Paper Hearts, Meg Wiviott
Historical fiction/Verse
Paper Hearts is a story told in verse – in poetry form – by two girls, Zlatka and Fania, who were Jewish teenagers in Europe during World War II. The story starts out when they and their families are sent into two different ghettoes, and then to the same concentration camp.
It’s there that Zlatka and Fania meet after they are separated from their families – two girls from different countries, different families, different lives – both assigned to work in a factory that builds weapons and ammunitions for the German army. There are other girls there as well, and they become friends even under these horrifying circumstances. And in 1944, the girls commit a crime and risk their lives to bring a little bit of hope to their friend Fania. They create a birthday card for her, shaped like a heart, containing the dreams and wishes of all of the girls at the factory.
This historical fiction book is based on real events, and on a real artifact – Fania’s heart-shaped birthday card – that is still on display at a Holocaust museum today.