Customer Reviews

Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House

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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.

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.

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.

It's nearly impossible to find anyone on earth who isn't vaguely familiar with the story of Anne Frank. Even if the only response is "Yeah, she wrote in her diary while hiding in an attic during the Holocaust." Of course there's much more to the story. Beyond Anne's actual diary, there are many books discussing her life, those of her family and friends, and the people who helped hide them. Not to mention theories about who may have betrayed the Franks, Van Pels, and Dr. Pfeffer.

"Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House" is a pretty simple and small book that drives the point home that Anne as well as those involved in her story were real flesh and blood human beings. They had goals, dreams, fears, fantasies, and needs. It's heartbreaking to see young Anne sunbathing and grinning from ear to ear on the roof of her house or writing at her desk knowing she ended up being buried in a Bergen Belsen mass grave. Margot, who dreamed of being a midwife in Palestine, was also thrown away like a bag of trash after her gruesome death. What about their mother Edith posing for the camera while shopping with her little girls dying of exhaustion and starvation in an Auschwitz infirmary, storing bread for her daughters under her mattress? And poor Otto smiling proudly with his girls sitting on his lap not realizing that he would be the only survivor of the hell they suffered.

It's been said thousands of times, but it's worth another mention. Anne Frank was one of the 11 to 17 million people whose lives were cruelly and senselessly destroyed. Knowing just that one story is heartwrenching enough. Multiplying it by thousands is unbearable. Never again.

Beginning with a special gift on her thirteenth birthday, a red plaid diary, Anne Frank takes us through her experience as a Jewish girl in Germany and the Netherlands during World War II and the Holocaust. Pictures and written excerpts tell a story that the world must know. The documents and writing focus upon her family's years of hiding in the Secret Annex of her father's business. Within these documents the reader finds an adolescent girl growing up in seclusion with few friends and no freedom, corresponding in her diary to an imaginary friend, Kitty, and finding a boyfriend in Peter van Pels. Exposed in their hiding place in August, 1944, the book tells of the Frank's family betrayal, and the death in the concentration camps of all but her father, Otto Frank. The legacy of Anne Frank continues with this new book, making the suffering of millions real and yet almost too hard to imagine. This book seems well-suited for middle school and possibly high school audiences; a nice complement to other historical texts.

The family left Germany and emigrated to Holland in 1933 because the anti-Semitism in Germany, although it hadn't even peaked, gave Otto Frank grave concern for the safety of his family. For a time life was simple and his daughter Anne continued to be a lively, gregarious girl whose main interests lay in her friends and school work. Underlying political factions continue to roil the peaceful lives of the Jewish population of Germany and its spidery web reached out to Holland. When the "mailman brought a call-up notice for Margot," Anne's older sister, it was time. Time to go into hiding to escape deportation and possible death for a razzia, or raid, could happen at any time.

The Frank family, Otto, Edith, Margot and Anne moved quickly to their new home in the Annex. Even Anne's cat Moortje had to be left behind, but was able to bring her memories. The Annex soon filled with the Van Pelses and Fritz Pfeffer. It was time to wait, to be silent and to hope that the madness would end. Anne began to document her new life in her diary and later found comfort in talking to Peter. The day to day details she wrote to "Kitty," a pet name she created for her diary, carved a unique niche in history, the perspective of a child in war torn Europe. On Friday, August 4, 1944, life as they knew it in the Annex had ended because the "group in the Annex had been betrayed." What would happen to these people who tried so hard to survive their only "crime," the crime of being Jewish?

Most young people read the Diary of Anne Frank at some point during their school years and since I read it, I have come across or read a few books about the family or participants in their plight since then. Somehow this book touched me more than all the others. I really welcomed the intimate glimpse into the Franks' family photo album. There were numerous photos I had never seen before and this aspect pulled me from thinking about one young girl and gave me the entire picture of those struggling in the Annex. Reading the book as a parent gave me further insight and sympathy for Anne's parents and the pain Otto felt when Miep Gies handed him the diary saying, "Here is your daughter Anne's legacy to you." It was one to us as well and takes us beyond Kitty and the diary into the misery and madness of those times and asks us to ponder human rights. This is an amazing book that you really should not overlook.

this book is an awesome addition to any library, WW2, or Anne Frank collection! For anyone who has read her diary, it will make it come even more alive. this book is filled with glossy, colorful pictures and the prose is wonderful as well, telling Anne's story and some things you might not know. There's pictures of her growing up, the secret annex, and other Holocoust info and pictures. This is jsut a really great collector's book and you will treasure it for years to come. It's also a great size, and the cover is beautiful and glossy. I love this book, and whether you know Anne well and want to learn more, I highly reccomend adding this to your list!
Happy reading!

Well done with many pictures. A very good overview of Anne Frank's life that any young adult reader will enjoy.

The story of Anne Frank and her famous diary in presented in the context of world events. There are many photographs, as well as quotations from the diary, from people who knew Anne and her family, and from historians. Starting with pictures of the actual diary, the narrative starts with the Frank family's life in Germany, their move to the Netherlands, their decision to hide, and their life in the secret annex. After the occupants are discovered, they are deported from Amsterdam. The book discusses what happened to the occupants, as well as how the diary was first published and later made available in many languages and formats. There is a detailed glossary in the back.

The value of this book is the photographs and first person accounts. Although the narrative is informative, the level of detail can be distracting, and there are several places where the translation is not smooth. But the pictures of Anne, her actual writing and diary, and the annex are so powerful and instrumental in bringing her life into context that this book is very highly recommended for all libraries, particularly those with Holocaust collections. - KATHE PINCHUCK - CLIFTON, NJ