July 2014, Toronto - Kathy Kacer, award-winning author of over a dozen books about the Holocaust for young readers, has distilled her unique brand of history and storytelling in her first picture book. The Magician of Auschwitz tells a true story of survival and hope in one of the 20th century's most hopeless places, the Nazi prison camp of Auschwitz. It is the time of the Second World War, and Werner is a boy alone in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Separated from his family, not knowing if they are alive or dead, he doesn’t have a friend in the world. He shares his bunk with a quiet man named Herr Levin, who seems too gentle for this terrible place. What he doesn't know is that before the war, his bunkmate was a famous magician known to audiences around Europe as "The Great Nivelli." One night Werner is woken by the sound of prison guards yelling. But it’s not Werner they want, it’s Herr Levin.

“Do your magic!” they order him. Magic? In Auschwitz? Werner never expected to meet a magician in such a sad and frightening place. Nor did he expect that his life could be changed, not just by Herr Levin’s gift of magic, but by his gifts of hope and friendship. Includes a special section, with photographs, about the real-life Werner and the Great Nivelli. A beautiful, moving picture book in the tradition of Second Story Press' award-winning The Secret of the Village Fool.