October 18th 2013

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl

Reviewed by: Emma S.

                “Will we be found?” That’s what Anne and fellow Jews that were in hiding wondered. The Nazis were attacking and Jews had two choices; live in hiding and risk being found and killed or die in concentration camp. This is one of many inspiring stories of the Holocaust.

                Anne and her family and some of their neighbors are Jews. That might not seem like a big deal but in July 1942 it was matter of life or death. And for some crazy reason the Nazis thought that all Jews should be killed. What were they thinking? Well, let me rephrase that, were they thinking? Hitler, the leader of this hatred sat back and made all the Nazis do the dirty work while he just sat and hated Jews which doesn’t really make sense because the Jews never did anything to hurt him or the Nazis. Again, were they thinking? I don’t think so. So, of course if people were out of kill you you’d run away or at least hide. And that’s exactly what Anne, her family and some of their neighbors did. They fled Germany and went to Amsterdam where Anne would spend the remainder of her life.

                You would think that being close together in very tight quarters and very hard times, family and friends would be brought closer together, emotionally. The exact opposite happened in Amsterdam with Anne and her fellow “Jews in hiding”. Arguing, fighting, and yelling happened. Anne felt alone like nobody in the whole world, not even her family cared about her. And Mr. Dussel and Mrs. Van Daan didn’t make her feel any better. They told her to grow up, to act like a lady, told her that she was a troublemaker, always picked a fight and just disliked her. Then, Anne fell in love with Peter. She didn’t exactly admit that she was in love, just that she had liked him but as you read Anne Frank’s diary you’ll know that she was in love with Peter. When Anne and Peter finally become very close friends, Anne’s father starts to take notice and isn’t alright with the young lovebirds hanging out with each other. Anne’s father presents his feelings to Anne which of course makes her very mad because she feels as if she’s finally found somebody who cares about her, someone she considers a friend. This conversation is followed by yelling, crying and writing letters out of anger. But of course like any other disagreement they found a way to agree in the end.

                Anne, her family and their neighbors were in hiding for a little over two years and then… Well, I won’t tell you the ending. You’ll have to read it for yourself to find out. You might already know just because of history class at school but reading Anne’s diary will help you understand what really happened and how she really felt. This book will make you cry, laugh and inspire you to change the world and inspire others just like Anne.

                I would recommend this book to other 7^th graders and even 8^th graders and beyond because Anne is 13 in the book so; she is about the same age as 7th or 8^th graders. Reading this book helped me to understand that in the past 7^th and 8^th graders went through the same stuff 7^th and 8^th graders do today just in a different aspect sometimes. This helped me realize how terrible the Holocaust was. I started reading this book about 2 years ago but never finished it and now this year I read and finished it. I guess 2 years ago I wasn’t mature enough to appreciate Anne’s diary, or maybe not old enough to understand the pain and pressure she felt. This is a great book and I’d recommend it to anybody both young and old.