Helpful Score: 1
Despite having little to do with Anne Frank until the last few chapters of the book, I think this book is elegantly written. The main character is easy to identify with. The side characters are just as interesting. I highly recommend it for historical fiction lovers.
This book is about a girl who goes back in time to experience life as Anne Frank would have it. Her view on life drastically changes from this experience. I found this to be a very interesting and thought provoking book.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In one moment Nicole Burns's life changes forever. The sound of gunfire at an Anne Frank exhibit, the panic, the crowd, and Nicole is no longer Nicole. Whiplashed through time and space, she wakes to find herself a privileged Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. No more Internet diaries and boy troubles for Nicole--now she's a carefree Jewish girl, with wonderful friends and a charming boyfriend. But when the Nazi death grip tightens over France, Nicole is forced into hiding, and begins a struggle for survival that brings her face to face with Anne Frank.
In one moment Nicole Burns's life changes forever. The sound of gunfire at an Anne Frank exhibit, the panic, the crowd, and Nicole is no longer Nicole. Whiplashed through time and space, she wakes to find herself a privileged Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. No more Internet diaries and boy troubles for Nicole--now she's a carefree Jewish girl, with wonderful friends and a charming boyfriend. But when the Nazi death grip tightens over France, Nicole is forced into hiding, and begins a struggle for survival that brings her face to face with Anne Frank.
Anne Frank and Me does a good job of comparing the daily terror of living through Nazi rule and the Holocaust with the relatively short-lived terror of school shootings. The chaos, confusion and uncertainty are similar and a fitting context for contemporary students. While the falling-back-in-time situation is not new to literature or YA, it was well done. There must have been many persons with whom Anne Frank came into contact, from whom we have not heard, and all of their stories would shed light on the much beloved young diarist. Bennett and Gottesfeld remain true to history, as far as I can glean, and add another perspective to the time in history we must never forget.
