BOOK CLUB KIT : Zookeeper's WifeBOOK CLUB KIT : Zookeeper's Wife

Each kit contains 10 copies of the book and a discussion guide. Book Club Kits cannot be requested or put on hold through the library catalog. For information about requesting a kit, please visit www.cals.org/book-kits
The true story of how the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw--and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina abiski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the abiskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants--otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes--and keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.