Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography

"It is important to me to teach about the Holocaust in a way that puts it into historical context, portrays how brutal it actually was, and makes it personal, all at the same time. Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography, does all of this in one compelling, hard-to-put-down volume . . . My challenge as a teacher . . . is always to find the most engaging resources and to make them accessible to my students. Whatever we are studying, I want it to come to life for students, in all of its complexity. [This book] presents a story about the life of Anne Frank, and puts it into historical context. The book juxtaposes the lives of Anne's family with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and its subsequent spread across Europe. This book will do what so many other Holocaust resources don't, by bringing together a deeply moving story about a young girl and the larger story about the Holocaust. I think this book will help my students grasp why the Nazi party became so popular, as well as the devastation that it wrought. My past experience using graphic nonfiction in my classroom tells me that students will not want to put this book down . . . I feel compelled to teach my students about historical events like the Holocaust so that they can see how so many ordinary people participated in such horrific acts. I want them to be aware of how political parties like the Nazis can gain support, so that they will be more critical thinkers."—Holly Friel, Social Studies Teacher, Ida B. Wells High School, San Francisco, California

"It's one of the most remarkable stories of the 20th century and one of the most powerful memoirs of Hitler's Holocaust. And more than 60 years after its publication, The Diary of Anne Frank has now been turned into a comic . . . accompanied by a chorus of historians and educators praising its sensitive and serious handling of the story . . . The 150-page book tells the well-known story of Anne Frank's 15-year life, her family's time in hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam and her death in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen in 1945. With its colorful illustrations, lively dialogue and pithy text, Anne Frank: The Graphic Biography differs from the famous diary—which has been translated into 70 languages and has sold more than 35 million copies—in that it starts with the story of Anne's father Otto Frank and the outbreak of World War I. It traces Otto's marriage, his family's life in Frankfurt, and their emigration to Amsterdam. After depicting the family's two years of hiding in the annex of Otto's business office and Anne's death at Bergen-Belsen, the book culminates with Otto—the only member of his family to survive the concentration camps—returning to Amsterdam at the end of WWII and discovering his daughter's diary. It ends with Otto's death in 1980 and the opening of the Anne Frank House. Rather than sentimentalizing Anne's story, Anne Frank: The Graphic Biography sets out to provide a historical context and is packed with snippets of information about significant events, ranging from the economic crisis of 1929 to Hitler's rise to power, from the 1935 Nuremberg Laws—which excluded Jews from German society—to the Wannsee Conference in 1942, when the Nazis drew up plans to exterminate Europe's Jews. 'The graphic biography is an extensive portrayal of Anne Frank's whole life and a serious look at history,' says Menno Metselaar, a researcher at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, who was closely involved with the project. The book's American author, Sid Jacobson, and its artist, Ernie Colón, are veterans of the comic-book industry . . . Jacobson, 81, was born the same year as the young diarist . . . he has always been fascinated by Anne's 'tale of human courage and the ugliness of humanity.' The Los Angeles–based author says he spent two years poring over Anne's history and her family's experiences, reading dozens of documents and books, and visiting the cramped rooms in the Amsterdam canal house where they hid from the Nazis until they were arrested by Gestapo henchmen and sent to concentration camps in 1944. 'We wanted to bring the familiar story of Anne Frank to life, and the graphic biography is visual and true to reality,' says Jacobson. 'There are lessons to be learned today for any minority living in a dictatorship.' The Dutch seem to agree: since its publication in the Netherlands, Anne Frank: The Graphic Biography has been taught in schools. And while the book is aimed at kids ages 15 to 16, the Anne Frank House says it wants to make the Jewish teenager's life story accessible to everyone, including those who wouldn't normally read her diary. 'We hope [the book] will improve people's understanding of the Holocaust and inspire them to read Anne's diary,' says Metselaar . . . Stephan Kramer, general-secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany [says] the comic could be 'an important tool to teach children about the Holocaust,' he adds. 'History has to be taught for many generations.' And that could be all its creators ask for. As Anne wrote in her diary, 'How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.'"—Tristana Moore, Time

"The full-color graphic biography of Anne, whose Holocaust-era diary has been read by millions, goes beyond the time period she recounts . . . It brings to life the story of the Frank family, [and] is as visually and historically accurate as possible—down to the clothing worn by the Franks, the military uniforms of the Nazis, the furniture and layout of the Franks' secret apartment, and Bergen-Belsen, the camp where Anne died in March 1945 at age 15."—Carol Memmott, USA Today

"The authors of the comics adaptation of The 9/11 Report offer a well-documented and insightful biography of history's most famous child diarist. Beginning a generation before Anne's birth in 1929 and continuing through the literary and multimedia means by which her diary has been introduced to readers aronud the globe, the story moves with unrushed pacing that gives the harrowing end to Anne's brief life a palpable context that will touch even those familiar with her story. Jacobson and Colón relied on a plethora of photographic and written documents, including the unexpurgated version of Anne's diary, part of which had been suppressed by her father during his lifetime. Panel arrangements effectively show simultaneous events happening in the life of the family and in the world, while brief 'snapshots' provide enough historical information to make motives, fears, and expectations sensible to anyone unfamiliar with the Holocaust's machinery. More than simply poignant, this biography elucidates the complex emotional aspects of living a sequestered adolescence as a brilliant, budding writer. Naturally, this book has significant appeal for teens as well as adults."—Francisca Goldsmith, Booklist

"A deeply researched but widely accessible account of Anne's life and death, and the world she experienced."—School Library Journal

"The team that created the bestselling The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation reunites to produce a stunning biography of Anne Frank, a book as historically rigorous as it is personally engaging. The story begins with the youths of Anne's parents, Otto and Edith, then traces the family's trajectory through WWI, into WWII, and finally beyond it to Otto's postwar activities and his death in 1980. Anne's childhood is portrayed against the background of the Depression and the rise of Nazism. The narration mixes historical background and informative 'snapshots' of events like Germany's Nuremberg Laws of 1935, Kristallnacht, and the concentration camps, with details about the Franks and their household. Personality and life are added not just through Anne's oft-quoted diary but other contemporary memoirs and narratives—all listed in a bibliography—along with a chronology of world events and Anne's life. The combination of history, memoir, and richly detailed graphic representations creates a powerful whole, a beautiful and important graphic novel that will be enjoyed by adults and children alike."—Publishers Weekly