26 Dec / The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, translated by Lilit Thwaites
Spanish novelist Arturo Iturbe transforms real-life Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus into 14-year-old Edita Adler, forcibly sent to Auschwitz with her parents. She’s assigned to Block 31, a wooden hut where the children of the ignominiously named “family camp” are sent to be “entertained” while parents work.
Block 31 also serves as Dr. Josef Mengele’s hunting ground for potential specimens for his inhumane human experiments. And yet Dita realizes Block 31 houses a few miracles, too, including a hidden library of eight precious books for which Dita becomes the protective steward. Reading saves her – and many others: “… it didn’t matter how many hurdles all the Reichs in the world put in her way, she’d be able to jump over all of them by opening a book.”
Marisa Calin, herself is a YA author (Between You & Me), channels her British origins for crisp, controlled enunciation. Her youthful voice is ideal as Dita, even as she effortlessly modulates for gender, age, ethnicity, background, for the rest of her diverse cast. This Librarian deserves shelf space next to such Holocaust classics as The Diary of Anne Frank (who even makes a brief appearance near book’s end).
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2012 (Spain), 2017 (United States)