The Librarian of Auschwitz

by Antonio Iturbe (Author)

Reading Level: 9th − 12th Grade

Based on the experience of 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 Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín 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 charge 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.

This title has Common Core connections.

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Kirkus

Starred Review
Though no punches are pulled about the unimaginable atrocity of the death camps, a life-affirming history.

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
Like Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, it's a sophisticated novel with mature themes, delivering an emotionally searing reading experience. An important novel that will stand with other powerful testaments from the Holocaust era.

None

Starred Review
Iturbe's remarkable account uses an immediate present tense to immerse readers in Dita's story as she goes about what constitutes daily life in Auschwitz, all the while risking everything to distribute and hide the library's books.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 8 Up--Based on the true story of Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, this novel features a protagonist who exemplifies courage in the face of death. Fourteen-year-old Dita is imprisoned at Auschwitz along with her mother and father in the "family camp." Her work assignment is to assist the Jewish leader in charge of Block 31, a section created to entertain the children so that their family can work. This block has many secrets, but the most important is that eight books were smuggled in by Jewish prisoners. Dita has been entrusted with their care, making her "the Librarian of Auschwitz." As time passes on, she becomes aware that Dr. Mengele has taken an interest in her, and while she is terrified that "Doctor Death" is paying attention to her, she finds the courage to protect her books, family, and friends at all costs. Throughout, well-known Nazi leaders and lesser-known Jewish heroes play pivotal roles, making the connection with the historical elements of the horrors of Auschwitz, and later Bergen-Belsen more credible and relatable. Despite being a fictional retelling of a true story, this novel is one that could easily be recommended or taught alongside Elie Wiesel's Night and The Diary of Anne Frank and a text that, once read, will never be forgotten. VERDICT A hauntingly authentic Holocaust retelling; a must for YA collections.--Stephanie Wilkes, Good Hope Middle School, West Monroe, LA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Drawing on his own interviews with Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, who now lives in Israel, Spanish author Iturbe describes the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau in unflinching, straightforward prose (smoothly translated by Thwaites) that reflects his journalism background. A fierce lover of books, 14-year-old Dita helps out in the makeshift school of Block 31, the children's block in the family camp, and volunteers to take care of eight precious but forbidden books, risking certain death if she were to be found out. The role of librarian for Block 31's tiny collection gives Dita a sense of purpose in a bleak camp where death, torture, and humiliation are omnipresent. As Dita's story unfolds, alternating between her present circumstances at the camp and her memories of Prague and the ghetto of Terezin ("a city where the streets led nowhere"), Iturbe interweaves the names and stories of other survivors and victims of Auschwitz, turning the narrative into a monument of remembrance and history. All but guaranteed to send readers searching for more information, this is an unforgettable, heartbreaking novel. Ages 13-up. (Oct.)

Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"The Librarian of Auschwitz is a heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring work of art." —Shelf Awareness, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz

Antonio Iturbe

Antonio Iturbe lives in Spain, where he is both a novelist and a journalist. He is the author of The Prince of the Skies and The Librarian of Auschwitz, for which he interviewed Dita Kraus, the real-life librarian of Auschwitz.

Salva Rubio is a Spanish author and historian. His credits include the graphic novels Monet: Itinerant of Light and The Photographer of Mauthausen.

Loreto Aroca is a Spanish artist and a graduate of the University of Castilla-La Mancha. She previously won the school's Luna de Aire Award, honoring the best poetry aimed at children, for her and Fran Pintadera's book Portrait of the Pinzón Family (Retrato de la familia Pinzón).

Lilit Zekulin Thwaites is an award-winning Melbourne-based literary translator (Spanish>English). Her book-length translations include the bestselling The Librarian of Auschwitz (Antonio Iturbe, 2017), Australian Connection (multiple authors, 2019), and two futuristic novels by Rosa Montero, Tears in Rain (2012), and Weight of the Heart. (2016). In 2016, she was awarded Spain's Order of Civil Merit for her promotion of Spanish culture in Australia.

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781627796187
Lexile Measure
940
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Henry Holt & Company
Publication date
October 10, 2017
Series
-
BISAC categories
YAF024070 - Young Adult Fiction | Historical | Holocaust
YAF006000 - Young Adult Fiction | Books & Libraries
Library of Congress categories
-

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