The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

From Goodreads:

"Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.

In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annexe" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death.

In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short."

                                                         

    Goodreads - The Diary of a Young Girl

Awards:

• Luisterboek Award - 2008

All throughout my junior high and high school education I remember being taught over and over about the Holocaust.  I remember reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  I was in 6th or 7th grade and I knew that the book had to do with the Holocaust, Jews, Nazis, and World War II.  I didn't fully understand the significance of the book.  I didn't understand what the book had to do with my life.

Fast forward a few years to my college years.  In my Children's Literature class we had to read 50 children's books and write a report for each book.  We had to give a summary of the book and then write how we would utilize this book in a classroom.  As I was rereading Number the Stars I realized that there was so much that I didn't understand when I was in junior high.  It was refreshing to reread a book that I had read as a child in school and understand the complexity.

This leads me to the book The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  The book is a nonfiction work and is written by a young Jewish girl named Anne Frank.  She starts writing in her diary before they go into hiding.  Throughout the two years they were in hiding we see Anne grow and experience being a teenager.  We read about the fighting and arguing that took place in the Secret Annexe.  We see her deal with typical teenager problems such as disagreements with mothers and the overwhelming feeling that you don't belong.  We read as Anne matures into a young woman and starts to fall in love with Peter.  The entire book is a roller coaster of emotions that range from anger, happiness, depression, humor, sadness, and even love.  The book ends suddenly because as we all know the Franks and others were captured and taken to a concentration camp.  There is an afterword that sets the scene for what is happening historically prior to the Franks going into hiding and while they are in hiding.  Also included in the afterword is an account of what happened to Anne, her family, and the others living in the Secret Annexe.  It tells the path that each person endured and what their ultimate outcome was.  The final piece of the afterword explains how the diary was found and how Otto Frank decided to finally have the book published.

I had very mixed feelings as I read this book.  It took a lot for me to sit down and really commit to reading it.  I can typically sit down and read a book within a few days, but this wasn't so with The Diary of a Young Girl.  I'm not sure if I couldn't get interested in the book or if the content was so heavy that I could only read 20 or so pages at a time.  Once I got past 100 pages I found myself unable to put the book down.  I'm not sure if it was from interest or desire to start another book.  This book is very raw and tells what life was like as a Jew during World War II.  Anne was brutally honest about the arguing that took place between the hiding members.  It was evident to me that tensions were high and that it was difficult to constantly be at peace with one another since they were living in such cramped quarters with the inability to go outside to get away from each other.  The book ended suddenly because that is how the families were taken from the Secret Annexe.  The families were turned in and Anne and her family were taken from their hiding place and were sent to concentration camps.  Anne didn't get to take her diary with her, and it was later found by Miep and Elli who gave everything to the only survivor from the Secret Annexe, Otto Frank.  By the time that I finished the book I felt that I had connected better with the story and had taken more of an interest in what Anne had to say.  It was surreal to me that someone at the age of fifteen had such moving things to say about herself, the people she lived with, and the war raging outside.  Anne had big dreams and continued to think of life after the war.  She wanted to be a writer and even mentioned in the book what it would be like if people were to read her diary and story.  I think it is amazing that Otto Frank decided to have the diary published.  He could have kept the last part of his daughter to himself, but he decided to share it with the public.  I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I honestly feel that this should have been a book that we were required to read in our junior or senior year of high school.  We read a lot about the Holocaust, but I feel that our education system failed to teach us about the war itself.  We learned about the Holocaust year after year from junior high to high school, but we never really read about the war.  We didn't learn who the Allies were or who the Axis Powers were.  We knew that Hitler was in control of most of Europe and he wanted to exterminate all Jews.  I learned more about World War II from this book than I did from my years in high school.  I would have loved to have had a class where we learned about World War II.  We could have easily read this book while we mapped advancements made by the armies.  As a teacher I see so much that can be done with this book in a high school classroom.  I honestly believe that this should be a book that everyone has to read at some point in their lives.  This isn't a book that should be read by a child.  There is a lot of content in this book that is difficult to decipher and understand.  I think the heavy content was the reason it took me so long to read this book.  Either way it should be on everyone's 'To Read' list.  I would love to go to the Anne Frank house and museum to see where Anne wrote her diary.  Anne Frank is a hero in her own unique way and her story is so honest.