Paper Hearts

Paper Hearts
by Meg Wiviott
352 pages; ages 12 & up
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2015

I'm reading as fast as I can to get to the bottom of my book basket. That's where I re-discovered this gem that was published in the fall.

Paper Hearts is a story about Zlatka and her best friend, Fania. It's about how Zlatka stole and bartered for paper and scissors so she could make a birthday card for her friend. It is a story about an act of defiance, a statement of hope, and a crime punishable by death - because in Auschwitz, in 1944, making a birthday card for your friend was illegal.

The tale is told in verse, a style of storytelling I am coming to appreciate, as the language gets to the point and leaves room for imagination to fill in the spaces. Here is part of a scene set in a prison:

Seven of us

Jammed in a cell

Big enough for one.

A girl with blonde braids

And a gold cross

Got down on her knees,

Crossed herself,

And swore to God

She was not a Jew.

No one listened.

Not even God.

 What I like love about this book: the abundance of awesome back matter! There is a picture of Fania's paper heart (which is on display at the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre). There is a glossary, so you can look up Hebrew words, German words, and camp slang. There is a bibliography, should you want to explore more. And there's a wonderful section about the true story that Paper Hearts is based on, and what changes the author made for artistic reasons.

Review copy from the publisher.