Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank's beautifully written diary is a teaching tool on multiple levels. First, it offers a kid's eye view of World War II, written innocently and meaningfully by a Jewish teen whose family is forced into hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Anne follows the events of the war via radio news broadcasts and information shared by visiting friends, as she and her family anxiously await the allies' invasion of continental Europe. Second, the book is enormously telling about the inner life of girls in their early teens. Anne articulately describes her own emotional and physical feelings as she matures, including her struggles to get along with her parents, the beginnings of her sexuality and desire for love, and her wish to make a difference in a troubled world. On another level, Anne also devotes her time to studying history, literature, mathematics, and languages (though she admits she doesn't care for algebra). Her family places a high value on education, and her father becomes her teacher as well while they are in hiding. Anne writes to relieve her stress, share with a "friend," and unburden her feelings, repeatedly referring to a quote: "Paper is more patient than man."

Anne Frank dreamed of becoming a great writer, and she achieved that goal, though she didn't live to see her words published. In the book, she shines through as a very normal teen with talent, spirit, and a hunger for learning. Adults in Anne's diary argue and struggle with each other -- we can only imagine their stress and anxiety -- and Anne is often at odds with the grownups, but all of these people, and their friends on the outside, inspire great admiration for keeping two families alive under extreme duress for two years. The adult Anne most appreciates is her father, who seems quiet, kind, and intelligent.

Anne writes about her growing sexual feelings; she says that sometimes she wants nothing but time alone to feel her breasts and listen to the beating of her own heart. She also mentions having once kissed a girlfriend and having asked that friend if they should feel each other's breasts, but the friend refused. Anne also writes a lot about her feelings of "longing" for Peter Van Daan, a teen boy whose family shares the secret annex with the Franks. She and Peter embrace and share their first kisses.