*****= An all-time favorite
**** = Outstanding
*** = Above average
** = Enjoyable
*
= Good, with reservations
***Anne Frank in the World
compiled by the Anne Frank House
Reviewed January 19, 2002.
Alfred A. Knopf. 2001. 144 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (J MCN 940.53 ANN).
This is a book of photographs, with a small amount of accompanying text.
In a way, it seems that Anne Frank is simply an excuse to present the story
of World War II. There are many pictures of Anne and her family, but
it is a relatively small percentage of the total.
The focus of this book is racial prejudice and hatred. They don’t
only pick on Germany. The picture I found most shocking was of a
Nazi meeting in Southern California in the 1930s. They also include
a few pages at the end with modern pictures of racially motivated violence
from all over the world.
This is not a pleasant book, but I do think it is an important one.
If we forget, and if we assume that men are beyond that now, then we increase
the risk of such horrors happening again. This book is a well-crafted
way to approach this topic with children. It will also be a good resource
for the many children who do reports on Anne Frank!
Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund