Anne Frank (10 Days Series)

You're about to be an eyewitness to ten crucial days in Anne Frank's life, including:

• A wrenching decision to flee Germany
• A chilling letter that sent her family into hiding
• The gift of her one true confidante - her diary
• A sickening betrayal to the Nazis
• And a tragedy in the concentration camps just before liberation.

These days and five others shook Anne's world - and yours.

You're about to be an eyewitness to ten crucial days in Anne Frank's life, including:

• A wrenching decision to flee Germany
• A chilling letter that sent her family into hiding
• The gift of her one true confidante - her diary
• A sickening betrayal to the Nazis
• And a tragedy in the concentration camps just before liberation.

These days and five others shook Anne's world - and yours.

Children's Literature

Every middle school student who has reached the eighth grade will be familiar with the name Anne Frank. However, students in earlier grades may not yet know this real-life heroine. Anne was a twelve-year-old girl who lived in the Netherlands at the beginning of 1940. In many ways, Anne was typical of her peers in that she was beginning to notice boys, she often argued with her mother and she didn't particularly like doing schoolwork. What sets Anne apart is that she lived under the rule of the Nazis at the beginning of World War II, when being Jewish meant that you were hunted down and killed or, at the very least, separated from your family and sent away to a Nazi "work camp." Anne Frank, her sister Margot and their parents were Jews.Much of what is known about Anne's life during those days comes from her diary. She began writing it when she came to believe that it could be a way to let the world know what those days were really like. She described in detail her family's experiences in hiding and relying on the loyalty of others not to reveal their hiding place. She recounts what it was like to leave behind all of her personal belongings, including clothes, pictures, and childhood toys. She describes what it was like to be delivered to a work camp. Many people who were taken to these camps were killed upon their arrival, many were killed days after for small disobediences or infractions. Still others, like Anne and Margot, would become disease-ridden and die a slow, painful death. Author Colbert has done an admirable job of introducing historic figures to the upper elementary student. The biography genre is often discovered late in middle school, as a result of a book reportassignment. Biographies tell us of our history and should be a valued part of literary collections. Finding a way to excite younger readers about biographies will produce more opinionated learners and will teach these students to use history as a tool to avoid mistakes in the future. Part of the "Ten Days" series. Reviewer: Joyce Rice

David Colbert's most recent book is the New York Times bestseller Michelle Obama: An American Story. In addition to the 10 Days series, he authored the acclaimed Eyewitness series of first-person history and the Magical Worlds series for children. More than two million copies of his books are in print in almost thirty languages.