School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-Lee provides an overview that broadens the story that Anne Frank started in her diary. She details the girl's life before her family went into hiding and places Anne in context with other persecuted children and their attempts to survive. With chapter heads that quote from Anne's diary and 19 archival photos, the text reveals a girl who loved her friends, celebrating birthdays, and being the center of attention. Lee succeeds at illuminating the lives of "individuals who once had hopes and dreams-like us," including those who tried to help, those who resisted, and ultimately those who perished. The inevitable question of why it happened is addressed in a quote from a former neighbor of the Franks, "-we were so scared. We thought, if we do the things that are demanded of us, we'll be all right-.We thought, if we wear the star, if we obey the curfew, if we do everything, nothing will happen to us." This type of information considers the questions that readers ask as they learn about the period, making it a worthy title to include in a study of Anne Frank and the Holocaust.-Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Reworking much of the information she presented in her earlier volume, A Friend Called Anne (2004), Lee interweaves information about other children who were placed in camps during the Holocaust, rarely surviving or more likely hidden in a variety of situations. Gleaned from articles, interviews and other personal diaries, the plight of these children is explained through circumstances that involved numerous efforts by some very generous and brave people working either through religious or underground organizations. Yet the bulk of the volume is another rehash of Anne Frank's life before the war, during her hiding and final days at Auschwitz. Insight into the many children who were hidden and managed to survive is more strongly presented in previous publications, by Susan D. Bachrach in Tell Them We Remember (1994) or Laurel Holliday's compilation Children in the Holocaust and World War II (1995). Includes black-and-white photos mostly available in other volumes. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 12-15) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
With millions of copies of The Diary of Anne Frank 0 still in print after nearly 60 years, it's not surprising that many spin-offs and commentaries have been published. Lee's book is one of the best for locating background about what it was like to be young at the time. In clear, informal prose that is accompanied by occasional family photos, Lee weaves together a picture of Hitler's rise to power and the horrors of the Holocaust with the Franks' journey from their prosperous German home to the attic in Amsterdam. Throughout Lee includes stirring quotes and vignettes about other children (a deaf child forcibly sterilized; the child who survived Auschwitz, and more) and their rescuers, as well as numbers and particulars. Although there is an extensive bibliography, there are no source notes. But even without full references, this book will still serve as an excellent overview in the classroom and for personal reading; readers both older and younger than the target audience will find it valuable as well. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist
