The Daughter of Auschwitz: The Girl Who Lived to Tell Her Story

In this powerful middle grade adaptation of the bestselling adult memoir of the same name, New York Times bestselling author Tova Friedman recounts her experiences as one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust. A Sydney Taylor Notable Book!

At the tender age of five years old, Tola Grossman was sent to a Nazi labor camp. As World War II was breaking out around them, the only thing Tola and her parents were left with was the instinct to survive at all costs. Tola’s life became a series of miraculous close calls, from being saved from a gas chamber to successfully hiding from the Nazis as they were rounding people up.

In this evocative account of one young girl’s survival, Tova Friedman chronicles the atrocities she witnessed while at Auschwitz and, ultimately, the sources of hope and courage she and her family found to persist against all odds.

This unforgettable true story is a testament to a mother’s love, a child’s will to live, and the duty to bear witness.

• A Child in Auschwitz: Follow five-year-old Tola through the gates of the notorious concentration camp, where she becomes one of the youngest to survive the horrors within.
• A Mother’s Sacrifice: Witness the unbreakable bond between Tova and her mother, who faces beatings and starvation to keep her daughter alive.
• Miraculous Survival: A gripping account of Tova’s incredible escapes, from being pulled from the line to the gas chamber to hiding under the body of a corpse during a final Nazi purge.
• Bearing Witness: An essential and accessible work of Jewish history for young readers that honors the 1.5 million children who were lost and carries their stories into the future.

“This Holocaust memoir is especially engaging and should resonate with middle-grade readers. Tola’s account is searing, straightforward, and compelling. This crucial testimony deserves a wide audience.” - Booklist

“In this young reader’s adaptation of Friedman’s 2022 memoir, the author makes her story more accessible for a younger audience without losing any of its heartbreaking impact. Ultimately, this is a call to action for readers to witness and understand the past so that they are better equipped to find current situations that trigger those same alarms, and then do whatever small measures that they can to be change agents.”   - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“As difficult as this account is to read, it is also one of great will and grit. Masterfully and beautifully written. Not to be missed, this is a first and important purchase for all libraries” - School Library Journal (starred review)

“While Friedman doesn’t shy away from the countless atrocities she witnessed, her writing is sensitively pitched to her young audience. A powerful adaptation, made accessible for young readers.” - Kirkus Reviews