Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

Image: Macmillan

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe. Translated from Spanish by Lilit Thwaites. Unabridge e-audiobook, ~ 14 hours. Narrated by Marisa Calin. Macmillan Young Listeners, 2017. 9781427287090. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe. Translated from Spanish by Lilit Thwaites. This novel is based on the experience of Dita Kraus, who was the titular librarian. Auschwitz-Birkenau was perhaps the most notorious of concentration camps and headquarters of the feared and reviled Dr. Mengele. But commandants also allowed some families to stay together and the children attended a makeshift school run by a prisoner named Fredy Hirsch. Fourteen-year-old Dita was in charge of the eight books that were smuggled into the prison. Punishment would be swift and severe were these books to be discovered. 

The present tense narration of this story heightens suspense and immerses the reader in the violent and inhumane nightmare that was the Holocaust. The Librarian of Auschwitz is a heartbreaking and difficult read and might be too intense for certain readers. There is hope among the despair though and that will keep you going. But there will be tears, many tears.

Another new-to-me narrator, Ms. Calin adopted a matter-of-fact, almost journalistic tone, allowing the reader to react to the horrors personally. I appreciated her pronunciation of names and places as well. The book starts with a letter from Dita Kraus and in the audiobook, she reads her own letter. 

Mr. Iturbe is a Spanish journalist who interviewed Dita Kraus extensively while researching the book. Readers learn about what happened to many of the characters post-war and back matter informs the reader of what was fictionalized and the author's research process, including how he was able to track down Dita Kraus.

The Librarian of Auschwitz belongs in all teen collections. It was languishing on my "tbr" pile until a rising eighth grader recommended it to me near the end of the school year. I always try to read student recommendations and I'm glad I took this one.