19-03-2018 07:07 pm

Title: The Diary of Anne Frank, or "The Diary of a Young Girl"

Author: Anne Frank

Published: June 25th, 1947

About the Author:

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 12th, 1929, and Anne and her family were of the Jewish faith. Anne was the youngest daughter of Edith (nee Hollander) and Otto Heinrich Frank, and sister to Margot who was three years older.

After the outbreak of World War II and the Nazi's had taken control of Germany, Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands when she was 4 years old. When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and occupied the country, it was impossible for the Franks family to flee from the Netherlands. In 1941 Anne was stripped of her citizenship, which meant she became stateless. In other words, the country in which she was born in (Germany) deprived her of the legal right to be recognised as a German citizen.

From 1942 to 1944, Anne and her family together with other families of similar faith went into hiding. They hid in an "annex" which was concealed behind a bookshelf in the same building where Anne's father, Otto worked. After living in the annex for more than two years, Anne and her family were reported to the Gestapo (German police), and arrested in the fall of 1944. This is where Anne's written accounts of her life ends.

Anne and her family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and eventually transferred to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where Anne, Margot and their mother died about 7 months before the end of the war. Anne's father, Otto was the only one of his family who survived. When he returned to Amsterdam after the war, he was given Anne's diary from one of his "helpers" who kept Otto and his family hidden for 2 years. In 1947 Otto published Anne's diary. Today her book is a classic that has been read by teenagers all over the world.

Book Summary:

On Anne's 15th birthday and just prior to Anne and her family going into hiding, she received a diary gifted to her by father. Anne regularly wrote in her diary about how difficult it was to live life in hiding. Anne and the seven others had to stay quiet and never venture outside the annex, so as to not tip off the workers in the warehouse below the annex. As a result, there would often be a lot of tension within the group. Anne also wrote short stories and favorite quotes from other writers. On the day she received the diary, she wrote, "I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support."

Recommendation:

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in personal accounts of the Second World War. This book would be more suited to teenagers 16+, particularly girls.

Happy reading book-lovers.

Until next time, Savannah SB

10-03-2018 3:30 pm

I am often asked why I love to read. The answer is simple: Books are the gateway to another world, inside another person's mind or even a journey through "past, present and future", not to mention that reading has also helped me to learn.

Until a few years ago I struggled at school due to a devastating loss in our family which literally turned my world upside down. Concentrating on even the easiest of tasks was difficult.  Most (but not all) of my teachers have been amazing. My first primary school was a rainbow of multi-cultural diversity that has inspired me over the years to learn about different cultures through travelling but particularly through reading. My first teacher in primary school whom I had from first until third grade would be without a doubt one of my favorites (and I have many fav).  I have pretty much always loved school. I come from a family of self-proclaimed nerds that love to read and loved school equally as much. We have always had walls lined with book shelves and have been read to since before we could walk.

When tragedy devastated our family in 2011, my teacher's kindness, support and encouragement gave me the courage to keep going to school even when I certainly didn't want to be there. But I missed a lot of school that year for lots of reasons, and the consequence was that I missed out on learning a lot of the basics of reading, writing and math. It wasn't until I started school in New Zealand and both my primary and intermediate (ungdomsskole) school teachers helped make sense of the basics that I lacked, which is also where I developed my own love for reading.  

One of closest friends in New Zealand read literally all the time and her love of books also inspired me to read more. My first book series that I read was "Vampires of Morganville" by Rachel Kane. Since then (end of 2016), I have read more than 400 books covering most of the typical book categories for teenagers from Manga to biographies in both English and Norwegian.

Reading is for everyone regardless of age. Reading helped improve my understanding of words to large passages of text and opened up a world of fantasy, travel, intrigue and knowledge that I can access without having to move my feet. Some of my favourite books (and series) so far that I can recommend are:

- Ravneringene (Norwegian) by Siri Pettersen

- House of Night, by PC and Kristin Cast

- Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia

- The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank

- Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney

- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon

Until next time.

Savannah SB