The title drew me in and the pictures and writing kept me turning the pages. The pictures are full of detail yet not busy and the writing takes you inside the mind of a young girl trying to getting through each day and make sense of her new world. We follow Annelise, who watches her brother, as her imagination comes alive and she begins to involve himself in making the world around her a better place. But this book is so much more. It is an important story about the value of literature to positively bring about change by opening up windows into different worlds and ways of thinking. It is the true story of Jella Lepman, who in 1947, traveled around Germany sharing hundreds of books that had been donated from other countries. Lepman requested these books because she saw the importance of giving the children of Germany a fresh start and allowing them to see the lives of children in other countries in order to make a connection.
I see this book as a wonderful way to open discussions with children in early elementary school or homeschool settings. about the effects of war and the many ways that children across the world .

About the Power of Books, Based on a True Story

Inspired by the work of an actual woman in post World War II Germany, this book relates a tale of a traveling children’s book exhibit. Jella, the woman who started the exhibit, gathered children's books from around the world—asking for donations from 19 countries—and brought them to different cities in Germany to share with children. The book starts by sharing a little of what post-war Germany looked like and the hardships through the eyes of a young brother and sister. They are enamored of the exhibit, and of course, want to take a few books home. The lady suggests they come back the next day to look at the books again. She shares some tales in the books, including ones that had not yet been translated into German.

At the end of the book, the author shares the actual story of this woman and her book exhibit. What the woman wanted to do was use books to build bridges between the children in Germany and other places and cultures, hoping to prevent another world war. When she made her request for books, she was only turned down by Belgium who stated in their refusal that they had suffered twice from Germany's wars. When she wrote back stating her reasons more strongly, they sent her books. At the time when she traveled around with the exhibit, she had 4000 books; the back of the book actually has a photograph from the Munich exhibit as discussed in the story portion of the book. She found that children usually wanted to take books back home with them, so she translated “Ferdinand the Bull” into German and printed 30,000 copies so she could give them out at her stops. At a certain point, she made a permanent exhibition, and this has now grown to a very large lending library and an even larger reference library—all children's books. An international society maintains libraries patterned after her original one.

I absolutely loved the message of this book, and that it is based on a real woman story. I adore children's books based on everyday heroes, and this woman certainly qualifies. Her idea of using books to build bridges was brilliant as I do think books can do that when they fire the imagination and help us appreciate other people and cultures. The book uses a few German words, but the author kindly includes a short German word list that includes the pronunciation and the definition; this can be hard to see as it is in small type on the copyright page. On this page, too, she explains that Winnie the Pooh had not yet been translated into German at the time when the exhibit in the book would have taken place, but she claims artistic license so she could have the little girl think of a book that children all over the world could relate to. I wasn't wild about the illustrations in this book. I thought the people looked strange, with beady eyes and odd-looking hair. The backgrounds were better, though. The whimsical one used on the cover is the best in the book. If you have a young book lover in your house or you like to share true tales like this one, you might find this a delightful book to share with your child or children.

This was an extremely interesting and informative picture book. I'm very glad my daughter wanted to read it, solely based on the title and the cover illustration. The story is a fictionalized account of a little boy and girl after World War II who encounter the children's book exhibition that Jella Lepman setup with children's books from around the world traveled throughout Germany after World War II in the hope of building “bridges of understanding” between countries. Not only is this an inspiring story, but it's a great way of bringing history to current children, and using the book as an introduction to teaching them about difficult topics. The artwork is beautiful, and the story is inspiring. I highly recommend this book.

I received an e-galley of this book from Kids Can Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What an incredible book about the impact that books and reading can have on children. Based on the true story of Jella Lepman, this story follows a pair of siblings in Germany after the war who stumble upon a book exhibition. In this space, the children are enraptured by the books and the stories within it. They also meet a lady who reads the story of Ferdinand to the children with a powerful message - we can choose not to fight, we can go home again - such powerful messages for children who now must live through the after effects of war. It is a story of hope and of education and books that will guide children through their troubles and into a world of peace and imagination.

I enjoyed this book and loved reading the biography of Jella Yemen at the end of the book, including her work in setting up the exhibitions. And I definitely now want to visit the Book Castle in Germany if I ever get the chance to travel there,.

I thought that this book was delightful!

It was well written, packed with lovely images and I love that it is based on a true story that was inspired by the work of Jella Lepman.

I loved that Jella found a way to share with the children of Germany books from around the world and provided them with a light in the darkness of the post-war era.

It is 5 stars from me for this one, a lovely story, well written with lovely images - very highly recommended!!

This is a lovely book with gorgeous illustrations and is perfect for schools who are focused on cultural diversity and sharing the wonderful gifts all of our different backgrounds have to offer.

A beautiful story, inspired by real events, showing the power and magic of books ...
A work also quite sad when we understand the scope and the time of the story, which deals with a dark period that is the post-war period.

To discover! ^^

The illustrations in this book are just so strikingly beautiful! I wanted a little more on the topic of food for those children. But I really enjoyed learning more about this roving book exhibit and the woman behind it.
A lovely book that should be added to library collections.

I'd like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a copy of this book.
I am always a fan of children books that are educational like this one. Brilliant illustrations, highly recommended!

Books build bridges of understanding

Jella Lepman was known as the lady with the books. During WWII, she helped German children understand the world around them with classic books. It is a wonderful story for young children to grow in the love of books and others. Highly recommend.

A special thank you to Kids Can Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

This beautifully illustrated children’s book is based on the true story of Jella Lepman, a Jewish woman who returned to Munich after World War II, and organized an exhibition of 4,000 children’s books written in different languages from nineteen countries. Her goal was to create “bridges of understanding” between people starting with children.

In the story, fictional characters, Anneliese and Peter, are inspired with hope for the future as they visit the library and return many times to read. It’s a story about the love of reading and how reading can inspire healing, hope and understanding.

Information about Jella Lepman and the founding of the International Youth Library and the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an interesting section added at the end of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kids Can Press, and author Kathy Stinson and illustrator Marie Lafrance for giving me the opportunity to read this beautifully illustrated book.

Based on true life events of "The Lady with the Books", the mother of two children believed that books were needed by children as much as they needed food during those times of the Holocaust.
This short storybook portrayed vividly how people went hungry for days, tried their best to get through those days when things as basic as food and books were denied and the Jewish had to suffer during those days without anything much to look forward to. But this woman had a vision. She sent letters to 20 countries to send books of which almost all of them complied.
I love how this book feature the real photographs of the book exhibit in 1946 and that of The Book Castle towards the end.

Such books give me immense joy knowing that such rare people actually existed during such difficult times giving hope to children and readers alike. I love the artwork so much!
I love the idea of this book so much!

The things I get to learn from reading children's books... I don't think I would have ever looked up something like this in my entire lifetime if it wasn't for gems like this!

Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

Nicely told, nicely illustrated. I was relieved to find at the back of the book a nonfiction section about the woman who inspired the story, Jella Lepman. That Jewish woman fled Nazi Germany with her children and later returned and turned her efforts to creating an exhibition of children's books that toured four German cities in 1946. And after that she set up the International Youth Library, which moved into Blutenberg Castle in Munich in 1983. I hadn't heard of it, but now I'm putting that on my list of places to go if I visit Germany and will tell any book-loving friends who go there to see seek "The Book Castle," too. I wonder if they will have a copy of The Lady with the Books?

This is a beautifully illustrated story that portrays a fictionalized account of children visiting one of Jella Lepman's traveling book exhibits after WWII. Kathy Stinson includes several pages of information about the real-life Lepman, which describe how she worked hard to bring international books to the children of Germany. This book would be a great addition to a WWII unit of study for upper elementary students. Without background knowledge related to life before and after the war, students may find it difficult to truly understand the text.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is lovely and I learned so much from it! I think the story is a bit too advanced for young readers and is more geared towards adults, but parents can get the message across by telling the story to their children. The message of the book is definitely important and timely.

This book is ok. It tells the story of a young German girl in post-war Munich as she experiences the joy of a children's book exhibit. It's a fictionalized experience of a real traveling exhibit of children's books from around the world organized by Jella Lepman. The most interesting part is Jella Lepman, but she isn't even named in the text. The afterword is really interesting and talks about her life and life's work of bringing children and books together, and I wish more of that would have made its way into the text. The illustrations are cute, and reminiscent of Lois Lenski. I wasn't wowed by any one particular aspect, but there's nothing bad about it either. It's a solid, middle-of-the-road story.

The story of the woman who made it possible for children to enjoy books after WWii .I enjoyed the actual life of Jella and her books exhibition story more interesting than the fictional part with brother and sister.
Illustrations are very neat and interesting.
I always like the books about libraries and books.It is a good addition.

This book was great for showing historical events in a way that children can sympathize with and understand. Not a huge fan of the illustration style but the story was heartwarming. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital review copy.

I will start with the illustrations which are impeccable. They have a timeless beauty to them. Second I could not love the story anymore. This book had a timeless quality to it. I can’t wait to add this to the library!

This story is based on the true story of Jella and her children’s book exhibition after World War II. The story itself revolves around 2 fictitious children and how they view the books and Jella. Honestly, I found it was not captivating. I enjoyed reading the story of Jella more than the fictional version of her story. It is lengthy for a picture book so I would not recommend it for younger children.