Gratz, Alan. 
PRISONER B-3087
New York : Scholastic, 2013
IL 5-8, RL 4.9
ISBN 054545901X

(3 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Yanek Gruener was only 10 years old when the Nazis took over his hometown of Krakow.  Forced into the Jewish ghetto, Yanek soon loses all he has loved and known.  Alone, Yanek is finally taken by the Nazis, tattooed with the number B-3087, and sent to the first of 10 concentration camps he will suffer through ... and survive.  The book is co-written by Yanek himself (now Jack), and his wife, based on their experiences.  (Isinglass Teen Award Committee, 2015)

Booktalk #2

Life during the Holocaust was a terrifying experience for ten year old Jewish school boy, Yanek Gruener.  During the next six years he was transferred to 10 different Nazi camps and survived.  The author based this fiction book on the true story of Jack Gruener, whose will-to-live enabled him to endure unspeakable hardships.   If this story intrigues you look for other personal accounts of Holocaust survivors, the Diary of Anne Frank being the most famous.  Also try the Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson.  Mr. Leyson was one of those fortunate to be on “Oskar Schindler’s List” of essential workers.  (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award, 2015)

Booktalk #3

If only I could have seen into the future…if there had been any way to know what was going to happen…If only. I was just a kid and had no idea what would happen to my family and my world. Up until 1939, I had a normal life, living in a nice home with my family with plenty to eat and drink. Then, the Germans arrived in our town. We heard the rumors but chose to ignore them believing that the world would never allow the Jewish race to disappear from Europe.  Families were removed from their homes and began to disappear, and finally my family was sent away. I was the only one left. That didn’t last long. I was taken first to Plaszow and my work in the concentration camps began. Words cannot describe the things I did and the things I saw.  I don’t know how I held on and survived living in ten of the concentration camps operated by the Germans. The horrors of these places are too much for me to describe, so you’ll have to read my story in Prisoner B-3087.  (Prepared by: Kay Falls, York Intermediate School, South Carolina Junior Book Award)

Booktalk #4

The main character Yerek goes to many different concentration camps and tries to survive. He is alone without family but he meets new friends.You would not stop reading this book. (Marelyn O., Student)