Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Written By: Anne Frank, Translated By: B.M. Mooyaart, Introduction By: Eleanor Roosevelt
Random House Publishing: Bantam Books
June 1993
Ages: ?
Pages: 283

Summary

It's hard to explain in detail about Anne's experiences that are written about in her diary. Her first entry is on June 14th, 1942, two days after her birthday.She describes her birthday experiences and then later on, she describes some of the things that Jews are forced to do, wear the yellow star, stay away from parks, swimming pools and movie theatres. The rest of the diary follows up until Anne describes her family's escape to the secret annexe. Anne stays there with her family for over two years and her diary tells about her experiences there and her love for a boy named Peter, who's family is also in hiding with them. Anne's last diary entry occurs on August 1st, 1944. It is strangely forshadows what is to come and it makes the reader sad to think of what came next for Anne and her family and her friends. Anne's family was captured by the Nazi's and transfered to a concentration camp shortly after her last diary entry. She died when she was not yet sixteen, just two days or so before the Americans would liberate Bergen-Belsen.

Who would benefit from reading this book?

As I discussed in this section of the book card for Memories of Anne Frank, anyone who is interested in the story of Anne Frank or WW II or the Holocaust would be fairly interested in the insights that are gained from reading Anne's diary. the knowledge and feelings gained from reading Anne's diary are priceless.

What problems do you see arising from reading this book?

The only thing I can think of is that in one part of the book, Anne is particularly occupied with the human anatomy and sex. Young children should wait until they are old enough to understand the content presented in the diary.

What was your reaction?

When I finally read Anne's diary all the way through, I felt honored to have been able to read something so revealing and personal of another human being's thoughts and feelings. Anne's diary is a book that should be read with respect, reverence and rememberance.