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 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 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.

AudioFile Review

This powerful young adult novel introduces listeners to 14-year-old Dita Kraus, a Czechoslovakian Jew who, with her parents, was sent to Auschwitz in December 1943. Through meticulous research, including multiple correspondences with Dita, Antonio Iturbe paints an accurate picture of life in Auschwitz in all its horror. Marisa Calin’s narration straightforwardly tells this chilling but ultimately inspiring story with an unemotional delivery that emphasizes the amazing strength, hope, and courage that sustained the prisoners of Auschwitz in the face of incredible inhumanity and deprivation. An opening letter, read by Dita herself, and an afterword recounting what happened to the real-life people who appear in the story give this work the weight of history within a compelling tale. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2017]

Praise for the book

“an unforgettable, heartbreaking novel.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz

“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.” —Booklist, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz

“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.” —School Library Journal, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz

“Though no punches are pulled about the unimaginable atrocity of the death camps, a life-affirming history.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz