Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

by Kirsten Miller

“But she didn’t do anything!” Dawn argued passionately, as though reason could save a girl who’d been dead for decades. “None of them did,” Mr. Stempel said. “My uncles and aunts didn’t do anything, either.” “The Nazis killed them?” “Their children, too. The youngest was an infant. They were murdered at Bergen-Belsen. The same place Anne died.” He paused. “You’ve really never heard of it?” He seemed horrified. “I didn’t finish school. But I’ll look it up,” she said, but that didn’t feel like enough. “I promise.” Mr. Stempel stepped back into the house, but Dawn couldn’t let it end there. She needed him to know that she was on his side, not theirs. “The Nazis were monsters to kill little girls.” “I know that’s what people say,” Mr. Stempel told her. “But most of them weren’t. They were just ordinary people. That’s what makes them so terrifying. Monsters you can fight. But when the people who come for you in the night are your neighbors and coworkers and classmates . . . When you never know who’s sick and who’s not . . .” He shrugged. “Sick?” “Hate is a disease, Dawn.”

Dawn felt her stomach heave. She put a hand to her mouth for fear she might vomit. “I think my son has it,” she whispered when she could. Mr. Stempel nodded. “For how long?” “A few months. Since his birthday.” “Then there may still be time to help him.” “There’s a cure?” “Yes, and you have it,” Mr. Stempel said. “It’s the truth. It won’t work on everyone. But maybe your son isn’t too far gone.”

“Seems like I should be doing a whole lot more.” “The first thing you need to do, Beverly, is keep learning. There are people in this town who are stuck. There are some that insist on going backward. You want to make up for what your ancestor did? Learn everything you can and do your best to lead the way forward.” That day, Beverly went home with three new books.