Illustrated by David Polonsky

Where to begin with this one? I devoured this book slowly over the past few weeks, savoring its pages like a box of rich chocolates. And that’s exactly what Anne Frank and her diary are, so very rich—rich with life and rich with insight into the humanity behind the Holocaust. And that’s her original diary. This graphic novel version is like a sweet candy coating on it all. Very enjoyable.

The Diary of Anne Frank survives as perhaps the most human record of all that took place in German-controlled Europe during WWII, perhaps one of the darkest places and eras of all human history. While hiding from the Nazis with her family and other Jews in the Annex of a building in Amsterdam, Anne recounts the doldrums of daily life from within those walls and explores the endless depths of her own heart and feelings.

I’d venture to guess that virtually every English-speaking adult in the world has at least heard of Anne Frank—and I’d even add that once you’ve heard of this sweet little German-Dutch Jewess girl, you simply cannot forget her. Anne Frank might be something like your average, every-day, run-of-the-mill girl growing into womanhood, but she’s also far and away the most honest of the lot…at least with her best friend, Kitty, who is in fact her private diary. Had she known her innermost thoughts would be published for the world to read, though, I’m sure she’d have bottled it all like most people.

As it is, Anne bleeds out her heart, every emotion and thought, every outburst of anger, jealously, and love. On the pages of Anne Frank’s Diary (salvaged by her father, the only person from the Annex to survive the War), one can learn what it’s like to be a female teenager—impassioned, frustrated, misunderstood, loving, sentimental, hopeful, angry, stubborn, confused, optimistic, etc.—an amalgam of emotions all swirling inside, each finding its outlet from one day to the next. She typifies young womanhood and the millions of real-life people behind the atrocities of WWII.

Anne Frank’s Diary is an expert adaptation of the original diary, now formatted into a graphic novel that is well-worth savoring. It was interesting to read how this book came about, how Ari Folman’s adaptation had to be approved by the Anne Frank Museum and how David Polonsky’s artwork had (at times) to convey whole pages text from the diary in single images. These insights educated me about how massive an undertaking it must be to adapt text to this format.

Of the graphic novels I’ve read recently on this little kick of mine, this is thus far my favorite of all. It’s even worth a re-read, so I’ll probably be looking up this one again. I recommend it highly for pre-teens and up who need a reminder of how bad the world can get and yet how life tends to normalize even in the midst of the most outrageous of circumstances.

©2021 E.T.