Critical Insights: A Diary of a Young Girl Review

“This book explores in detail, through critical readings and essays, the diary of Anne Frank. Anne's tragic story, first brought to the world by her father immediately after World War II, has become a major vehicle for discussion and education surrounding the Holocaust of the mid-20th century. The Critical Contexts section contains four essays focusing on various aspects of the diary, Anne's personal journey of various locations, her self-portrait and ethical evolution, the idea of "coming of age," and children's literature of atrocity. The Critical Readings section contains nine extended explorations of how Anne's diary has been transformed into different mediums, media, and receptions, related to confessional writing, deconstructive reading, other children's wartime writings, teaching the Holocaust, Anne's diary and story on stage and screen, Japanese reception of Anne's story, graphic novels, and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam as a memorial. Under the Resources section, there is a very nice chronology of Anne's life as well as the postwar life and influence of her diary, and a listing of various dramas, graphic novels, nonfiction works, short fiction, diaries and memoirs, novels, young readers, fiction, and poetry based around the life of Anne Frank. I highly recommend this resource for all libraries.”
—ARBA