Kathy Stinson

This book is inspired by the work of Jella Lepman. Jella was a woman who thought after the war that Germany’s kids needed books as much as they needed food and shelter. They needed a way to feel safe and comfortable. This book is about two children who experience her book exhibit, and how that helped take their mind off their hunger and community destruction. This book was simply lovely, and the real-life efforts that are talked about in the back as well as how the organization still lives on today. This is a must have a book for every library collection.… (mere)

This book is a wonderful biography that is a fictionalized version of a very real story.

I love books like this - picture books with lots of tales to tell! Books like these would have made me way more interested in history as a child!

The Lady with the Books follows Jella Lepman, a woman who traveled to Germany in the 1940s and participated in an exhibit of international children's books. It's a story of hope during the war, and is a truly marvelous book to pick up.

There's also a little German-English dictionary at the front that shows you German words, their English meanings and how to pronounce them.

I didn't like the pictures as much as I liked the story. I found the pictures to be rather odd and just didn't vibe with me. They still work well and are quite colourful, but they aren't my style.

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.… (mere)