Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

I'm sure I had, as many people had in school read Anne Franks diary. Now 12 years later my daughter wants to read it and do you think I could find it anywhere? What is considered to be a very important piece of social history wasn't in Waterstones or Blackwells. In the end we had to order it from WH Smiths who didn't stock it either!! Anyway, we finally got it 2 weeks later and found it was the latest definitive version which also has previously unpublished material. Which makes life difficult particularly if you have read the earlier editions. You see Anne originally started a diary in 1942 then in 1944 a radio announcement asked people to keep ...  Read the complete review

My copy of the diary of Anne Frank was presented to me in 1973 by my local church for regular attendence. My religious tendancies have fallen by the wayside over the years, but this book has been more enduring and in a profound way. It is difficult to get children to understand the horror, indignities and injustice of war. Visually it can be too upsetting, causing an overload of information that isn't easily acceptable to youngsters. Equally, the written word can be too adult or simply too boring for them to even want to try and get to grips with it. This is where Anne Frank has become so invaluable, and not just with telling her story to fellow ...  Read the complete review

Some books through History are regarded as essential reading, books that are used in simple off the cuff references that give the impression that everyone has read them, well, I had not read Anne Frank but fairly recently had it passed to me so that I may catch up on what I had been missing. A lot of people I believe are going to strongly disagree with this review but to be honest, this is a site built on personal opinion, so I'm going to carry on anyway. If you are not aware of the concept of the book then let me give you a little back round, Anne Frank was a teenage Jewish girl growing up in the Netherlands when Hitler rose to power, as Jewish persecution ...  Read the complete review

This book is a completely unique example of literature, in that it is literally the private diary of a young girl, that has been published to critical acclaim worldwide. For those living a cocoon who don't know the story: Anne was a young Jew living in Germany when Hitler came to power. Faced with the racism that was taking over their country, the Frank family decided to hide in a secret annex, to avoid the Nazis. Anne's diary captures the real thoughts of what Nazi Germany was like for Jews, giving her thoughts and feelings on a range of personal topics along the way. Having taught this book at school, I think there is something we are ...  Read the complete review

This is one of those books that almost everyone has heard of and knows at least a little about. I think what makes this book one that has remained so popular is because of the situation that Anne was in when she wrote it, and also the very sad fact that she died during the War, mid-way through her diary. It is certainly not because the writing is spectacular and the plotline so complex (it isn't - not much really happens). This is, after all, a teenage girl's story and it is full of the things you would imagine such a diary to contain; musings about the boy she likes and about her own appearance. I enjoyed this book when I first read it many years ago, and I ...  Read the complete review