Anne Frank: A Life in Hiding (JPS Young Biography Series) [Hardcover]

Johanna Hurwitz (Author), Vera Rosenberry (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: JPS Young Biography Series

A marvelous and readable introduction to Anne Frank and the Holocaust, this sensitive portrait allows the reader to identify with Anne Frank and to share her isolation, hopes, and fears. This biography tells both about the Frank family and their lives before World War II and their years spent in hiding during the war.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-- A moderately successful attempt to introduce Anne Frank to younger readers. This is factual, unlike Linda Tridenti's fictionalized Anne Frank (Silver Burdett, 1985), and with more narrative than Vanora Leigh's Anne Frank (Bookwright, 1985). Hurwitz gives a concise explanation of the political and economic background to the Holocaust and provides a map of Europe and a chronology. She ably covers the events of Anne's life before, during, and after the period covered by the Diary of Anne Frank , explaining the significance and importance of the Diary throughout the world. Her presentation is so objective, however, that it seems muted. Readers get only a glimpse of the personalities of the dwellers in the secret annex, while the tensions and strong feelings that Anne describes so vividly are glossed over. The accent is so much on the positive that Hurwitz describes Anne's time in Westerbork, a prison camp in Holland, as "almost like a holiday" after two years of close confinement. Still, this would be a first choice among the in-print biographies of Anne Frank for younger readers, and should lead its readers to read her Diary.
-Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Skillfully written. A worthy introduction." -- Booklist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 62 pages
• Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society; 1st edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0827603118
• ISBN-13: 978-0827603110
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,991,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars another breath taking book for such an intimate topic, June 22, 2000

By 

"scafandra" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anne Frank: Life in Hiding (Paperback)

This is another book about Anne Frank that I get the chance to read. Although there are many biographies about this wonderful human being, this book is the closest one that can answer the questions that all Anne Frank fan has. I did for many years just read the Diary over and over but I wanted more! This book is definetly more! It tells you more about the relationship she had with her family and the rest of the people in hiding. This is a girl who could hardly see the light coming from her window and the only green thing that she could think about was a huge chestnut outside the Annex. This book describes this little things that she cherished and that she no longer had....her freedom. She didn't either had freedom of speach inside the Annex due to the critics about her attitude. This book develops more information about why Anne acted like she did and why she had an open opinion about everything. It also gives you a bigger idea of why she didn't like her mother and develops more about her childhood around her family and her friends. I hope all readers that enjoy the Anne Frank writings will enjoy this description about her persona. Is a total different thing to read her diary knowing more about her life and early aspirations. ENJOY!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful look at Anne Frank's life -suitable for readers ages 7 and up, April 15, 2010

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Anne Frank: Life in Hiding (Avon Camelot Books (Pb)) (Hardcover)

I came upon this book at a used bookstore and immediately snapped it up! I love Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl and for the last two decades have been collecting any book that I can find about Anne's writing, her life, and the Holocaust. This book provides some insights into Anne Frank's life, but it's more suited for young readers ages 7-12.

There are some illustrations throughout the book by artist Vera Rosenberry. This should prove interesting to young children who like visuals to go along with the text. The author, Johanna Hurwitz has written in a style that makes this biography easily accessible to young readers and the book itself only numbers about 53 pages in length with some additional pages covering important dates, the author's note, and an index.

The book provides some brief facts about Anne's life with her family prior to the Second World War, but the majority of the biography focuses on Anne's life whilst in hiding, and explores her feelings at being cooped up in a constricted space with the other Jews and her yearnings for the open space and a chance to life a normal life and realize her dreams. It also briefly covers the period after the group's arrest and how Anne and her family are first sent to Westerbork, a transit camp before being sent to Auschwitz and finally, Anne and Margot's transport to Bergen-Belsen, where both sisters died before liberation. The significance of Anne's diary is also covered here. In all, this makes a good introduction to Anne for elementary school children.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Frank Life in Hidding, February 27, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Anne Frank: Life in Hiding (Paperback)

The summary on this book is this is a book about Anne Frank. It tells about her life and her diary. Also it tells about her troubles and her problems. In this book, people are put into concentration camps and poision gas room by the Nazis. If you don't know who the Nazis are, they are a type of group that dosen't like Jews.
Anne was born in 1856.Anne was very adventrous. She liked to write, so at the age of 13, her mom and dad bought her a diary. Anne was very talkative. Sha always got into trouble.
Some problems that she faced is hidding.She was hidding from the Nazis. She was hidding with another family and a dentist. Also another problem she faced is physical changes.
Some ways she solved her problems is by writting in her diary. In her diary she would write about things that were going on in her life. Another way she solved her problem is by hidding. This is a problem solver because if she didn't she would be in a concentration camp.