• Age: 13 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12
• Reading age: 13 to 18

She had expected to hate him. But hate, just like forgiveness, can be complicated.

The true story of nineteen-year-old Jordana Lebowitz’s time at the trial of Oskar Groening, known as the bookkeeper of Auschwitz, a man charged with being complicit in the death of more than 300,000 Jews. A granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Jordana was still not prepared for what she would see and hear. Listening to Groening’s testimony and to the Holocaust survivors who came to testify against him, Jordana came to understand that by witnessing history she gained the knowledge and legitimacy to be able to stand in the footsteps of the survivors who went before her and pass their history – her history – on to the next generation.

Kathy Kacer est une auteure primée qui a écrit de nombreux livres sur l'holocauste pour les jeunes lecteurs, dont The Magician of Auschwitz, L'histoire d'Edith, Le journal de Sara et Les espions de la nuit. Elle s'estime honorée de contribuer à faire connaître l'histoire familiale de Jenny Kay Dupuis. Kathy vit avec sa famille à Toronto.

Kathy Kacer has won many awards for her writing, including the American Jewish Library Association Award. In 1999, she wrote the first book in Second Story's Holocaust Remembrance Series, The Secret of Gabi's Dresser. Since then, she's penned four other books in the series. Kacer now writes about the Holocaust for young readers and travels the country speaking about it. Kacer lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her family.

Kathy Kacer's profile page

Jordana Lebowitz attended the trial of Oskar Groening in 2015. She is dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and set up a Nazi cattle car exhibit at her university that was seen by more than 2,000 people. From Toronto, she has worked for Holocaust organizations in Australia and California and travels frequently.

Jordana Lebowitz's profile page

Gabi Epstein is a DORA Award winner and one of Canada's leading stage and cabaret performers best known for playing Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors with the Stratford Festival and Fanny Brice in Funny Girl with the Segal Centre/Harold Green Jewish Theatre. She has narrated 9 audiobooks to date including To Look A Nazi in the Eye, Hiding Edith, The Brushmaker's Daughter, and Restitution- by Kathy Kacer (for ORCA), and Broken Strings- by Kathy Kacer, He Must Like You- by Danielle Younge-Ullman, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted- by Gary Barwin, and The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family- by Sarah Kapit (for Penguin Random House).

Other theatrical credits include Once (Mirvish Productions-- DORA AWARD Ensemble/Production), Billy Elliot (Stratford), Fiddler on the Roof (Stage West/Capitol Theatre), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Candide, Dani Girl (TIFT), The Sound of Music, Blood Brothers, Perfect Wedding (Drayton), City of Angels (Theatre by the Bay), To Life (HGJT-- DORA AWARD Nomination for Outstanding Performance), and Edges(Musical Stage Co.). Gabi’s debut CD Show Off is available on Spotify and iTunes and her infamous Gabarets have been performed all over North America garnering her praise such as “Best Cabaret of the Year” by the Times Square Chronicles in NYC. She and her husband Jeremy are the co-founders of “The New Local: Dine In, Sing Out!” which partners with local restaurants to provide live virtual dinner & show events.

Gabi Epstein's profile page

• Runner-up, Sydney Taylor Honor Book, Teen Readers
• Short-listed, Vine Awards, Canadian Jewish Literature
• Winner, Canadian Jewish Literary Award, Memoir/Biography

“With living survivors seen through the eyes of a contemporary teen, the Holocaust is made present... 72 years after the liberation of the death camps, this immediacy is vital” — Kirkus Reviews

“The fact that with each passing year, fewer and fewer survivors are alive to tell their stories makes this account important.... A stirring reminder of the importance of history and activism.” — School Library Journal

“The book is filled with serious quandaries and issues but is also an exciting page-turner. Highly recommended for ages 14 and up.” — Jewish Book Council

“Kacer deftly handles the complex and tense dramatic nonfiction narrative and its layers of emotion… A must-have in a YA collection.” — AJL Reviews

“Focussing on the real stories and feelings of real human beings who lived through the worst horrors imaginable, Kacer keeps the book both an engrossing read and a powerful messenger. Highly Recommended.” — CM: Canadian Review of Materials