Essay Questions

Why is it significant that Trudi is a dwarf?

It is significant that Trudi is a dwarf, as she is in a unique position where she can resonate with the persecution of Jewish people. She has suffered persecution and judgement herself for superficial reasons, which allows her to be more sympathetic. The narrator explains that Trudi wishes for a world in which people are more accepting:
“And what she wanted more than anything that moment was for all the differences between people to matter no more - differences in size and race and belief." As such, her personal struggles with her disability are set against wider examples of persecution.

Ultimately, although most of her village are passive and allow the injustice to continue, Trudi actively helps people by hiding them in her cellar. She has learned from her own experiences of persecution and has decided that she will not allow others to be persecuted as she was.

Why is a library a good choice of setting for this text?

The library is the perfect setting for this text. Firstly, the novel itself acts as a library, as it contains so many different stories. It contains the story of a young girl struggling with her disability alongside the stories of Jewish people living in Nazi Germany. Additionally, there are many other stories from residents of the German village Trudi lives in.

Trudi herself also becomes a figurative library after collecting different stories. Rather than visiting to borrow books, people begin to visit the library to hear her stories.