Perturba-me qualquer atrocidade que um ser humano possa cometer contra outro, no entanto, com um esforço mental até o posso entender; as guerras, e a ambição pelo poder que lhe está inerente, fazem parte da natureza humana. So it stands to reason that as an adult and a teacher, I'm a big fan of books done in graphic format. Ultimately, though, I found this version of The Librarian of Auschwitz to be simplistic and a little stiff. I was also glad to see that they had several people that they designated as “living books” because they could tell certain stories (one woman could recount The Count of Monte Cristo). Il raconte l'histoire vraie d'une jeune fille de 14 ans, Dita, qui se retrouve avec ses parents dans le camp d'Auschwitz.

Her parents are very loving and try to shield her from the difficulties they face until the Occupation when her Father loses his job. I found the full color cells were clearly and cleanly drawn in such a way that it was easy to follow the story. As a summarized version of the novel, it did incredibly well at introducing some really complex characters and stories that have me immediately adding the full length to my TBR.The resistance was made up of several competing groups: communists, social democrats, Zionists, anti-Zionists and Czech nationalists. But it isn’t written in a way of ‘you have no idea how lucky you are now’, it’s subtle and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I (sadly) finished it. This story is based on real history, from the holocaust survivor who became the main character in this book. However, the sinister Dr Mengele was always around the camp and warned Dita that he was keeping an eye on her, and, that if she stepped out line, she would be the next victim of his grisly experiments.

Where thousands of innocent lives are taken every day, horrific experiments are done on children, families are ripped apart, they are forced to live like cattle, fighting for beds with barely any food.

I saw documentaries and read books in school but it hurt to know that this was happening and that this is what we can do to each other cause we don't practice the same religion or look the same. Iturbe’s epilogue, entitled “Whatever happened to…”, where he fills us in on the outcomes of some of the “real” characters from the novel. From the author of The Prince of the Skies, based on the incredible and moving true story of Dita Kraus, holocaust survivor and secret librarian for the children's block in Auschwitz. It was apparent that while he was writing this novel, he also had emotion and hatred for what was going on.

However, when the Red Cross did not show up to inspect the camp, the Nazis went ahead and dismantled it by killing 3000 people in a single blow. Las ilustraciones son magníficas: bien definidas, correctamente humanizadas, con tonalidades que van variando dependiendo de la sensación o sentimiento que pretende transmitir cada viñeta. But it is inconsistent in content and this would probably not be appropriate for children ages 8-12. While life in the ghetto is hardly perfect, circumstance deals a bad hand to Dita when she is transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. With the horrific fate of millions of people, it is nice to hear the story of a heroic Dita that has overcome so much in her lifetime.A Delayed Life: The True Sto­ry of the Librar­i­an of Auschwitz is Kraus’s own mem­oir, and The Children’s Block is a fic­tion­al­ized account of the same events by her hus­band, Otto Kraus. The story follows Dita and her mother, Liesl, as they are taken to Auschwitz and the daily life in the family camp through sickness, death, hunger and fear as thousands of prisoners come and go in the camps around them. I think WHITE BIRD explored this topic more successfully in the YA graphic novel format, but this title is also recommended.

They were supposed to keep the children disciplined and “entertained” while their parents were involved in slave labour.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. Still, I applaud that this school existed for it gave hope and even if it was fleeting, these 500 kids got to experience some joy. It also drew me into the complex relationships in the camps, both the brave and the brutal; the kindness and the cruelty. I will say the comment that Mengele said was so horrifying and it's not the worst of what they did and there were images that would need to be explained cause gassing and mass genocide seem like content for fiction not real life.