The Story Behind
the Changes

What has changed?

Some terminology, technology and current events have been tweaked. But, because of the twenty years that have passed, changes involving characters’ back stories are more than merely tweaked. For example, in the earlier version, Max and his best friend, B.B., had already been married men when the war broke out. Now, they instead had been boys, about the same age as David and the reader.

Max and Klare had already been married before coming to America . In this new version, they had merely known each other as children.

David’s mother no longer is Max and Klare’s first-born. (This makes David’s mother a 21st century “older mom.”)

Now, the reader learns that as a child, Nana had been rescued by Klare’s father, a doctor, from an orphanage in Vilna.

At the end of the story, B.B. now informs David that he is painting the images of his terrible experiences as a way of exorcising them from his damaged soul.

Candy’s father had been an embezzler/alcoholic who abandoned his wife and child. Now, he’s been a bully/alcoholic. More emphasis is placed on Candy’s sense of shame about her father’s bullying behavior.

David and Nettie have a few new “moments.”

In the revision David and Candy know more about the Holocaust than they would have known twenty years ago. (David, for example, has seen the documentary “Paper Clips.”)

When David confronts his parents about how something like the Holocaust could have happened, his mother is more at a loss for words.

However, Max’s “story” remains the same. It’s about what happened to him—Max Levene. And, because of today’s violent climate, it’s a story that will cause young readers to heed Max’s concern. (In the original version, Max says to David, “It must never happen again.” Now, he adds: “It must be stopped before it begins.”)

How to do that? Ah. That is the question.

Read about the reasons for the Revision to David and Max

Read about the Original Version of David and Max

Further Study about David and Max - information for teachers, parents and students

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