The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story, by Diane Ackerman, is a non-fiction book about Antonina Zabinski, the wife of Jan Zabinski, who was the director of the Warsaw Zoo at the time that the German’s invaded Poland during World War II. Antonina and Jan temporarily hide hundreds of Jews at the zoo during the course of the war. Ackerman writes Antonina’s story using the themes of courage, family, home, and compassion using a motif that consistently brings the story back to Antonina’s experiences with animals.
