The officers have no idea that in the family camp in Auschwitz, on top of the dark mud into which everything sinks, Alfred Hirsch has established a school. They don’t know it, and it’s essential that they should not know it. Some inmates didn’t believe it was possible. They thought Hirsch was crazy, or naïve: How could you teach children in this brutal extermination camp where everything is forbidden? But Hirsch would smile. He was always smiling enigmatically, as if he knew something that no one else did. It doesn’t matter how many schools the Nazis close, he would say to them. Each time someone stops to tell a story and children listen, a school has been established. If you are looking for a read that's raw, based on a true untold story, powerful, Heartbreakingly authentic, thought provoking and a unique book, that once read will truly stay with you for a lifetime, then you must read THE LIBRARIAN OF Auschwitz! 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. Literature has the same impact as a match lit in the middle of a field in the middle of the night. The match illuminates relatively little, but it enables us to see how much darkness surrounds it.” In the most violent and terrifying times, there will be people of all ages who show great courage and compassion and are willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

The strongest athlete isn’t the one who finishes first. That athlete is the fastest. The strongest athlete is the one who gets up again every time he falls, the one who doesn’t stop when he feels a pain in his side, the one who doesn’t abandon the race, no matter how far away the finish line is. That runner is a winner whenever he reaches the finish line, even if he comes in last.” It is always a revelation when you read a book about someone who at such a young age took on a role that was not only dangerous but also one in which death awaited her if she was caught. The characters felt so real (well of course, seeing how they are based on real people) and there were plenty of emotional moments as much as tense ones. I also enjoyed the art and how it made the story even more vivid. The only title Dita can remember is A Short History of the World, by HG Wells, in Czech. Her friend, Auschwitz survivor Ruth Bondy, who recently passed away, also remembered a geographical atlas and something by Sigmund Freud. Another survivor friend, Eva Merova, says there was a book of short stories by Czech writer Karel Capek. Educators would borrow books to teach the alphabet to the younger children. “As there were no pencils or papers to make notes I had to remember who took what at the end of each day.” I loved the entire graphic novel. This is a true story, and it isn’t pretty. Teen readers need to know about the Holocaust, and the graphic novel format of this book will help bring the Holocaust to a larger audience.

Ao meu ver, este livro divide-se am duas partes: a primeira (pensamos nós) que é mais uma "fantasia" nos campos de Auswichtz/Birkenau e a parte mais final do livro retrata uma realidade mais crua do que foram os fins e o degredo dos campos. The Librarian of Auschwitz graphic novel is based on an adult title of the same name. The topic is difficult, as are some of the illustrations, but this book is great for high school libraries. The illustrations are historically-accurate to life in concentration camps and help underscore how desperate life in Auschwitz was. Highly-recommended for Grades 8+.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide. Get started Close This graphic novel is the same story as the novel by the same name and written by Antonio Iturbe, so I'm not going to summarize it again. Suffice it to say it is the story of teenage Dita Adlerova, who was first sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia with her parents and other Jews, and who were all later transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, they were living in a separate area of Birkenau, called BIIb and referred to as the Theresienstadt Family Camp. These Jewish prisoners were allowed to keep their clothing and their hair wasn't shaved, though living conditions were still as deplorable as in other parts of Auschwitz. If you haven't read the novel, you can read what I originally wrote HERE. The novel is a big book but one that is totally worth spending time with, IMHO.

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I love that books are precious. We are facing censorship in the USA, where some individuals, groups, and politicians are pushing to censor or ban books from schools. While this has always happened to some extent, the increase of it is alarming to those of us who value the freedom to read. I loved reading comics as a kid and I wasn't above reading a Classic Comic or two or maybe more instead of the book the comic was based on. In school, I was an undiagnosed dyslexic and reading was sometimes difficult. So it stands to reason that as an adult and a teacher, I'm a big fan of books done in graphic format. They are just what some readers need instead of a large and for them, for whatever reasons, unwieldy novel. And for others, they are just a fun way to read. But, the graphic needs to be well done, and in today's world, most of the time, they are. Which is why is pains me to say that I did not like The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel. This story needs to be known because it’s one of survival amongst such evil, as well as an amazing feat of triumph despite the astronomical losses. Not all the Characters are likeable, for sooo many reasons, they are based on real characters, and some of them are horrific but harshly real, the Soldiers for example, how they treated people was unimaginable but it happened. But then you had characters like Dita and Fredy Hirsh who melted my heart. The true violence of Auschwitz is very low key in this story which makes me feel it would be suited to a younger audience as a first introduction to the atrocities of the time, 13 years +. That’s not to say there is no violence, a prisoner is hung and a girl beaten.

Totalmente recomendable, una novela gráfica que emana sentimiento y que te hace desear darle una oportunidad al libro en el que se basa. No esperaba que la historia de Dita, una de las supervivientes del Holocausto nazi, consiguiera despertarme tantas emociones. Sin duda, es una de esas obras que todavía hoy en día te hacen pensar en la crueldad que puede imperar en una sociedad cuando se emprenden acciones deleznables. The Librarian of Auschwitz is a heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring work of art." — Shelf Awareness, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, journalist Antonio Iturbe tells the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Violence: Nazis beat men, women, and children; deaths due to illness and starvation; constant fear and threats from soldiers and Nazi doctor (Mengele) This graphic novel was absolutely lovely. I haven't read the original version of the book yet, so I can't speak to it as an adaptation, but being brand new to this particular story, I thought this was brilliantly well done. The art was lovely and expressive, serving as a very effective vehicle for such an important story! Dita's circumstances broke my heart just as I knew they would, but I was amazed by how much hope she and some of the other characters held in their hearts. I couldn't imagine being in that position and still having so much heart and fight left in me. The most beautiful flowers emerge from the foulest dung heap. So maybe, thinks Dita, God isn’t a watchmaker but a gardener.” It goes without saying that the Holocaust was horrific and demoralizing....but stories still need to be heard.