Goodreads Blurb
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this graphic novel tells 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.
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars
This is a compelling graphic novel for YA and middle-grade readers that will take them through the terrifying moment Dita, her family, and the Jewish community went through in the concentration camps. Dita and I love books, and I felt her heartache when she needed to pack one piece of luggage that couldn’t include all the books she owned. This captivating graphic novel tells Dita’s story before the war and during her time in Auschwitz. As the story unfolds, it shows how a community fights to survive and helps each other in this horrifying life. The illustrations conveyed the story effectively while providing images that were graphic yet subtle. I haven’t read the original novel, but interested in reading it. Although Dita knew that her life was at risk if she were caught in the encampment with books, she still agreed to be the librarian. Her love and appreciation for books were stronger than the fear of death. Courage and hope gave her the fight to survive. This was a learning experience as I didn’t know the Germans had encampments like the one Dita was in, which was a way to conceal the horror, the terrible living conditions, and the deaths of so many innocent lives.
Author’s Bio From Goodreads
Salva Rubio is a novelist and screenwriter and something else.
He works as a cinema screenwriter, having been nominated to the Spanish Goya Awards for Best Animation Feature.
As a graphic novel writer, he publishes mainly in the French-Belgian market and his work has been nominated to an Eisner Award.
He has also written classic musical essays and is the continuator of the bestseller screenwriting theory book series “Save the Cat!”
He is an associate member of the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America, West) and he is a member of the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España.
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