This book is unique in that it follows the life of Edita Adler (Dita) but is written in various forms of narration. The reader is transported through many voices which I think adds to the chaos and uncertainty of that time. The book, as the title suggests, is about a girl who risks her life to insure that the teachers in the little school that some of the Jewish inmates have setup (even though this part of the family camp is a visage for the Germans to show the outside world that they are not a killing camp). Dita, through her stubborn ambition, comes up with a way to “transport” the books from class to class so that the children can receive lessons form some of the teachers.

Dita is creative with what she has, she has pockets sewn into her flimsy smock so that she can carry and transport books through the camp undetected. The book is a celebration to Dita and as the first page of the book indicates (through a letter written by Dita Kraus herself) is about the smallest library in the world.

The book deals with the atrocities that prisoners were regularly, if not daily, victim to. The tales will chill your spine and make you close your eyes because you cannot bare to think that humans lived through or did this to each other. Auschwitz is a name synonyms with death, pain, vulgarity in its cruelest and most unthinkable forms – to put it mildly. It is also a rich part of history that should be studied and remembered.

People ask me why I read these types of books, I read them because even though it is absolutely awful to read about what people went through and the unspeakable suffering, these stories matter, the people who suffered, died and survived need to be remembered and that can only be done achieved through books, reading and appreciating.

The book also deals with some of the most unnerving scenarios and explains some of the unrelentless survival mechanisms during that time. Some of which including explaining how some inmates escaped, the little trickles of hope that were sometimes evident in the most desperate situations. We also become privy to some of the rivalry amongst inmates themselves and how they treated each other badly as well. Readers also get a glimpse of some of the internal networks that were setup in Auschwitz like a brothel, black market dealings and the school of which Dita is a part.

The most beautiful part of the book is the end, where one cannot help but shed a tear, when Dita meets her husband and they say nothing, by saying everything at the same time. A truly remarkable story one that no words can describe.