The Red Ribbon

August 1, 2018
Historical fiction about the high-fashion tailoring studio where Nazis enslaved prisoners on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau.Ella is a yellow star-wearing prisoner at the camp she calls Birchwood, where she's managed to get a labor assignment in the tailoring studio. Though the "prominent" (a fellow prisoner empowered to boss around other inmates) can be cruel, it's a safer task than many of the jobs available at the death camp. Ella's lied about her age to get the position, but she hasn't had to lie about her talent; she is genuinely a smashing seamstress. Ella's sometimes-unbelievable naiveté about the camp (she asks when she can write to her grandmother at home) enables her to willfully ignore how much her dressmaking enthusiasm smacks of collaboration. Not so her friend Rose, a political prisoner and fellow dressmaker. Unlike Ella, Rose understands that their supplies are stolen from the Nazi's victims. Though Ella's eyes eventually open to horror, especially as Rose's health falters and Birchwood descends into chaos in the waning days of the war, her unreliability as a narrator makes the camps appear less horrific than the reality. The avoidance of specific references to Jews or Germany in a story about atrocities that targeted very specific groups of people strips this Holocaust narrative of both believability and historical accuracy.Pass on this one. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 12-14)

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September 1, 2018

Gr 8 Up-Fifteen-year-old Ella enters the Upper Tailoring Studio hoping for a better job. As a talented seamstress, Ella hopes she can use her talents to survive at Birchwood, aka Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Ella designs and creates fine garments for her captors. Focusing on her sewing doesn't hide Ella from the toils of prison life: the hours-long roll calls, meager meals, and cruel mistreatment of prisoners, or Stripeys as she has dubbed them. One Stripey, Rose, an expert embroiderer who spins stories to entertain her fellow prisoners, becomes Ella's bunkmate, best friend, and possible romantic interest. The girls' bond is indestructible and they vow to survive their time at Birchwood and, should they become separated, meet in the City of Light to open their own dress shop after the war. This promise is sealed with a red ribbon Rose smuggles from the camp's stores and gives to Ella. After the girls are expelled from their positions at the Upper Tailoring Studio, their new jobs at the washery are not as forgiving, and they are seemingly doomed to never fulfill their promise of opening a shop together or even surviving. The author's choice to "not dwell on specific countries, regimes, or religions in the story" is a deliberate one, noted in the afterword, and readers will need to have a working knowledge of the Holocaust and concentration camps in order to grasp the apparel metaphors at work. VERDICT An additional purchase for most young adult collections.-Brittany Drehobl, Morton Grove Public Library, IL

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 8, 2018
Adlington brings her background in fashion history to this Holocaust novel, which takes place at Birchwood (part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex) during the final years of the notorious Nazi concentration camp. Based on a true but little-known aspect of the camp, the book focuses on 12 female prisoners who sew fashionable clothing for high-ranking Nazi women. Thanks to her height, 14-year-old Ella, skillfully trained in sewing by her grandmother and passionate about creating beautiful clothing, passes for 16, the minimum age for a seamstress, and becomes one of the most prized workers in the Upper Tailoring Studio. Working alongside her is fragile, dreamy Rose, a consummate storyteller who quickly becomes Ella’s closest friend (Adlington also hints at a romantic relationship). Their dream of opening a dress salon together after the war helps keep their spirits alive. The relationships Ella develops with her barrack boss and one of her “clients” (a female guard) sometimes lack credibility, as does Ella’s obsession with couture in the midst of abuse, hardships, and tragedies. Still, this is a raw depiction of the struggles experienced by prisoners at Auschwitz. Ages 12–up.