Frank, A. (1952). The diary of a young girl. New York: Doubleday.
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-29698-3
Plot Summary
The diary begins on Sunday, June 14, 1942. Anne Frank and her family live in Holland after emigrating there to escape Nazi persecution of Jews. Anne calls her diary Kitty because she wants to treat it as a friend who she can confide in and “bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in (her) heart.” She had received the diary as a present from her parents for her thirteenth birthday on June 12. The Frank family had believed they would be safe in Holland, but that proved otherwise as rules and laws took away their freedoms when Holland was invaded. Then, when her older sister, Margot, receives the call-up notice instructing her to report at the train station for deportation, the family virtually disappears. Otto Frank, Anne’s father, had prepared for this event by setting up an apartment above his jam company in advance. They have everything they need to survive there, and Anne calls it the Secret Annex. Soon after, the Van Daan family moves in. Their son Peter is shy, but after some time, he and Anne develop a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, years pass as they rely on Miep and a few other helpers for food, toiletries, entertainment, and news. Anne describes the daily life and the frequent scares in her diary entries as she herself is maturing into adolescence. They are hopeful that they will finally be able to leave the Secret Annex when the Allies storm the beaches of Normandy, but their luck tragically runs out. Anne’s last diary entry is Tuesday, August 1, 1944.
Critical Evaluation
Anne Frank’s words are those of a young girl on the verge of womanhood. Each entry is dates, which provide readers with a chronology of events and is made even more significant when readers can identify important moments of WWII. The passage of time is poignantly marked by the ringing of church bells, the changing of seasons, and the New Year’s celebration cakes. Anne’s entries are replete with typical adolescent girl drama, to which readers can relate. She does not get along with her mother, she feels as if she is in the shadows of her older sister, and she longs for the affection of her father. Readers will also relate to the stumbling relationship between Peter and Anne; feelings of excitement, doubt, and anxiety wax and wane as their relationship grows from friendship to romance. In her diary entries, Anne also contemplates what she wants to do when she grows up, and that is to be a writer; because the reader undoubtedly knows her fate, the tragedy is made even greater. With this diary, Anne’s voice serves as a voice of millions of Holocaust victims whose story we will never read. When Anne says that she still believes that people really are good at heart, readers can’t help but evaluate their own lives as they wonder what could have been. Because of Anne’s words, the world will never forget her, nor will they forget the injustices done. For all its tragedy, Anne’s diary is a story of hope, faith, and love.
Reader’s Annotation
Anne Frank and her family live in the Secret Annex for two years. During that time, Anne writes in her diary about life, love, and growing up.
Author Information
Annelies Marie Frank was born June 12, 1929, the second daughter for Otto and Edith Frank (Margot was their first daughter). They lived a peaceful life in Frankfurt, Germany, until Hitler took over; then they moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands in the fall of 1933, where they believed they would be safe from anti-Semitism. However, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940. As in Germany, the Jews suffered persecution and were required to wear a yellow star on their clothing. Anti-Jewish laws made life difficult and Jews were forced to attend segregated schools. Jews were given summons to report for deportation to Nazi concentration camps, and Anne’s father began making preparations for his family to go into hiding. On July 5, 1942, a few weeks after Anne’s parents gave her the red and white checkered diary for her birthday, Margot received the letter to report, and the Frank family went into hiding the very next day.
Otto Frank was the only survivor in his family. On August 4, 1944, German soldiers raided their hiding place. Anne hid her diary, and later Miep Gies found it and kept it for when she returned. Of course, Anne never did. After the raid, the family was shipped to Westerbork, a concentration camp in northern Netherlands. Then, they were transferred to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland on September 3. There, the women and men were separated and Otto never say his wife or daughters again. Later, Edith became ill and died at Auschwitz on January 6, 1945. Her daughters were transferred to Bergen-Belsen work camp, but conditions were terrible and soon the girls became sick with typhus. They died with a day of each other in March 1945. A few weeks later, Russian troops liberated the camp. Anne was fifteen years old.
Otto survived and returned to Amsterdam where Miep gave him Anne’s diary. As he read it, he was surprised to learn things about his daughter he never knew and was amazed by her depth of thoughts and feelings. Honoring her wishes to someday be a writer, he published her diary on June 25, 1947.
Information was obtained from Bio.com:
Genre
Young adult
Nonfiction
Diary
Curriculum Ties
WWII, Holocaust
Book Talking Ideas
How does writing help sort emotions? What would it be like to be trapped for two years, never being able to go outside?
Reading Level/ Interest Age
Appropriate for ages 14 and up
Challenge Issues
N/A
Challenge Defense
N/A
Why did I include this title?
When you read Anne’s words, you enter her world. It is amazing how someone so young can have such depth of thought and feeling. It is impossible not to be affected by her words. She believes that peace and tranquility will return. Maybe someday her dream will come true.
No comments:
Post a Comment