Special Interest Books

Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Anne Frank. Illustrated by Karen Ritz. New York. Holiday House. 1993.

David Adler and Karen Ritz, copying from authentic Frank family photographs, creates a book for younger children about one of the most famous children of the twentieth century. The book shows the world Anne was born into and the world in which she eventually died.

Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche. Mankato. Creative Education, Inc. 1985.

Rose Blanch is a young girl living in Germany at the beginning of WWII. She feels proud as she watches the soldiers, dressed in their fine uniforms, leave to fight the war. Her life , at first, feels as if it has little changed. That is until the day she witnesses the capture of a young boy by the town mayor and some soldiers. Her curiosity over where they are taking the boy takes her to the outskirts of town. There she discovers what has been happening to all the people rounded up by the Nazis. She is horrified to see people as thin as skeletons. Rose is moved to help them. Rose risks her life to help these people by bringing them food.

McDermott, Beverly Brodsky. The Golem. Philadelphia. Pearl Pressman Liberty. 1976.

McDermott retells this traditional Jewish legend through the use of impressionistic pictures painted in dark, somber colors. Rabbi Lev creates a man from special clay, kept in the attic of the synagogue, to protect the people of the ghetto in Prague. When the ghetto is attacked, the Golem goes on a rampage, destroying everything in its path. Rabbi Lev commands the Golem to stop and return to the clay from which he was made. Rabbi Lev returned the clay to the synagogue, ready to be used if ever again the Golem was needed.

McDonough, Yona Zeldis. Anne Frank. Illustrated by Malach Zeldis.New York. Henry Holt and Company. 1997.

Yona McDonough’s book begins with the Frank’s journey to the safety of the hidden attic. From there it retraces her earlier life, before the Nazi takeover of much of Europe. The illustrator, Malach Zeldis, uses bright, rich colors which often conflicts with the message of the text. For those familiar with the story, this is not a fresh take. But for younger children, this book is a good way to introduce Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

van der Rol, Ruud and Verhoeven, Rian. Anne Frank Beyond the Diary. New York. Penguin Books. 1993.

Anne Frank Beyond the Diary is rich in actual photographs of the Frank family. The book begins with a photograph of the actual first diary Anne received on her birthday, June 12, 1942. We journey with them in pictures from Frankfurt, Germany to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Interspersed among the family photographs are period photographs of refugees, cityscapes, important buildings, and some of those responsible for arresting Anne and the other refugees of the Secret Annex. The book is also interspersed with short pages of information relating to other victims of the Nazi persecution. Anne Frank Beyond the Diary is an excellent companion to The Diary of Anne Frank. The background information it contains makes the original come even more alive. For ages 12 and up.