Edith Baer (1924–2010)
Author of This Is the Way We Go to School: A Book About Children Around the World
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
Do not combine or confuse with Edith Muller Baer (b. 1932).
Series
Works by Edith Baer
This Is the Way We Go to School: A Book About Children Around the World (1990) 2,429 copies, 31 reviews
This Is the Way We Eat Our Lunch: A Book About Children Around the World (1995) 544 copies, 13 reviews
A Frost in the Night 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Baer, Edith
- Legal name
- Quinn, Edith Baer
- Other names
- Baer, Edith Ruth
- Birthdate
- 1924-01-27
- Date of death
- 2010-05-27
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Rutgers University (BA | Engliah Literature)
Rutgers University (MLS) - Occupations
- author
children's book author
young adult writer
Holocaust survivor - Short biography
- Edith Baer was born to a Jewish family in Stuttgart, Germany. She escaped to the USA in her mid-teens, but the rest of her family was murdered in the Holocaust. She earned a bachelor's degree in English literature and a masters' degree in library service from Rutgers University. She published a number of picture books for children and taught college workshops on writing for young readers for many years. Her award-winning young adult novel, A Frost in the Night (1980), and its sequel, Walk the Dark Streets (1996), were set in the Nazi Germany of her youth.
- Nationality
- Germany (birth)
USA (naturalised) - Birthplace
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Places of residence
- Teaneck, New Jersey, USA
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - Place of death
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Burial location
- Har Jehuda Cemetery, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
- Map Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- Do not combine or confuse with Edith Muller Baer (b. 1932).
Members
Reviews
Edith Baer was born in Germany and escaped to the US in 1940 in her mid-teens. The rest of her family was murdered in the Holocaust. This novel is heavily reminiscent of her own experience growing up in 1930's Germany, watching the rise to power of the Nazis.
Eva is a young girl on the cusp of adolescence basking in the love and security of her middle class family. Located in a small city, Eva lives in her grandfather's house with her extended family. At first, Eva's world consists of games show more with her cousins upstairs, school, and helping her father in the family bookstore. In the summer she visits her maternal grandparents in a rural enclave where her family has lived for generations. Many in her family believe that their long roots and high standing in the community will prevent any of the Nazi rabble-rousers from influencing their way of life.
As the events of 1932-33 unfold, Eva becomes increasingly aware of "the troubles" that the adults talk about only when the children are out of hearing. Schoolmates begin teasing and turning away, her American cousin begs them to move to America, and brownshirts become more vociferous in the streets. Hitler is no longer silly, but threatening somehow. Finally, Eva is the subject of a diatribe that makes her understand the personal nature of the persecution of the Jews.
The power of this short novel is in the innocent description of Eva's childhood as it gives way to understanding of the growing ugliness in the adult world. A palpable tension grows in the book, and I found myself wanting to shout for them to flee will they still can. I sorrowed for the inevitable loss of life to come and by the end of the book was worrying about which characters would die: baby Eli? staunchly confident Grandfather? beautiful Sabine, longing to embrace life? Perhaps most poignantly, I mourned the loss of innocence that would befall them all. show less
Eva is a young girl on the cusp of adolescence basking in the love and security of her middle class family. Located in a small city, Eva lives in her grandfather's house with her extended family. At first, Eva's world consists of games show more with her cousins upstairs, school, and helping her father in the family bookstore. In the summer she visits her maternal grandparents in a rural enclave where her family has lived for generations. Many in her family believe that their long roots and high standing in the community will prevent any of the Nazi rabble-rousers from influencing their way of life.
As the events of 1932-33 unfold, Eva becomes increasingly aware of "the troubles" that the adults talk about only when the children are out of hearing. Schoolmates begin teasing and turning away, her American cousin begs them to move to America, and brownshirts become more vociferous in the streets. Hitler is no longer silly, but threatening somehow. Finally, Eva is the subject of a diatribe that makes her understand the personal nature of the persecution of the Jews.
The power of this short novel is in the innocent description of Eva's childhood as it gives way to understanding of the growing ugliness in the adult world. A palpable tension grows in the book, and I found myself wanting to shout for them to flee will they still can. I sorrowed for the inevitable loss of life to come and by the end of the book was worrying about which characters would die: baby Eli? staunchly confident Grandfather? beautiful Sabine, longing to embrace life? Perhaps most poignantly, I mourned the loss of innocence that would befall them all. show less
Very powerful story of the early days of Nazi Germany told from the point of view of young Jewish girl. My only complaint was that I was unclear about her age, perhaps in her teens. The build up, slowly, of oppressions is frightening and enforces, over and over again, how wrong is always wrong and how easily people can be coerced. Incredibly well done.
Edith Baer escaped the Nazi's and came to America in her teens, the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust. The two young adult novels A Frost in the Night and its sequel Walk the Dark Streets are a very close but fictional retelling of her own experiences growing up in 1930's Germany.
I enjoyed A Frost in the Night and was looking forward to reading the sequel. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Walk the Dark Streets nearly as much. Whereas the first book takes place in a relatively show more short period of time (a year), the sequel is spread out over seven years. Each chapter covers about nine months. Such a whirlwind tour is hard to sustain in a meaningful way. The plot jumped along jerkily, and it was hard for me to see Eva grow significantly along the way.
In addition, due to the increasingly violent society about which she is writing, Baer's language lacks the same quality which made her bucolic descriptions of pre-Nazi Germany so attractive. Her writing in the sequel seems flat in comparison. show less
I enjoyed A Frost in the Night and was looking forward to reading the sequel. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Walk the Dark Streets nearly as much. Whereas the first book takes place in a relatively show more short period of time (a year), the sequel is spread out over seven years. Each chapter covers about nine months. Such a whirlwind tour is hard to sustain in a meaningful way. The plot jumped along jerkily, and it was hard for me to see Eva grow significantly along the way.
In addition, due to the increasingly violent society about which she is writing, Baer's language lacks the same quality which made her bucolic descriptions of pre-Nazi Germany so attractive. Her writing in the sequel seems flat in comparison. show less
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book because of its consideration of all different ways people eat as well as the extra textual features included in the book. First, the author considered all the different types of lifestyles when it comes to eating habits. For example, the author includes a vegetarian character, which is a group of people I would likely not have considered until they were included in the story. Also, I enjoyed this book because it included a map in the back of the book to show more show the reader where all the cities mentioned are located as well as recipes for some of the food mention in the story. I think these are important features that really add to the educational merit of this story. The big idea in this story is that people all over the world have different traditions when it comes to eating lunch and it is important to learn about and appreciates everyone’s traditions. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 13
- Members
- 3,232
- Popularity
- #7,918
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 50
- ISBNs
- 58
- Languages
- 2