A Picture Book of Anne Frank

Picture Book Biography

by David A. Adler, Karen Ritz (Illustrator)

A thoughtful and accessible look at the life of Anne Frank, author of Diary of a Young Girl and victim of the Holocaust .

Anne and her Jewish family hid in a secret apartment in Amsterdam from 1942 through 1944, when they were discovered by the Nazis. During those harrowing years, Anne kept a diary with her innermost thoughts and fears. She later died in a German concentration camp, but her voice has inspired millions of children across the world through several generations.

David A. Adler's biography series is a beloved classroom tool for introducing the lives of important figures in history. This entry addresses the difficult subject matter of the Holocaust in a way that children will understand.

Backmatter includes a list of important dates and an author's note.

For almost thirty years, David Adler’s Picture Book Biography series has profiled famous people who changed the world. Colorful, kid-friendly illustrations combine with Adler’s “expert mixtures of facts and personality” ( Booklist ) to introduce young readers to history through compelling biographies of presidents, heroes, inventors, explorers, and adventurers. These books are ideal for first and second graders interested in history or who need reliable sources for school book reports.

Genres: Biography, Picture Books, History, Nonfiction, Holocaust, Childrens, World War II

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

David Abraham Adler is an American children's author. He was born in New York City, New York in 1947. He graduated from Queens College in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics and education. For the next nine years, he worked as a mathematics teacher for the New York City Board of Education, while taking classes towards a master's degree in marketing, a degree he was awarded by New York University in 1971. In that same year, a question from his then-three-year-old nephew inspired Adler to write his first story, A Little at a Time, subsequently published by Random House in 1976. Adler's next project, a series of math books, drew on his experience as a math teacher. In 1977, he created his most famous character, Cam Jansen, originally featured in Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds, which was published that year.

Adler married psychologist Renee Hamada in 1973, and their first child, Michael, was born in 1977. By that time Adler had taken a break from teaching and, while his wife continued her work, he stayed home, took care of Michael, and began a full-time writing career.

Adler's son, Michael S. Adler, is now the co-author of several books with his father, including A Picture Book of Sam Adams, A Picture Book of John Hancock, and A Picture Book of James and Dolly Madison. Another son, Edward, was the inspiration for Adler's Andy Russell series, with the events described in the series loosely based on adventures the Adler family had with Edward's enthusiasm and his pets.

As of November 2008, Adler has three sons and two grandsons. He lives in Woodmere, New York.

(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Negin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously illustrated and a wonderful introduction to the story of Anne Frank and the atrocities of the Nazi regime.
I love the entire Picture Book series and would recommend them for all parents and teachers. My kids are teenagers and we just re-read this.

[Megz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was good book to read with my kids just enough information for my kids to understand

[Jaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a brief, but powerful look into the life of Anne Frank. I listened to the audiobook so I cannot comment on the illustrations throughout, but the cover was beautifully illustrated so I can assume the rest of the book is, too. Adler gave a brief overview of her childhood living under the Nazi Regime, a quick look into life locked in the attic, and a very quick look at life in the concentration camps. The author was honest, but very brief with the details of what Anne went through. This book is definitely a teaser to get readers interested in reading The Diary of Anne Frank itself.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids (7 & 9) had recently read about Anne Frank in the Magic Tree House Fact Tracker for World War II, so I wanted to read more about her with them . . .

[Andrea Sobel]

Title: A Picture Book of Anne Frank
Author: David A. Adler
Illustrator: Karen Ritz
Genre: K-2 Biography
Theme(s): Bravery, Hero, Family, War, Anne Frank
Opening line/sentence: “Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany”
Brief Book Summary: This picture book is about the life of Anne Frank. It talks about Anne’s childhood, her family and their bravery during World War II, and about the legacy Anne Frank has had on many people.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)
This most recent addition to the Picture Book Biography series balances candor with discretion in its presentation of heroine Anne Frank. Adler traces the intersection of Anne's brief life with the forces of Nazism, chronicling the girl's earliest years in Germany as well as her time spent in the now-famous Amsterdam attic and the months following arrest and deportation. He refuses to apply the standard encomiums about his subject's courage and genius, with the result that Anne Frank emerges all the more poignantly. Like Adler, Ritz conveys more than familiar icons: she has executed black-and-white drawings closely based on the well-known extant photographs of Anne and her family and friends, and set these into watercolors of, for example, 1930s Germany or Anne packing her diary. Even her picture of shaven-headed, hollow-eyed Anne and Margot huddled together at Bergen-Belsen avoids cliche and condescension. ``Some people find it difficult to understand the Holocaust,'' Adler concludes with grace. ``But when they read Anne's diary, it all becomes real. Then they know one of the victims. They know Anne Frank.'' Ages 4-8 .
Professional Recommendation/Review #2: Betsy Hearne (The Bulletin of the Center for Children s Books, March 1993 (Vol. 46, No. 7))
As Holocaust history enters elementary school curricula for younger age groups, teachers and librarians are faced with the formidable task of finding titles that present a complex, horrifying subject for primary graders' listening or independent reading. Adler's picture book biography presents one excellent solution (Isabella Leitner's The Big Lie, BCCB 1/93, is another) as he describes, with simple dignity, the life and death of Anne Frank. The challenge seems to have brought out the best in both writer and illustrator: Adler's text is less choppy and more cohesive than in some of his other volumes in this series, and Ritz' watercolors, though obviously based on photographs, avoid the stiff effect that often results from artists' copying photos. The story itself is, of course, inherently dramatic, with suspense and tragedy that cannot fail to touch children and broaden their empathy. An author's note and a list of important dates are appended.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: After reading this book I agree with both the reviews; this picture book of Anne Frank’s life is done very well and a great read for younger students. The story talks about the hard life Anne and her family lived because they were Jewish. I think it is important for little children to understand this and this book does this is in a very mature way. I like Betsy Hearne’s response to the watercolor illustrations in the book. They are very lively and realistic.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: This book is geared towards younger children to teach them about the life of Anne Frank. The illustrations are beautiful watercolor pictures of Anne and her family, and she also illustrates the setting of the book. The illustrations help the young reader connect the 2-3 sentences per page to the storyline.
Consideration of Instructional Application: I would use this book to teach my students about bravery. Anne Frank was extremely brave during a very hard time and her story lives still today and she is seen as a hero. I would ask my class to brainstorm a time when they were brave. I would then ask them to write a short story describing how they were brave, and then my class would have to share with their stories to with the class.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful biography of Anne Frank that also contains quite a bit of general history about the Holocaust. But: Huh?!

The illustrations are good but in my opinion they do not depict the people as they truly looked. Personally, I’d rather have had mostly photographs; there are plenty available.

The account, well, I read the inside front cover and thought maybe that information was for the adults. I saw this book on the library’s shelf and borrowed it to see how the contents would be handled in a picture book for children. But, who is this written for? Excellent but full graphic information of the atrocities perpetrated. Any child old enough to know this information is probably ready to read Anne’s diary and other “more advanced” books. I guess this could be a fine book to read as an introduction to the subject and just prior to reading Anne’s diary or other Holocaust books. But this is not Anne Frank/Holocaust “lite” but rather a book that does not spare the reader from the truth of all that happened. The account is very well written.

So, I’m a bit confused, and while I enjoyed it, I’m not sure which readership I’d recommend it to. There is a list at the beginning of other books written by this author, and they are biographies of famous historical figures, and I think most look very interesting, less horrific, and of interest to me, and probably books I could wholeheartedly recommend to young readers, but I haven’t read any of them, yet, so I’m not certain.

My star rating is for my enjoyment of reading and my admiration for packing in so much information in an interesting way. It does not reflect my opinion of this book as a picture book for children, even for older children.

[Theron Worthington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by David A. Adler and illustrated by Karen Ritz is a very truthful and history picture book, great for kids to read. It is a biography about Anne Frank’s life and what occurred during World War II. A librarian at my local public library handed it to me and I was skeptical of it at first because of its title being A Picture Book of Anne Frank. I thought it would not do Anne Frank’s story justice because it would not be truthful of what horrible events that occurred in her life. I thought it would be too kid friendly and leave out crucial details about what happened during this war to the Jewish community. I was very surprised because this book is a perfect balance of kid friendly but also truthful and detailed. The author made sure to tell the story in a very well written manner, making sure to explain the hardships that happened to the Frank family. Even the illustrations were perfect and I loved how by the end of the book, the reader gets a real look at what Auschwitz looked like and also what Anne and her sister Margot looked like. They were terribly sick and I felt the illustrator did a great job by showing the characters spirits but also that they were living through horrific times and that they would both die in the end. I also really loved how the author ended the book by writing about Otto Frank publishing Anne’s diary and how everyone all around the world has read this book and that people get a chance to feel as if they knew Anne Frank. I think this book would be a great read aloud to students in the 5th-6th Grade. I would read this book to my students when we are learning about World War II. I think this book is a great book to introduce who Anne Frank was and how the Jewish community suffered during World War II. Students will usually read Anne Frank’s Diary later in their education careers but using Anne’s story for 5th-6th grades while learning about all the displacement of people during World War II will help them get a clearing image of what occurred. I could also use this book to have students write a timeline about Anne Frank's life and the dates of WWII. Throughout the book, there are important dates of what occurred and I would use that resource to have the students write up dates and what events happened in Anne Frank's life. By doing this, the students will remember the dates of WWII and they will be more educated about Anne Frank's life when they read her diary later in the years. I really enjoyed reading this book and think it is a great biography of Anne Frank’s life. I was very surprised by this book and would gladly read it to students so they can get better understanding of WWII and how the Jewish community was harmed.

[Bookbag_Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memories Mean More To Me Than Dresses.

I Am Longing, So Longing, for Everything...To Talk, For Freedom, For Friends, To Be Alone. And I Do So Long...To Cry.


How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

TRAVELED TO // Frankfurt, Germany , Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam, The Secret Annex
MET ALONG THE WAY // Anne Frank, Margot Frank, Otto Frank, Edith Frank, Mr. & Mrs. Van Daan, Peter Van Daan, Mr. Dussell, Miep - Kitty

[Emily Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps teach readers about Anne Frank's story and about the time period her family was living in, in a way that is more simplified and includes illustrations (rather than real life photos that may disturb younger readers). I thought that the illustrations were really amazing and aided the text well. I also really liked that the book included facts (ex. dates, etc.) and quotes from Anne's book. The explanations of why Anne and her family's actions were very helpful, and I think that this book would provide helpful knowledge to build on, and could even be used to help introduce the WW2 unit in schools, giving students more accessible information to serve as base knowledge (since students will have different levels of background knowledge on the topic). Overall, I thought the book was really well done, and so detailed with all of the illustrations, facts, picture borders, and even quotes!

[Alexa Brazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

In David A. Adler’s book, A Picture Book Of Anne Frank, The authors tell the story of Anne Frank and how she hid during the holocaust. But eventually, she gets caught and is sent to a concentration camp where she meets her death. Adler also touches on the impact of the diary that Anne left behind that was later made into a book that has touched millions of people and had shaded light into what living through this difficult time was like.
Adler uses colorful and kid-friendly illustrations to help portray the difficulties during this historical event. He also uses beginner reader languages and sentences to keep the reader’s attention to the book. The book is legible and easy to read. The cover portrays Anne Frank writing in her infamous diary about her life. This book is a good introduction to this topic because it doesn’t go in-depth about the tragic events that happened but gives a good understanding for younger readers.

[Morgan Colon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, "A Picturebook of Anne Frank", by David. A Adler is a wonderful biography about Anne Frank. The book tells Anne's life story, and her struggles of growing up through the holocaust. I am sure everyone has heard the story of Anne Frank and her family hiding in a friend's attic to avoid being sent to concentration camps. This story however really breaks it down and goes into details about Anne's journey.

The illustrator uses a wide range of different drawings for this book. Some are full page bleeds while other pages have 3 or 4 bordered photos. She even included some diagrams to show where Anne hid in the house. She used real photos to base her drawings off of, which is pretty neat.

At the end of the book, in the endpages, the author lists some important dates of events around the time. He also wrote a full page of "author notes" about work that went into this book.

[Samantha Beaujour · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. None.
2. 3rd-5th grade.
3. This picture book is about the life of Anne Frank. It talks about Anne’s childhood, her family and their bravery during World War II. Anne Frank struggled through life and hiding during World War 2. It contains great facts and detail about everything she went through, including little quotes here and there from her famous diary.
4. This biography of Anne Frank was also a favorite of mine in elementary school. The pictures are what really drew me in, and I think that would be the same for other children.
5. A letter to Anne Frank about something that inspired them about Anne's story, draw and write in a diary once a day every other day until the end of the school year

[Victoria Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandparents lived through the Holocaust in Holland, my grandfather hid Jews in his home, so I find anything to do with World War Two interesting. Even having read the diary of Anne Frank, I still learned a couple of new facts about her life.

Accelerated Reader: 4.7
Guided Reading Level: O
6 Traits: Voice and Ideas

I would use this book to talk about what Jews had to go through when hiding from the Nazi's. After reading the book I would have taped off a section of the classroom about the same size as the room Anne and her family lived in to show what little space they lived in for years.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Picture book of Anne Frank was written by David A. Adler. This story is uniquely told for younger readers with delightful and yet poignant illustrations of Anne and her family in hiding. It does include Anne’s death and her Father’s later printing of her diary. It is told in such a way as to be understandable by students in third grade or possibly younger. The illustrations are well done and depict the different sections of the story quite well. David A Adler manages to get Anne’s story across to younger readers in a very well-presented story.

[Haysmith Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you would like to give children a strong foundation for the holocaust without getting too specific, I would recommend this book. The illustrations allow for readers to get more detailed if needed (depending on the audience). I loved how much of the bigger picture is placed in this book; it includes the positive sides and the negative, so it is realistic but still keeps it appropriate to younger age groups. I think even older kids/adults can benefit from this book, especially if they never grew up knowing the holocaust or specifically the story of Anne Frank.

[Clayton Happy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because I was curious of its content level. I have heard a great deal about Anne Frank and her journal, so seeing that this is a picture book about her I had interest into what age group this would fall under. I was surprised at the content. The pictures and words made the book an option for younger students however still presented a mature and important message. This was a great book that I would recommend for sure.

[Ana DeLoreto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beautifully illustrated pictures, itself, tells the historical story of Anne Frank. The book is a perfect introduction for students willing to learn about the history of Anne Frank and her life during the Holocaust. Readers will not only be intrigued by the pictures, but also by the way the author tells Anne Frank's story. It's a powerful book that will give students an insight into the events of the Holocaust.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Adler has written numerous biographies for children. The author provides tidbits of Anne Frank's life in A Picture Book of Anne Frank. Karen Ritz's illustrations are beautiful, and I love the color choices and the realistic qualities brought to life on the page. As to the narration in the audio portion of the book, I found it to lack emotion regarding the tragic end of Anne's life.
Overall, I recommend the picture book but not the narration.

[Dina Tberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent picture book biography about the life of Anne Frank. The pictures where beautiful and I really enjoyed the drawings of the real life photographs. I also really appreciated that the book didn’t shy away from the horrors of the holocaust and even included drawings that were sad, without being too traumatic.

[Ali Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations of this were really interesting to look at and there was always something new that i saw while looking at them more than once. The way the story was told was simple and easy to understand and wasn't too much where it could be confusing. This would be a good book to share with the class for history and talking about the war.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book tells the story of Anne Frank, including her early life in Germany, her time spent in hiding, and her subsequent imprisonment at Bergen Belsen. It is simple and straight forward, and geared toward younger students studying the Holocaust. A very good addition to a classroom library, it would be especially useful for social studies lessons on the Holocaust, the subjects of tolerance and acceptance, and as an integrated lesson introducing individual journaling.

[Karli Niegemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great one to read and explains Anne Franks life and what Jews had to go though during this time in a way children can understand. Gives the readers an understanding of what it meant for a family to go into hiding and why they had to. Explains Annes journal and how she wrote about what was happening to her and her family. I would recommend children reading this book.

[Kaylee Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to the story of Anne Frank for younger audiences. The pictures help bring the story to life and gives the reader a better understanding of what this time in history was like.

Trait: Organization

Guided Reading: M
DRA: 24

[Esmeralda Chaidez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how this book gives amazing visual representation of Anne’s life. I like how this book teaches students about history. I could ask my students how they would have reacted I could use the blue and brown scarf activity.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to Anne Frank's story for younger readers. The illustrations are excellent and depict the scenes they describe well. As with any book about the Holocaust, there is always much to discuss and learn from.

[Ellaney Jelcick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was an amazing read, and would be a great read for children and students. It has a great introduction to the story and just enough information. It. would be great in the classroom to tell the story, especially with the illustrations.

[Elle Tangvald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this picture book version of this story. Just enough information for kids to understand and not too complicated of information. The illustrations are great and the storyline makes sense for the audience.

[Debbie Marinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Adler always does a great job with biography's for children. I read this book while watching a show about the woman who helped Ann Escape. A great portrayal of what happened to this girl and her family.

[Gilly Ynoa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lloré al leerlo, a pesar de haber leído hace años el diario de Ana Frank, por alguna razón estas ilustraciones me hicieron sentir más conectada con la historia. Amé el trabajo de Karen Ritz, se nota que lo realiza con amor.

[Chez Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative picture book about Anne Frank, that shows children what Anne went through during the war and the hard life she lived.