Synopsis
A comprehensive look at the life of Anne Frank, her family, and the friends who helped them and other Jews to elude Nazi soldiers for two years by hiding in an attic.
Donna Freedman - Children's Literature
What, ANOTHER book about Anne Frank? But this one is a keeper for any school library or classroom bookshelf, because it puts the events leading up to the Holocaust in such fine perspective. Beginning with World War I, Johnson explains how the uber-civilized country of Germany was slowly, gradually primed to accept the Final Solution. She also does a particularly good job of painting Anne as a flesh-and-blood kid, instead of as a saint in the making. The girl has the normal ups and downs with her family as well as with the people who share their hiding place. And as Johnson points out, being an adolescent is hard enough without spending all your time indoors, in a cramped space, and unable to speak or move during normal business hours. "Anne wrote that she was always being scolded for making too much noise," Johnson notes, even when she was simply turning over in bed in the middle of the night! Food shortages, boredom and the gnawing fear of discovery are also depicted in simple yet direct terms. Anne herself said it best: "Let something happen soon, even an air raid. Nothing can be more crushing than this anxiety." The book is part of the "Twentieth-Century History Makers" series, which has also released an equally fine book about Adolf Hitler. 2003 (orig. 2002), Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers/Harcourt, Ages 11 up.