Chaim and Gittel live with their parents and they are a Jewish family. The family moderately practices their faith. The Nazis force the family to resettle into an apartment in the ghettos. Later, the Norenburgs, another Jewish family, have to move into the same apartment. Dr. Norenberg is a dentist and his wife takes care of her two children, Bruno and Sophie. The Nazis arrest Dr. Norenberg when he is caught buying medicine for his patients. After the arrest, Mrs. Norenberg’s mental health starts to decline, as she slowly becomes delusional in the hope that her husband will return. 

The Nazis send for Chaim and Gittel’s family, in an attempt to relocate them again. The parents decide to try to escape with all the kids, but Bruno refuses to go with them until they agree to take Mrs. Norenberg as well. The families save themselves and end up living in a deserted house. When the Nazis invade the house, Mrs Norenberg sacrifices herself to save her children. After the Nazi raid, the group flees to the forest. The parents arrange for a woman to transport the kids to a tribe called the Partisans. Little do the twins know that this will be the last time they will see their parents. The Partisans provide protection for several weeks by always moving and staying silent. When the Paristans finally have to rest, the Nazis find the group and kill everyone but the kids. The Nazis take the children to Sobanek, which is a labor camp. A few months later, Sophie and Gittel, along with a number of other kids at the camp, contract Typhoid. Dr. von Schneir comes to the camp to take care of the sick. He isolates the sick kids into a separate barrack. Later, Bruno informs Dr. von Schneir that Chaim and Gittel are twins along with another kid named Gregor who lost his twin. Sofie eventually dies from Typhoid. 

Two weeks later, Dr. von Schneir takes Gittel, Chaim, and Gregor to the Welcome House to experiment. The Welcome House is a place outside the camp, which houses Dr. von Schneir and other leaders of the camp. Dr. von Schneir experiments on the twins and Gregor for months. He decides he wants to study the hearts of twins and proceeds to cut Gregor open, and remove his heart. As Dr. von Schneir goes for Chaim, Gittel jumps on his neck, killing von Schneir instantly. When the soldiers see Dr. von Schneir dead, they believe he slipped and fell from Gregor’s blood. The Americans save the kids a few months later. The twins survive the experimentation and the labor camp and become successful adults.

Gittel,” he whispered. And when she didn’t move, he said more frantically, ‘Gittel!” (Yolen 322). Chaim’s fear is transcending his normal demeanor. He is frantic and his usual quiet demeanor disappears instantly. Now he is shouting out to Gittel, verbally trying to get her attention. “He laughed at my unintended pun. When he reads the poems aloud on his many tours, he neither stutters nor falters with the words.” (Yolen 412). Chaim laughs more and he’s much more confident. He is sharing his work, reading it aloud. He is showing himself to an audience.

The theme war changes people transcends other themes such as love includes sacrifice or something else. This theme includes other minor themes, the themes that are argued are also included with war changing people. Yolen wants the readers to wonder how far someone would go for someone they love and how much that changes someone. “If I thought about my future then, it surely didn’t include weapons. It held school and university, work as a teacher like Mama, until marriage” (Yolen 189). Gittel never thinks of being violent. She is an innocent kid who couldn’t dream of hurting anyone. “From out of nowhere–Gittel–both hands suddenly released from both her cuffs–leaped off her chair and pushed von Schneir on the chest with such force he fell over backward” (Yolen 404). She had to be violent. She protects the one she loves, Chaim. She wants to save him.

One of the weaknesses in Mapping the Bones, Yolen introduces the Partisans. “Two were women, one as old as Mama, the other a teenager… But in their camouflage pants and shirts, with her cropped hair, their rough speech, it was hard to tell the women from the men” (Yolen 190). The Parisians are meant to be Jewish rebellion groups, nothing more. In the quote, they point out it’s hard to decipher the genders. The point is the Partisans are not supposed to be seen. Specifying the gender and age feels useless for the reader. Yolen includes the gender and age which is inaccurate to actual Partisans. The only thing that was supposed to truly matter was camouflage.

Mapping the Bones is more centered for older and mature audiences. Yolen includes things that make the reader imagine scenes in their heads. “until the doctor raised his bloody hands above his head, with Gregor’s heart held firmly, like a piece of fresh meat the butcher was about to put in the case” (Yolen, 401). Yolen makes this very descriptive to emphasize the true horrors of work camps. Readers should read Mapping the Bones with caution, or basic research about the Holocaust.