Upon the Head of the Goat
A Childhood in Hungary 1939–1944

I've been putting off writing this review because I've been debating on whether to rate it a 2 or a 3. I had thought I had settled on a 3 until I wrote my review and realized that a 2 more accurately portrays my feelings. I honestly was disappointed in, first, the execution of the story. I felt like......more

Those who like reading on WW2, this is a good book for you. The plot takes place in Hungary where gradually the cruelty of the war takes place. Even though Piri and her family try to remain strong till the end, they soon start to fall apart as the Nazis start invading Hungary. The simple diction of......more

A 1982 Newbery honor book regarding the holocaust, this is written about events leading up to the deportation of the author's family to Auschwitz in 1944. Happy and carefree, Piri spends summers with her grandmother in Beregszasz. During 1939 sudden changes occur as it appears the nation is in the de......more

A heartbreaking autobiographical Holocaust narrative about the childhood of the author, Aranka Siegal, and her family in Hungary as they slowly became consumed by World War II and the anti-Semitism of nearby Germany and its military. As someone who is a quarter Hungarian, I was fascinated and found......more

A Newbery Honor book, this describes the author's experience as a young girl living in the Ukraine and also a small town in Hungary and then in a Jewish ghetto at the beginning of World War II. Aranka Siegal captures the fear and uncertainty of her family’s life and also her mother’s determination t......more