Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams: The Woman Who Rescued a Generation of Children and Founded the World’s Largest Children’s Library is by award winning author Katherine Paterson. This book is a biography of Lepman whose vision and dedicated efforts set up exhibits and later libraries for German children after World War II. Paterson starts with a short description of Lepman’s early years growing up in Germany with a Jewish family from her birth in 1891. Later, when Lepman was widowed with two young children, she found work as a journalist and then became the first woman editor of a liberal, German newspaper. When Hitler took power, promising to “make Germany great again,” she lost her job because she was Jewish. She was able escaped with her children to England where she eventually found work with the BBC, became an author and started a magazine.
Soon after the war’s end she was asked to go back to Germany to be an “adviser on the cultural and educational needs of women and children” in areas occupied by American and Allied forces. Her fact finding journey throughout the Allied occupation zone helped her discover what was needed. Wherever she went the suffering of children was apparent. “It was obvious that the children of Germany…were in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter.” However, beyond that she saw that the children needed “nourishment for the soul.” For Lepman, “that nourishment had always come from books.”
Lepman took action first by reporting to the General who had sent her on that fact finding mission. She wanted to arrange an “exhibition of the best children’s books from around the world.” That would provide the nourishment the children needed. Since there were no funds to gather books, Lepman wrote to publishers in twenty countries asking for donations of books, especially picturebooks “to show the children of Germany what the free world was like.” All the publishers agreed to send books. Later, the Rockefeller Foundation provided funds to continue supporting her mission. The exhibition was a tremendous success traveling to many German cities. Next, Lepman founded a library to house the books that continued to be donated. The Library hosted many events about books and reading that gave the German children joyful experiences with books.
Some years later she founded what later became the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY). Lepman’s hard work did so much to achieve her dream that generations of children would find hope and solace in the pages of a book. This biography is a reminder of the need to promote such experiences for today’s young people throughout the world.
Archival photos mix with subtle illustrations to enhance and extend the details of the narrative. In this current time of attacks on books for children, Lepman’s biography will remind readers of the importance of connecting children with the nourishment and joy that comes from books. It will be of interest to students starting in middle school and also adults. It could be a read aloud that inspires deep discussions.–Recommended by Marilyn Carpenter, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Washington University.
Title: Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams: The Woman Who Rescued a Generation of Children and Founded the World’s Largest Children’s Library
Author: Katherine Paterson
Illustrator: Sally Deng
ISBN: 9781452182629
PubDate: February 4, 2025
Publisher: Handprint Books
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- Themes: Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams, Katherine Paterson, Marilyn Carpenter, Sally Deng
- Descriptors: WOW Recommends