by Anne Frank
ages: 12+
First sentence: “On Friday, June 12th I woke up at six o’clock and no wonder; it was my birthday.”
Ack.
Let me say that again.
Ack.
If I had read this book when I was 12 or 13, I would have totally loved it. I would have completely identified with Anne, with her plight, with her suffering, with her angst, with her. I would have cried at the end. I would have swooned over her relationship with Peter, and the difficulties it presented.
But now…
I just felt like she’s a whiny teenager who wasn’t completely grateful that she didn’t end up in a concentration camp for the whole war, and that she spent too much time whining about how horrible her parents (and the Van Daans) are. I felt like the book is only famous because she (in a cruel irony) died in a concentration camp three months before the Allieds liberated it. Yes, it was human, and real, and sometimes insightful. But I couldn’t stand her. Or the book.
Which makes me feel guilty.
Oh, well. I missed the boat on this one.
The Book Nut 
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thought I was the only person in the world who didn’t love this book and Anne! I agree with you completely!
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I haven’t read it since I WAS about 12 or 13, so your post makes me want to go back and read it as an adult…I loved it as a kid, but will I as a grown-up? Hmmm. Good experiment.
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I loved it as a girl, haven’t read it since. I feel like much of the appeal is that it’s so REAL – and the teenage crush, whining is kind of part of that. For a book based on a real story, also about hiding, but not about whining, try Jennifer Roy’s Yellow Star. It’s one of my new favorites and not just because the girl lives. (I’m not giving anything away there because it’s right in the front of the book.)
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I read this book ages ago. I see your point, but to me, it shows that Anne was a normal whiny girl and that those killed during the Holocaust were normal people just like you and me. I think she might not have seemed grateful about avoiding the concentration camp because no one could truly know the horrors unless they were there themselves. Thanks for the honest review!
–Anna
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Not sure if I was clear, I meant that she wouldn’t have known the horrors until she got there herself. I wonder what her diary would have been like had she survived.
–Anna
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