Anne Frank. Her life in words and pictures.
by Men Metselaar and Ruud van der Rol
translated by Arnold J. Pomerans
Everyone has heard of Anne Frank and her heartbreaking story. Maybe you have only heard parts of it or you only know the ending. This book gives you the very beginning, from before she was born, to the very ending, after she had passed. This book is exactly what the title tells you. This book gives you her exact words from the diary she kept and many pictures to help invasion what her life looked like. You see how she looked when things were worry free until how she looked when she feared for her life. It is a heartbreaking story that everyone should take the time to read.
This book shows you Anne's time in the secret annex and how she spent her time cooped up in there. You get to watch how she grows up and its amazing to see her thoughts on life. I feel like she was very mature for her age. Her writing tells things that she couldn't tell anyone in the annex. It also tells about how hard things got and how she longed to be able to go outside. Her and her sister, Margot, were strong and knew better to ask questions. They were brave and they were brave for their family and the friends that came to hide with them.
Anne's story was sad from the moment they had to hide, but it only got worse for me when she got caught hiding and they all had to be transferred to concentration camps. She gets separated from her father, then her mother, and then her and her sister fall horribly ill and end up passing away a day apart from each other. Its a heartbreaking story that should be read by all.
Pros: If you have never learned Anne's story before this book does an amazing job of doing so, you learn about her family and friends, you learn about her life before and after her life, and you get to learn how her diary became published and her fathers first time reading it.
Cons: NONE! I have nothing bad to say about this book. I would recommend to anyone.
Below are links with more information about her story:
Below is a link for information about the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam:
Hello Gina,
ReplyDeleteI never got the chance to read her entire diary, but I have read most of it. Compared to the novel you read I feel I just had a boring paperback copy that only included her diary entries. I like how this book actually provides context for the before and after her life because I feel it helps teens understand her story even more. I thought having pictures incorporated into the text was a smart move by the publishers. It may be difficult to clearly envision how the annex looked like or the era in general. Of course, by this being a diary I feel that many teens may be attracted to it. To read how another teen dealt with typical everyday themes of love, family, and friendship while living in hiding may attract other adolescents.
On a side note, I thought your resources were helpful in regards to background information and how you can plan a visit to the Anne Frank museum.
I have always found Anne Frank's tragic story an interesting read. While my experience with her stories primarily stem from what I have read in school, including pieces of her diary, this book sounds like a great read due to the added background knowledge the predates her birth and explains past her death. Definitely going on my list of books to check out!
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