Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend [Library Binding]

Alison Leslie Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997 | Age Level: 10 and up

Hannah Goslar relates her memories of Anne Frank to author Alison Leslie Gold and complete the story of Anne's life, taking the reader one step beyond The Diary of Anne Frank.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers of Anne Frank's diary "will be grateful for the fuller picture" rendered through the recollected wartime experiences of Frank's best friend, said PW's starred review; "Gold brings home the painful truths that Frank has come to symbolize." Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8. This moving story of Anne Frank's neighbor and friend, Hannah Elizabeth Pick-Goslar, recounts the tragedy of World War II through a young girl's eyes. It does not take the form of a diary, but rather Gold puts into words Hannah's reminiscences of her childhood in Amsterdam and fills in the gaps of what happened to Anne after her diary ended. The account traces the childhood friendship of the two girls from the time Anne disappeared to the removal of Hannah and her family to concentration camps. The narrative also tells of the brief meeting between Anne and Hannah at Bergen-Belsen shortly before Anne's death. The girls met at a fence, risking death if caught, so that Hannah could give her beloved friend some food. The emotion and fear of the moment are fully realized. Although well told, this memoir often refers back to and relies on Hannah's connections to Anne, rather than letting Hannah's story stand on its own.?Allison Trent Bernstein, Blake Middle School, Medfield, MA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 135 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Trade; 1st edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590907220
• ISBN-13: 978-0590907224
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,471,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Astonishing Document, September 7, 2000

By 

Erica "Erica" (Washington State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend (Paperback)

Anne Frank didn't exist in a vacuum. She had friends, some mentioned in her diary. One of these was Hannah Gosler, "Lies" in Anne's writings. Now Hannah Gosler has set down her childhood memories of both Anne and her own terrifying experiences during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Mrs. Pick-Gosler's odyssey is every bit as astonishing as Anne's.

The book begins with the Franks' disappearance and careens headlong into the Goslers' own nightmare. Somehow, Hannah manages to keep hold of her toddler sister Gabi even as the rest of her family dies--in pieces, member by member. There is the heartrending chance reunion with Anne through an Auschwitz fence mentioned in the Afterward of Anne's diary. And finally the end of the war and surreal "liberation"...from a Nazi cattle car, with Auschwitz survivors staggering out into a deserted snowy field, almost senseless with illness and starvation, their guards having fled.

Parents should be both warned and assured: this beautiful book doesn't flinch from brutal fact, but in Ms. Gold's deft hand the language manages to convey information without any morbidity. And the haunting photographs are a precious inclusion. We see little Anne, dark eyes laughing, against the backdrop of her Amsterdam appartment building. Hannah grows up before our eyes in a series of photos taken against this same wall. There is one photo of Hannah holding little Gabi, and it's shocking to know this is the same child she managed to keep alive through the Nazi concentration camps.

But the most heartbreaking photo is on the back of the book. Nine beautiful little girls line up, arms around shoulders, smiling in pretty party dresses. It's Anne's birthday. Looking at all those nobby knees and sweet faces will take your breath away. Many of the girls didn't survive the war. And yet in a few short years Hannah would save a life, and Anne (whom Hannah called the Pole Star) would write one of the most important documents of the the 20th Century.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What else can I say?, March 4, 2002

By 

Timothy Ryberg (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend (Paperback)

This book is wonderfull. It tells the story of one of the secondary characters in Anne's diary, Hannali (ie Lies) Gosens.

It's true that it focuses mostly on Hannah, but that's the way it should be. It fills in many of the essential holes in Anne's story and tells us what happened to their other friend Sanna ....

If you like this one, I also recommend Eva's Story. It's the story of Anne's posthumous step-sister (her mom married Otto after the war). It's true that the parents never met, but Eva had been over to the Frank House many times and was even at ther birthday party where they watched Rin Tin Tin (or whatever the movie was) and Anne got her diary. Both books provide valuable instight and are necessary to the understanding of Anne Frank.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend, September 6, 2005

By 

Fippy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend (Paperback)

Even though Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend was written in the 1990s, it portrays the horrors of the Holocaust as vividly as if Hannah Goslar, Anne's childhood best friend, had been describing her whole story just when she was liberated of Bergen-Belsen almost half a century before, in 1945.

This book is basically a journey through Hannah's life during, before, and even a bit after World War II, taking us to the various concentration camps she was sent to. Probably the most touching scene is when Hannah miraculously finds Anne, a few months before she died, at Bergen-Belsen. Anne had believed Hannah to be long dead, as she once wrote an entry in her diary stating that she felt tremendously guilty for Hannah's suffering. Ironically, it turned out to be the other way around, and Anne was the one to die instead.

I found it incredibly hard not to let go off a few tears when I read about the deaths of Hannah's loved ones, one by one. Each was as sad as the previous one, and I cannot immagine how Hannah found the strength to survive and ultimately to go on with her life in those harsh circumstances. Undoubtedly, that took real courage.

I believe Alison Gold did a pretty good job in telling the world Hannah's story, even though at times, I did not quite like her writing style because I found it too simple, which is just misleading, because this book is not a light read at all. Other than that, I found her descriptions to be good but thankfully not too graphic.

I really enjoyed Hannah's personal photographs at the middle of the book. I felt like each and every single one of them was telling me a whole new story, and it was disturbing to know how many people pictured did not manage to survive this whole atrocity.

If you're interested in learning more about Anne Frank, beyond her diary and what happened after that, this book is a wonderful addition to Anne Frank fans, but it also introduces us to a new person not many people are familiar with: Hannah. I truly believe that she was no less than a hero herself. She suffered as much as any other Holocaust victim did and lost as much as any other Holocaust victim did. For some unknown reason to us, she survived to tell her story, and, for that, we should be thankful.