The Boy Who Saved Lives with a Pen

How Adolfo Kaminsky Forged a Path to Freedom During WWII

By: Deborah Blumenthal, Matt Schu

From award-winning author Deborah Blumenthal and illustrator Matt Schu comes the true story of Adolfo Kaminsky—a young man who would become the Forger of Paris, using his pen and his irrepressible sense of justice to save thousands of lives during World War II.

As a boy, Adolfo Kaminsky was fascinated by pen and ink on paper. When WWII began, he saw the Nazis use those same tools to destroy Jewish lives. Drawing on his love of chemistry, Adolfo discovered a way to erase indelible ink, and with it, the danger . . .

He was breaking the law,
but he knew doing wrong
is sometimes doing right.

Recruited by the French Resistance, young Adolfo became a master forger—working day and night to create papers that saved thousands of lives during the war, most of them children.

This is the true story of one boy’s extraordinary courage and the power of knowledge transformed into hope. Perfect for fans of My Lost Freedom, I Dissent, and Counting on Katherine, The Boy Who Saved Lives with a Pen is an inspiring, fast-paced story that remained untold for decades.