Scholastic Canada - In My Enemy's House

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Scholastic Canada Ltd.
ISBN 0-439-98718-0 PBK
ISBN 0-590-51570-5 HC
180 pages
Ages 9-14

by Carol Matas

Award-winning author Carol Matas brings us the gripping story of Marisa, a Jewish girl who must choose between living a lie and facing certain death, in a country ravaged by war.


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Excerpt from IN MY ENEMY'S HOUSE
by Carol Matas

When the medical inspection was over and we were dressed, all the girls were taken into a large room. We were forced to stand there as one by one we were interrogated. It was almost my turn when the young girl being questioned ahead of me started to cry.

"I'm not a Jew..."

"Look at you!"

She had black hair, brown eyes, and a delicate face. "I can't help that I'm dark. Papa is dark, his family is like that. Look at my papers." Hands trembling, she showed them her papers.

"You could have stolen them from someone! How do we know they're real?" He took them. "Quickly, what is your mother's name?"

"Zosioa."

"Your father's"

"Mlot."

"Where were you born?"

"Kielce."

They kept peppering her with questions, and even though she had tears running down her face she answered them all correctly.

The man thrust the papers back at her. "All right. I suppose you just have the bad luck to look like one of them."

I felt like saying, "Look at Hitler. Dark hair, dark mustache, he doesn't look like his Aryan ideal." But of course I said nothing.

When it was my turn I smiled prettily and handed over my papers.

He looked at me approvingly, then at my papers. "Excellent." he said, and moved on.

Finally we were put back on the train. We traveled another day and night and in the middle of the third day we arrived at our destination, a city called Weimar. And so, we were there, in the heart of the darkness, in the country that had spawned all that hatred, all that evil. I was beyond terror, though. What could be worse than what I'd already seen?

From In My Enemy's House. Copyright © 1999 by Carol Matas.

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"This book was gripping. I couldn’t put it down. It gave me a whole new, amazing outlook on the war and what went on for teens. Marisa is a strong, uplifting teen, and I completely admire her! Wow! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good book!!" Brianne D., Age 15, Ontario, Rating: 10

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