Story of Anne Franke for 13 y.o. boys? (Xpost)/WW2 Lit.

[pjssully]

Hi,

I am beginning WW2 this week and thinking about our Lit. selections.  I would like my kids to read the story of Anne Frank but I am not sure about their age and maturity level of this book.  They are 13 almost 8th grade boys and generally will read anything I put in front of them without complaining.  I could wait until high school, but I am not sure we will be homeschooling due to my health, so I kinda feel like if they are going to read it, I might need to do it now.

What is your opinion on this book?  If you have used it with your kids, what age were your kids?

Also, what other resources for Lit. did you use for 8th grade WW2, Holocaust era?

 

Thanks

pam

[regentrude]

My DD read it, I want to say around 5th grade.

 

My concern with a 13 o/y boy would be Anne Frank's diary not holding his attention. My DS would have found it boring and would have preferred a literature selection with less introspection and more action.

[Lori D.]

You may find this lengthy discussion helpful, about when/who to do Diary of Anne Frank: "Number the Stars or Diary of Anne Frank?"  There are also LOTS of ideas for additional and/or substitute Literature on WW2 in that thread as well. Anne Frank is really about memoir/biography, very little about WW2 or even about being a Jew in hiding, so if you're specifically wanting WW2 Lit., check out that linked threads for alternate ideas.

 

For appropriateness or whether or not Anne Frank is a fit for your family, check out "Is there anything inappropriate in Anne Frank?".

[G5052]

Mine read it at about that age and didn't think much of it.  As Lori says, not much WW2 really.

 

He liked Number the Stars though.

 

I recently read The Devil's Arithmetic for a teen book club.  It was good too, a "girl" story but an accurate view of the concentration camps, but not as rough as Schindler's List.