Book Review: The Librarian of Auschwitz

"The Librarian of Auschwitz," by Antonio Iturbe is a young adult novel about Dita, a young girl who miraculously survives the Holocaust, in spite of doing the very dangerous job of serving as the librarian in camp. 

This library consists of only eight books, and each of them are precious. Books are forbidden in the camps, so she has to keep them hidden, having special pockets sewn into her clothes to carry the books. She also gets supplies to repair them as best she can. Dita is an inventive girl who also employs some prisoners to be "living" books, because they can tell the stories well enough to make them real, and includes these people in her library. 

This story is not pleasant, but shows the reality of the horrible conditions people endured, when death was sometimes a blessing, and how the inhumanities were hidden from the outside world. Dita is not the only character, there are sympathetic Nazis you may want to root for, some you don't then change your mind, and other prisoners. This book pulls at your heart strings, and makes you angry that this happened to so many people, children, elders, families torn apart, or murdered together, starting with the child.

This book is based on a true story. While it is not pleasant, it is important. As a bonus, there is a cameo appearance of Anne Frank, who authored the notebook that inspired "The Diary of Anne Frank."