to be forgotten. This particular story is so well written. It is very different, in my opinion, from Anne Frank's story. I really enjoyed the new perspective. I also appreciate how well written this one is for young people. The words tell the story without being too graphic, but still getting the truth across. My children will be reading this, as well as the Anne Frank story. I know it will add so much to their understanding of the holocaust. This book was compelling. I read it in one day (about a 2 1/2 hour read). I highly recommend it to young and old.

This account of the Holocaust doubles as a succinct retelling of the German history that brought it about, making it not only a moving personal account of one family's journey, but a valuable informational source for those wondering how and why the Holocaust happened.

Marion Blumenthal is only 5 when the story begins. Her German Jewish family got caught up in the inexorable tides of history, tried but failed to escape to Palestine or to the US, and ultimately fled to Holland. Unfortunately, Holland was overrun by the Nazis like much of mainland Europe, and the Blumenthals (father Walter, mother Ruth, brother Albert, and Marion) wound up first in Westerbork and later in Bergen-Belsen (yes, back to Germany).

Young readers will get a first-hand account of what life was like as a child in the Nazi internment camps. Not as graphic as, say, Elie Wiesel's NIGHT, this book nonetheless is honest and forthright in its narration of Nazi brutalities. At times, the point of view (shifting between quotes of the mother, Ruth, and the first-person point of view of Marion) is a bit off-putting, but overall, this short, large-font memoir with pictures is a worthy choice for middle-school-aged and high school readers -- especially those new to this dark chapter in history. Recommended.

Four Perfect Pebbles is an emotional tale about a Jewish family during the Holocaust. The author of this book, Marion Blumenthal Lazan, was around four years old when her family moved from their home in Germany. Soon after that they moved to a work camp in the Netherlands, which is when she started to collect pebbles. Marion thought that if she was able to find four pebbles, almost exactly alike, then her family would survive. "Look closely. I have these three pebbles, exactly matching. Today I will find a fourth." I liked this book because it gave me so much information, so much to think about. I don't think that if I had gone through the same things I would have held up as well as Marion or her brother Albert. "As the food that had remained in the farmhouses was consumed, people began to go on foot or by bicycle to quite distant farms and villages to beg, borrow, or trade in order to keep their families nourished. My brother, Albert, was an expert at this. He was always off somewhere scrounging for food and other necessities." Four Perfect Pebbles is one of those books you can read over and over, catching more details each time. I would highly recommend this book. It is an amazingly touching account of what it was like for a Jewish child to grow up during World War II.

The book Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl And Marion Blumenthal Lazan is about a little girl named Marion Blumenthal who is also the author of the book. It is about her and her family they are in a concentration camp during World War Two controlled by the Nazis. Marion's mother thinks that it is possible to find four pebbles that are perfectly matching. She has three and she is trying to find the fourth. Her family struggles to survive on their journey through life but only their hope and courage will help them survive. I enjoyed how Marion Blumenthal and Lila Perl came together to tell Marion's life story of hardship and horror. The details used in this book are so extraordinary, so moving that it will make you feel as if you are actually there and going through everything the Jewish are going through. Something I disliked about the book was the disturbing photos throughout the book but they did help tell Marion and her Family's story of horror and their will to survive.

I have read several books on the holocaust. This is one of the best, if not the best. It has always amazed me how strong these people were not only to survive this evil but to build a life afterwards. Very sad story but an excellent read!!

The book "Four Perfect Pebbles" by Lila Perl And Marion Blumenthal Lazan is about a little girl named Marion Blumenthal who is also the author of the book. It is about her and her family they are in a concentration camp during World War Two controlled by the Nazis. Marion's mother thinks that it is possible to find four pebbles that are perfectly matching. She has three and she is trying to find the fourth. Her family struggles to survive on their journey through life but only their hope and courage will help them survive. I enjoyed how Marion Blumenthal and Lila Perl came together to tell Marion's life story of hardship and horror. The details used in this book are so extraordinary, so moving that it will make you feel as if you are actually there and going through everything the Jewish are going through. Something I disliked about the book was the disturbing photos throughout the book but they did help tell Marion and her Family's story of horror and their will to survive.

This is the chronicle of one family's survival during the Holocaust. Marion Blumenthal Lazan tells the story of how she and her mother, father and brother tried to flee Germany during Hitler's regime. They ultimately were taken to the Berger-Belsen concentration camp where they endured deplorable conditions of death, disease and starvation. Their ordeal lasted six and a half years.

This story is such an important one to tell. It shows the strength and determination of the Blumenthals and how they clung to each other to survive during a time of horrible acts. And it shows how they made their own happiness and rebuilt their own lives in the United States after the war. Today, Lazan continues to share her experience by speaking at schools around the country.

This was a good book. My son read this book in 5th grade, and I tend to read soome of the books that his class reads together. I like to know what they are reading. I am not much into nonfiction, or reality stories, and fact or truth, but this book really kept my attention. I really didn't know how bad things were during the World War II Era and the Holocaust. Hitler really wreaked havoc on a society that didn't deserve the harsh brutalities brought on under his reign. I can only say, thank you to the author for the wonderful learning experience. In fact, this book for me was better than a social studies lesson on the Holocaust. I loved it.

This book was given me to read because of my interest in the Holocaust. This is a perfect book for the young reader. It is not as graphic as other books about this terrible time in history. Very worthwhile read.

Very well written book about what one family had to go through during the Nazi occupation in Europe. The daughter of the family was hoping that by having four perfect pebbles, the family would stay together. Unfortunately, the Nazi's had other ideas.

i chose this book becuase it had an interesting title, and i thought that it would be fun to read.when i first started reading it, i realized that it was based on the holocaust. although the book was pretty graphic it was nice learning about a major, yet sad event that happened so long ago.i hadn't known that the jews were put through such a horrible thing. personally i don't think that people should be killed, or tortured just because they were born a certain religion that somebody just happened to not like.
all-in-all i think the book was wonderful and would be a great for someone doing a report on the holocuast. i would definitley recommend it.

As a junior high reading teacher and being extremely interested in survivors of the Holocaust, I was thrilled to read this book. Students will readily relate to this book. The author was 5 year younger than Anne Frank, her family moved to Amsterdam from Germany when she was a small child, she went to Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen. The similarities are remarkable. Marion Lazan is an exceptional writer and speaker. After reading her book, we were fortunate enough to have her as a speaker. She is marvelous. This book is a must. Pamela Blevins

Can you imagine being torn from all you know in just one moment? well that is exactly what happened to Marion Blumethal and her family, which included her father, Walter, her mother named Ruth, and her brother Albert. This story of loses and triumph is told by Marion herself. She explains what she and all of the millions of jews in Europe had to go through each and everyday. Marion and her family lived in a nice comfortable town in Germany called Hoya. Her father had a small shop where he sold shoes and men's and boy's clothing and her mother was a secretary and did bookkeeping. The Blumethal's were happy and very content with their lives until a man entered their lives that would change then forever. He would not only affect them but but millions of families across the world. He was known as Hitler. He started to become more noticed in the 1930's when he became known as the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' party, also known as the Nazi. They were against Jews, Communists, Gypsies, Slavic peoples, and deformed or crippled people. This hatred led to the death of millions of people and the Blumethal's were there for it all After Ruth and Walter found out about Hitler's plan, they decided to move to Holland and try to get papers to the U.S. But unfortunatly they did not get them in time and were taken away by the Nazi. For the next six and a half years, the Blumenthal's would go through a lot. When they were first taken away, they were taken to Westerbork which was in Holland, and then were taken to Bergen-Belsen which was in Germany. But through all their hardships, the Blumethal's survived. Finally in 1945, they were released. They were taken to eastern Germany and let free. But one thing would change, Walter, their father would no longer be with them anymore. He got a bad case of typhus just after the liberation and wasn't strong enough to survive. Now that mother, Marion, and Albert were free, they still wanted to go to the United States for a new life. It took three years until they got the necessary papers to get into the U.S. It was a very tough and tragic road but they had survived, and that was the most important thing.

Brief summary and Review:

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story is a wonderful book of how a family stays together through thick and thin. The story is about one Jewish family's struggle for survival during the Nazi occupation of Europe. The family includes Ruth Blumenthal, the mother, Walter Blumenthal, the father, Marion Blumenthal, the daughter, and Albert Blumenthal, the son. The Blumenthals lived in concentration camps for six years which included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious concentration camp of Bergen-Belson in Germany. Conditions in these camps were so terrible that nearly half the camps population died of disease, starvation, exposure, exhaustion, or brutal beatings. The book received its name from young Marion's search to find four perfect pebbles of almost the same size. If Marion could manage to find these four pebbles, she felt that it meant her family would remain whole and be strong enough to survive the Nazi reign. This game kept young Marion's mind on things other than dead bodies lying around, the rumbles of her starving tummy, and the want for her family and life to go back to normal. This is a great story about the importance of family and diversity. I would encourage everyone to take this book home with them today and experience the true account of one family's struggle through the Holocaust.

I found this book uncommonly absorbing, for being written in a biography style. Mostly you will learn about many events from World War II, and how a true story was played out for the Blumenthal family.

I expected the book to be okay, but as it turned out, I really enjoyed it! I truly recommend this book for anyone at all, who is interested in reading a real life Holocaust story.

"Four Perfect Pebbles" by Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan, tells the story of young Marion's life in Hoya Germany during the rise of the Nazis. The story goes from Holland to Bergan-Belsen where the Blumenthal family ends up. And then after the war in the United States.
While this is book for the younger reader, this is a book that can be enjoyed by anyone at any age. Truly this book should not be missed.

This book gives a good look at the life of a Jewish person during the time of Hitler and the Nazis. It was written by someone who was there and had the real account. The description helped me to realize how bad it was in a concentration camp. I would recommend this book for middle school age children who already know a little bit about Hitler and the Jewish people.

This book is unforgettable as a story of the Holocaust from the eyes of a child. I've had the pleasure of hearing Marion speak several times and she is marvelous. My students read her book this past school year and then went to see her for an author visit. They were moved to tears--even the boys--by her life during the war. Reading the book and then hearing her speak about her experiences is sobering. Her message isn't just about the Holocaust; it is also about learning tolerance and fairness which is certainly a page we can all learn from in today's world.

A good book about a girl who tries to find four perfect pebblesbecause if she does, she tinks her family will survive th holocaust. atouching story about one girl's fight for survival during one of the hardest times in history.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Marion, she came to my school and told us her story, I even got to hug her! The text of a story can not even describe what she has been through in her life. This is an amazing and touching story and really should be read by everyone.

i have met mrs. lazan and am friends with her grandson. she is an amazing woman with a wonderful story to tell. i recommend reading Daniels story which is fictional but tells a similar tale. Mrs. Lazan really brightened my childhood and is an inspiration to all.

This book called Four Perfect Pebbles is about a girl that is trying to find four perfect pebbles but she only finds three pebbles that were almost the same. This book is about people in the Holocaust that are helping people to stick together. They are trying to be smarter than Adloph Hittler.

Well I didn't hate the book, nor did I like it. It made you content. I usually enjoy reading holocaust stories, but this book was a disappointment. For Marion's story wasn't interesting. It could have been better...much better. Marion goes to a concertration camp and lives decently. But with the over crowding her family is soon nearly starved.

Marion weighed only 35 pounds once she got out of the camp. Obviously she felt she had to gain a lot of weight. For the book spent nearly two pages on her dipping chips into mayo. Which I find digusting.

Well if you want to read this book go ahead. But it isn't a book I'd reccomend. Read something else.

FOUR PERFECT PEBBLES is a story of a family that amazingly stays together through the most desperate of times. During the rise of Hitler their lives, like all other Jewish families, were shifted into remote dispare. But behind the hatred and riticule, the strength and courage that the Bumenthal family possesed kept them together as a family. Told through the eyes of a child, Marion Bumenthal, this novel is painful, but easy to read because of the comforting spirit of survival through out the storyline.

This book describes the hardships that the Jewish people had to go through during World War 2. They talk about all the suffering that they went through. The family was shipped through all of Eroupe to camps. Marion thinks that it is because of the four pebbles that she finds in one of the camps. This book reads like The Diary Of Anne Franck.

This is the inspiring story of a Jewish family of four, including two young children, who were able to remain together throughout the worst horrors of the Holocaust, including a year-long stay in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen where they endured starvation, rampant disease, and intense brutality. Although finally liberated by the Russians, the father died of camp-related typhus, leaving the mother and two children to struggle to find a new life for themselves in America. Their perseverance and determination led to eventual success. This family was able to triumph over the most brutal conditions encountered in human history and to establish new, productive, stable, and happy lives in the aftermath of catastrophe.

This is a very good and detailed book about the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s and about the Holocaust. I got to learn in more detail what took place during this horrible time in human history and about the author's and family's personal experiences during such a horrific time.

This book has a lot of information for those of you who are doing research about the Holocaust for school work or just to learn about it and how evil man can be to their fellow man, when we do not fear the Lord and racism goes unchecked. May it never happen again!

I purchased this book "Four Perfect Pebbles" and actually met Marian Blumenthal Lazan in Peoria where she told her story of being in a Nazi concentration camp. After liberation, she, her mother and brother were located in Peoria, IL. (my hometown) where she graduated from Peoria Central High School. Marian signed my book, and it is a true treasure.

This book was given me to read because of my interest in the Holocaust. This is a perfect book for the young reader. It is not as graphic as other books about this terrible time in history. Very worthwhile read.