Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation. Adapted by Ari Dolman & Illustrations by David Polonsky @RKbookpublicist @VikingBooksUK #AnneFrank #WW2

Book Synopsis:

The First Graphic Adaptation of the Multi-Million Bestseller

’12th June, 1942: I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.’

In the summer of 1942, fleeing the horrors of the Nazi occupation, Anne Frank and her family were forced into hiding in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse.

Aged thirteen when she went into the secret annexe, Anne Frank kept a diary in which she confided her innermost thoughts and feelings, movingly revealing how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with the daily threat of discovery and death.

Adapted by Ari Folman, illustrated by David Polonsky, and authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel, this is the first graphic edition of the beloved diary of Anne Frank.

Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation is available now in hardback and ebook.  You can purchase your copy by clicking ‘buy’ below.

My Review:

I have to admit that when I first received this book I was a little unsure whether the cartoon format would be able to do justice to such a well known and tragic story.  However my fears where unfounded as this is a great graphic adaption that will surely allow this story to reach a whole new younger audience.

The graphic nature of this book actually helps to bring the story to life and makes the story of what happened seem even more poignant as the victims have faces.  This was especially true of pictures showing the younger victims as it is impossible to ignore the fact that they were involved to.

The stark contrast between the unfolding tragedy of the holocaust and Anne’s teenage personality are also more obvious.  It was nice at times to see her childlike innocence shine through but then also very poignant as it illustrates how young she was when all this happenned.  This was made even more obvious by the illustrations as bright colours where used for these parts as well as in flash backs or day dreams of Anne.

I remember reading Anne Frank’s Diary when I was younger and finding it quite a hard read.  This graphic adaption will ensure that this important book, with its important message reaches the next generation to hopefully ensure that nothing similar happens in the future.  I think it will also help people understand better what discrimination means and the effect it can have.

Huge thanks to Ruth Killick and Viking Books for my copy of this book.  If you’d like to see a classic story come to life or a different way of introducing the holocaust to children then you’ll like this book.  I think this would be a great book to have in schools as it would help increase children’s understanding of a dark period of history.

 

About The Author:

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Maine in Germany in 1929. She is the author of The Diary of a Young Girl, which tells the remarkable true-story of a young, Jewish girl against the backdrop of the horrors of the Second World War. Adolescent preoccupations and emotions are recorded alongside the growing powers of the Nazis and their imposition of Anti-Jewish Laws to create a compelling, poignant insight into family life under Nazi rule.

Anne Frank moved to Holland with her family when the Nazis became powerful in Germany. The Nazis believed that some races, such as Jews and gypsies did not deserve the right to live and they started to arrest, transport and kill them. Afraid for their lives, Anne and her family went into hiding. During the terrible time in hiding, Anne was growing from a young girl into a woman and she recorded her thoughts and experiences in a diary: the constant fear of discovery, the conflicts with her mother, her emerging sexuality, and her hopes for the future. As the diary progresses, Anne’s childish innocence is replaced by premature wisdom and reflection; she not only expresses her concerns with their personal sufferings but also political events unfolding far from their hiding place. The family hid in the Secret Annexe at the back of a warehouse from July 1942, but ultimately the work of their protectors was undermined by the actions of Nazi collaborators and spies. In August 1944, they were discovered and taken to concentration camps.

Anne died of typhus in 1945, imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen, just a few months before her sixteenth birthday. Her diary, written between 12 June 1942 and 1 August 1944, was found after the war and later published by her father Otto H. Frank, the only surviving member of the family. It has become a bestseller throughout the world and is an extraordinary piece of writing from such a young girl, detailing her emotional transformation from childhood to adolescence and reminding us of the horror of prejudice and persecution.

Ari Folman: is an award winning film director, screenwriter and film score composer, who wrote and directed the Oscar- nominated Waltz with Bashir which won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2008 Golden Globe Award.

 

David Polonsky is an award-winning illustrator and designer, who illustrated Waltz with Bashir.