The Librarian of Auschwitz

December 1, 2022

Gr 9 Up-Based on Iturbe's novelization of Dita Kraus's experiences during World War II, this graphic novel details Kraus's early life in Czechoslovakia, her love of reading, and the unusual existence of a family camp and classroom (of sorts) for children within Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Kraus and her family arrived in 1942. The first half of the book also establishes the teen's precarious responsibility as keeper of the camp's eight prized but forbidden volumes, and the threats, terror, and trauma of life in the camp where hundreds were sent to the gas chambers daily. Dialogue bubbles and text boxes, along with striking, purely visual panel sequences and full-page images, advance the story. The second half of the book moves at a quicker pace, reducing some events to cursory (and potentially confusing) treatment. The illustrated epilogue, which offers additional information about Adolf Hitler's objectives and a few of the individuals featured in the book, will help answer some questions readers may have. Sepia tones that evoke the era dominate the opening pages, while scenes in shadowy blue gray emphasize the dangerous, clandestine nature of much of the activity at the camp. Red enters as the background color when Nazi soldiers appear or pure panic sets in. Included is an image of a mass grave, and others of naked prisoners being led to the gas chambers. VERDICT Along with memoirs or nonfiction histories, this book may serve Holocaust units, and discussions about the history of restricting access to books, especially where differentiated materials are needed.-Daryl Grabarek

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 28, 2017
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 Terezín (“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.