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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Left Me Speechless, February 18, 2010
This review is from: Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House (Paperback)
ANNE FRANK: HER LIFE IN WORDS AND PICTURES, with its numerous and beautifully displayed photographs and helpful narrative of Anne Frank, her family, and their life before, during and after "the secret annex" left me gasping for breath at the end. The book allows you to look at Anne's handwritten diary entries, her self-captioned family photographs and photos of both inside and outside the secret annex. The authors have interspersed Anne's own diary entries, with thoughtful background material. The pictures of "the helpers" and the background notes enrich this sad (and yet, somehow ever hopeful) story. This would be a challenging read (due to the subject matter and a couple of the concentration camp photos) for younger middle school readers, but is a perfect choice for 7th or 8th graders (and older.) This book will stay in my mind for a long, long time.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Those we lost, April 10, 2010
This review is from: Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House (Paperback)
This hand-size little book whispers--rather than shouts--the obvious: that the Franks and their friends were real people, with busy, complicated lives filled with promise. The girls were like new shoots springing up into the sunshine over the years: Margot's growing long legs, Anne's constant, lopsided grin. Anne's mother wasn't the dullard of the Diary here, but instead,a housewife holidaying on the beach, or walking with her children in the street, or posing for a passport photo. In short, if you're female, like you and me.
There have been other photo albums of the Franks published over the years, but I like this one best. Its diminutive size reminds us of the small lives, repeated into the millions, who succumbed against their will. But more, this book isn't voyeuristic. The Van Pels and Peter, the dentist Pfeffer and the Franks--and the men and women who helped them--are all here in pictures startling in their clarity, and charming in their portrayal of the everydayness of life. They could have been snapshots from yesterday.
And one last thing. History seems to have dismissed both Margot and Edith Frank---Margot because she was a private person and lacked something of Anne's charisma, and Edith because Anne herself dismissed her mother for many years. Here in this book, they're real, and involved, and alive. People who are unsettled by Anne's posthumous fame (millions died, after all, not just Anne) will be comforted by this. This small book would be a generous gift to anyone, child or adult alike, who wants to know more about Anne and her family.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pictorial history of Anne and her family, December 5, 2009
This review is from: Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House (Paperback)
I clearly remember reading Anne Frank's diary for the first time: I was in fourth grade and we had just studied the Holocaust in school. My mom had a copy of the diary from when she was young, and I poured over the words of this girl from not so long ago and was mesmerized by her story. Ever since, I have been deeply interested and affected by so many people's stories from that dark period in history. I always come back to the story of Anne Frank, though, and this new book released from the arch...more I clearly remember reading Anne Frank's diary for the first time: I was in fourth grade and we had just studied the Holocaust in school. My mom had a copy of the diary from when she was young, and I poured over the words of this girl from not so long ago and was mesmerized by her story. Ever since, I have been deeply interested and affected by so many people's stories from that dark period in history. I always come back to the story of Anne Frank, though, and this new book released from the archives of the Anne Frank House is such a wonderful tribute to her diary and her life.
The book is primarily a pictorial history of the life of Anne Frank and her family, beginning with photos of her parents' wedding in 1925. An amazingly large amount of the Frank family's family photos were somehow preserved throughout the hiding process and the subsequent discovery of their hiding place in 1944. Interspersed with the pictures are quotes from Anne's diary and various commentaries on the photos.
This book is a great stand-alone introduction to Anne Frank and also a helpful companion to the diary and to those who are already familiar with her life. It is a powerful reminder of all the lives, all the families, that were destroyed in the Holocaust. Anne Frank put a face on the more than 1 million children who perished under Hitler's regime.
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