Metselaar, M., van der Rol, R., Pomerans, A. & Anne Frank Stichting. (2009). Anne Frank: her life in words and pictures from the archives of the Anne Frank House. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
I was a little confused about whether to classify this book as a picture book or chapter book, but I decided to call it a chapter book because of its length, the subdivisions by year, and the lack of artist-created illustrations. This is an ALA Notable Book for Children.
Exposition: This book begins with a photograph of Anne's actual diary, which I had never seen before. Anne received it for her 13th birthday, and we read a description of her birthday (June 12, 1942).
Conflict: Anne and her family are Jewish, living in Amsterdam during the rise of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party. They moved there from Germany because of laws against Jews. The discrimination spreads to Holland. The family is forced to hide in an annex of her father's company for several years.
Climax: The family is betrayed, and taken to concentration camps.
Falling Action: The family members are separated, and spend months in the camps. They are transported to other camps as Allied forces close in.
Resolution: Everyone dies, except Anne's father, Otto Frank. Anne and her sister died just weeks before Allied forces liberated their camp. Her father receives her journal from one of his employees who helped them hide, and they eventually publish it.
One strong literary quality is tension, obviously. While the reader probably already knows that Anne Frank died during the Holocaust, questions (when will they be captured, who betrayed them, who will die first?) remain. Another quality is illustration quality. The photographs definitely add to the familiar story.
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