The Librarian of Auschwitz

 

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

Publisher Information:  New York, NY:  Henry Holt and Company (2017) 

Summary: Based on the experience of a real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. 

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazia at Auschwitz.  Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezin ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp.  When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take care of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees.  And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz. 

Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.

Book Trailer:

Read-a-Likes:

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hessse

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip M. Hoose

Night by Elie Wiesel

Courage and Defiance:  Stories of Spies, Sabateurs, and Survivors of World War II by Deborah Hopkinson

Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Links of Interest:

Author interview:  HERE

Educator's guide:  HERE

Oral history interview with Dita Kraus:  HERE

Dita Kraus interview:  HERE

Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum:  HERE

 

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