Anne Frank

Usborne Famous Lives

by Susanna Davidson, Natacha Goransky (Contributor), Jane Chisholm (Editor)

At the age of thirteen, Anne Frank went into hiding with her family to escape from the Nazis. For two years, she couldn't go outside or run or shout or laugh too loudly. Instead, she poured her thoughts and feelings into her diary, which is now famous all over the world. This story of her life begins when she was still a carefree girl like any other.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Holocaust, History, Childrens, World War II, Historical

64 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2006

About the author

Susanna Davidson also writes as Zanna Davidson.

She joined Usborne Publishing almost straight out of university and has been writing books for them pretty much ever since. She has written about everything from dinosaurs to the Queen to Fairy Ponies and tiny monsters, small enough to fit in your pocket. She is also a mum of two boys and works from home, where she spends most of her time talking to the dog and trying not to eat too much cheese.

Reviews

[Aiza Idris (biblio_mom) · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart was squeezed tight trying to hold back my anger to the Nazis and sadness for Anne and all the affected ones at the same time.

What today seems to bring so much joy, could be robbed overnight. I understand why Anne Frank's story had touched so many people's heart. I cannot imagined what it felt like to be punished for being who you are when you had done nothing wrong at all.

Just because your race and religion, people treat you like an animal, separated you from your family and taken you away from your own life and there is no hope left for future.

This is abridge version for young readers. It is actually my son's book. I am getting the full version soon. I need to know more of her life through the diary she had written.

[M.K. Aneal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aw, this book was so sad and yet so very interesting! Amazing!

[Heavinlei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my fifth grade class. This was s beginner book to introduce Anne Frank and the holocaust to them because they knew nothing about it whatsoever.

[Roberta Decenzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quick overview of Anne’s story. I have her published diary as well and had always heard about Anne Frank but did not know the full history from start to finish. The book was easy to read and had great photos. I would recommend for kids who are a little older as obviously the subject matter is inevitably dark and sad.

[Dinushka J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing way to start the conversation about acceptance of different cultures & religions with children

[Abigail Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great biography about Anne Frank that would be useful to have on the shelf in the classroom. It incorporates lots of pictures which helps the reader to envision what it was like to be alive during this period. This book was written with the help of Eva Schloss who was the stepsister of Anne Frank and also survived the concentration camp.

[Ifath Rahman Tushar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a book called "Anne Frank" by Susanna Davidson. This book is about a young Jewish girl named Anne who is trying to stay away from the Nazi's that want to take her and her family away to concentration camps. Her and her family made up of her mother, her father, and her sister. They do end up needing to go in to hiding, so they hid up in an attic that is hidden in her fathers work place. they can not go tot the real world any more for about 2 years. Sadly they are found and taken away....

The best thing about this book is that her and her family do get a good hiding place for a while, and get enough food that they need. They also live with a couple other people in there small cooped up room. Something i didn't like in this book is the whole reason all of this is happening, and where they get taken to. This is such a terrible thing and i hope it never ever happens again! It is also the worst when the whole family ends up having to go through these concentration camps.

The characters in this book are Anne she is the main person in this book, her sister Margot, her mother Edith and her father Otto. they all need to try and survive this terrible time. They all lived together in Amsterdam, and were having to take looooooong train voyages to the concentration camps. This book is really interesting, i don't know why but these kinds of books though i think they were horrible times interest me a lot. I did not really enjoy the ending because the whole family does end up dying. :(

[Caroline Herfindahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written biography for young readers to introduce them to Anne Frank, her life and her diary. To those who are old enough to have read her diary and to understand the horrors of the holocaust it may seem as if certain aspects of Anne's life and the holocaust are glossed over; However one must remember that this book is geared toward 8-10 year olds and could be read by younger readers ready for a bit more challenging vocabulary and subject matter. I read this with my 9-year-old emerging reader and as it was a good level for him (although he liked having help with the German names) and was of interest because of his interest in WWII.

[Chuajiaxin · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book was trgic,at the age of thirteen ,Anne Frank went hrr family to escape from the Nazis.For two years,she couldn't go outside or run or shout or laugh too loudly.Instead she poured her thoughts and feelings into her dairy.this story of her life begins when she was still a carefree girl like any other.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this book is geared towards young adults, I still think it is very informative. This book is basically a biography of Anne's life. There are pictures and a background of World War II and the Holocaust as Anne experiences both.

[The Bookbutterfly's Quotage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deftly distills a harrowing chapter of human history into a format that’s digestible for younger readers without diluting its gravity. This is biography as gateway drug: a carefully curated narrative scaffolded for early minds, with emotional weight that resonates beyond its word count.

Davidson navigates the moral enormity of the Holocaust with sensitivity and clarity, offering a portrayal of Anne not just as a historical symbol, but as a vibrant, witty, tragically stifled girl whose voice still reverberates through time. The illustrations complement the prose without patronizing the audience; a visual rhythm that walks the line between educational and emotive.

Is it reductive at times? Sure but necessarily so. The limitations of the format (and the age bracket it serves) require a certain narrative economy. That said, the book doesn’t condescend. It invites curiosity. It plants seeds. It initiates the conversation without pretending to finish it.

In sum: A remarkably poised introduction to a devastating story. Ideal for classrooms, bedtime reading that matters, or as a springboard to deeper exploration. One star off only because the compression occasionally flattens the nuance, but that’s a structural compromise, not an artistic failure.

- 4.25 ★

[CanadianReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a brief, accessible, and attractive short biography of Anne Frank, evidently written for kids from about 10 to 13 years of age. Pages are mostly cheerful pastel colours and there are many photos. The text itself reads almost like a little novel. The focus is on Anne’s optimism and faith in humanity, which I’ve personally never completely bought into.

There are, however, problems. Dysentery is incorrectly spelled, and the author incorrectly states that Anne and her sister Margot’s scabies, contracted in a concentration camp, were due to lice. Scabies infestation is caused by mites, not lice.

When one sees errors of this kind, the tendency is to doubt the accuracy of other details in the book. I didn’t feel up to fact checking the rest of the book, but I think potential readers should be aware it may not be reliable. I believe the book would also have benefited from a glossary. At the very least, some information required more explanatory detail for the target audience.

Verdict: There are better books about Anne out there.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great non-fiction book suitable for upper KS2, particularly Y6 as it could supplement their study of World War Two. There are lots of black and white pictures throughout the book to supplement the information and make it more appealing to children whilst providing extra information. In the classroom these images could be studied themselves in addition to the main text. The book contains dialogue and is split up into 7 chapters along with a timeline, these portray key events in Anne Frank's life. The timeline is also good for teaching about chronology in history, children could create their own timelines of significant events in WW2, providing cross curricular links or even timelines of themselves. The book also features contents although no index so it's not the best book for studying features of non fiction texts. Nevertheless it's a fascinating read, it doesn't contain all the information about Anne Frank but it's pitched excellently for its younger audience.

[Lily Knesevitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certain facts were new and interesting, and some things that weren’t even included in Anne’s diary were in here (or maybe they were, just in very small detail; for instance, I didn’t remember that Margot lied about who the call-up for the concentration camp was for, that it was for her and not Otto). However, there were quite a few places where commas were needed and not placed, and it could’ve gone into more detail about several topics. I love Anne Frank’s original diary (I am not German, nor do I speak it, so I had to read an American printed version), and that is top-tier quality writing, so this recounting of her life felt a bit lacking writing-wise, and I wish that more was directly quoted from her diary to give the reader more of her perspective than what was given. However, for a short recap of Anne Frank’s heartbreaking life, a solid 4 ⭐️, and still heartbreaking 💔.

[Zaghol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dari dulu selalu dengar cerita pasal Anne Frank gadis holokos, kali pertama baca, memang sedih, tambah2 baca sambil dengar lagu tema Cinema Paradiso. Tapi sayang, sia2 pengorbanan Anne Frank bila generasi baru kaumnya tiru balik apa yang Jerman buat pada mereka kepada orang2 palestin. Mengecewakan.

[Trent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought she had a sad childhood. Anne and her family were trapped in Netherlands by the German occupation. Her family hid in an office behind an annex room where her father worked to keep from being taken by the Gestapo officers. Her family finally was found by some Gestapo officers and taken to a Jewish concentration camp. Unfortunately her family had a chance to move to England before they were taken to the concentration camp, but they didn't want to split up their family and believed they were safe. Anne and her sister were finally separated from their family and taken to a different concentration camp in Auschwitz where she later died.

[Swati Jk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad but inspirational story ,just realized how ungrateful we become about the sun shining on our face or for the fresh wind....it is an eye opener of a book.about being grateful , world peace, family bonding and so much more.....

[Lisa Gobeil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mon cœur se tord. J’ai dû retenir mes larmes à quelques moments. Cette histoire connue d’Anne Frank est touchante et frustrante. « Je crois encore en la bonté des hommes » avait-elle écrit dans son journal :(

[Trent · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I thought was her family was taken away and she was sent to a camp and how they hid at a office and were found. They had a chance to move to England but they thought they were safe.

[Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good and emotional!

[Abdul Rehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book of a famous person.

[Tsana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really sad story.

[Myriambooks85 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Très émouvant, horrible

[Racheal Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great book for a school aged child. Gives very good details on what has happened to the Frank family during this horrible time. Explains how Ann Franks diary became a famous book.

[Torrey Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a breath taking true story of a Jewish girl who had to fight against the Nazis, and ended up hiding in a building for years non able to go outside, make noise through the time 8:30AM-5 or 6PM.

[Rahiel Woldu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review 2

This non-fiction edition of the life of Anne Frank is aimed at readers who are ready for longer stories. It is set out in a clear and concise manner, with the main events in Anne’s life divided into six chapters – from ‘Living free’ (- chapter 1) in Amsterdam where she happily played with hoops and hopscotch with her sister and friends after fleeing the persecution in Germany, to ‘The camps’ (- chapter 6) where unimaginable scenes took place where she and her family were captured. The amount of detail and vivid photographs takes you back to the historical horrifying events of World War II, around 60 million of whom had lost their lives. The content of the atrocious acts carried out shows the extent to what humanity is capable of beyond the prejudice and persecution of people.

The last few pages are dedicated to Anne Frank’s well-known diary she filled with her touching yet heart-breaking accounts, the contents of which her father (a concentration camp survivor) arranged to be published and continue her legacy. A clear time-line of the events that occurred in the Frank’s family life is included. An enlarged heart-felt quote by Anne herself is enlarged on p.62: “A person who’s happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!” March 7, 1944.

Overall, those children who are keen on reading The Diary of Anne Frank, would definitely benefit from reading this Usbourne non-fiction book first as it will lay out the foundation of the historic events that took place. It will also prepare children (especially lower KS2 readers) for what Anne, her family and the rest of the Jewish population were inhumanely subjected to at the hands of the Nazis.

[Lavinia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anne Frank is a normal, free little Jewish girl, until Hitler comes and invades Amsterdam, where she lives. He tries to send all Jewish girls and boys at the age of sixteen (I think it's sixteen) to concentration camps to work and be killed. Anne's older sister, Margot, has had a call-up (a message saying 'GO TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP NOW') and Anne and Margot, their parents and friends, go into hiding at a secret annexe at the back of Anne's dad's office. When the German police find them and take them away to concentration camp, shaving them and making it obvious they were criminals, what will happen to Anne and the rest?

This book was a 'Young Readers' book, and put Anne's diary into summary, but it was all rather well written. I cared a lot for little Anne and the others, and when I asked for Anne's actual diary, my mummy said that it was too sad.

When I visited Amsterdam, I saw Anne's house, and next time I go there I'd love to go in it. When I learn about the Second World War, I will read her real diary.

[Georgina Willetts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am learning about WW2 at school and wanted to read a true story.

Anne Frank was 13 years old when she went into hiding with her family to escape the Nazis. She lived their 2 years in awful conditions not even allowed to run around, shout or laugh incase they were heard. Her experience of this time was recorded in her autograph book which became her diary.

Sadly lots of people including Anne did not survive and I found this very upsetting. Some were not killed but died through ill health.

I wish we could have a world with no wars. Full of nice people who respect and care for each other.

Hitler was a very unkind and nasty person.

[Elliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful, it follows the journey of the iconic girl that made history, with snippets from her diary and both chilling and uplifting photos to help the reader imagine what life was like at the time. I have gone back to this book a few times now, after being bought it a few years ago, and it is very much aimed at a younger audience, explaining why I would now like deeper content and more facts!