Anne Frank or Night?

[shinyhappypeople]

This is for a 14 yo who does not like to read (understatement).  

[8filltheheart]

I found Night extremely graphic. I would preread it before giving it to a 14 yr old and then decide it you think it is suitable. I wouldn't assign it to my young teens. Some people have no problem with it. There are scenes like throwing babies into the air and machine gunning them. You would need to decide for yourself. My almost 13 yr old would be completely overwhelmed by it.

[2_girls_mommy]

agree, but there are some things in Anne Frank that I don't like either. I did give it to my good reader at 13, and we discussed some things that I thought needed touched on for her. I actually would not attempt to give it to my current reluctant reader who is almost 14. It would bog her down. I found a book of diaries and interviews from children from WWII the last time we studied that time period at our library that I would try to find again for her to give her the children's perspective. I am sorry I don't have a name for you. I just was lucky enough to come across it several years ago, and it could take some searching to find again. 

[almondbutterandjelly]

Little Women?  Heidi?  Little Princess?  Harry Potter?  My dd loved all those at that age.

[El...]

I sort of hate to admit this, but I thought Anne Frank's diary was boring when I was a young teen.  I was a very innocent kid; maybe things went over my head.  I remember that it was controversial for me to have read it, but I couldn't really have told you why; I thought it was because she got her period and liked a boy but nothing came of that.  I will let my young teen read it, but probably won't assign it.  

What about The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?  

I haven't read Night yet.  

[historically accurate]

Anne Frank would be my choice of the two although it's not my favorite book to read - it's referenced a lot so it is important. I just find it drags for teens in places. Some books that my kids have read on the Holocaust:

Parallel Journeys 

Boy in the Striped Pajamas 

Number the Stars 

Maus 

Life in a Jar

 

[Free Indeed]

Anne really dragged and didn’t hold our interest. We “liked” Night. It was graphic, but it was real. 

[Lori D.]

As a complete side note: you might consider "buddy reading" ("you read a page, I read a page") to make getting through some of your Literature less painful -- which also allows for learning Vocab. and esp. discussing/analyzing together in the moment. Just a thought!

Anne Frank is a much longer, slower work -- largely the coming-of-age diary of a teen girl who happens to go into hiding during the writing of the diary. There is not a lot direct reference to WW2, Hitler, hiding, or even persecution of the Jews. It is more about her feelings about boys, her desire to be a writer, and the deprivations and hardships of living all cooped up in a small space with so many people for so long. Depending on which edition you get, there are some brief references to budding sexual feelings, her kiss with the co-hiding teen boy, and her strong negative feelings towards her mother.

Night is a shorter work (novella length) -- written by an adult man who experienced and survived a death camp, although the focus is on the death march to get to the camp. It is brutal, graphic, and shows the stripping away of humanity, even the very soul, of those experiencing these events. While not difficult to read the words it is a hard book to read because it is very psychologically disturbing. NOT for sensitive teens, and I would highly recommend pre-reading (here's a free online version) before handing over to a student -- it won't take you more than about 2-3 hours to read. I do think it is a very powerful and important work to read, but one to time appropriately for the student.

More discussion on both Anne Frank and Night in this past thread: "Number the Stars or Anne Frank".

If looking for a substitute book on Europe during WW2, and for a reluctant reader, I'd suggest going with a good YA historical fiction that is easier to read, and still allows for lots of discussion. Some ideas:

The Book Thief (Zusak)
LONG fictional work but not a hard read, with the creative element that the character of Death dips in from time to time with his observations and trying to understand humans; setting is German home front; the main protagonist's secular family briefly hides a Jewish man

Winged Watchman (Van Stockum)
Fictional retelling of real people/events; medium length YA book. From the perspective of the youngest son in a Dutch family living under German occupation. The family took in a Jewish toddler to try and save his life. Deprivation, and the older brother joined the resistance movement.

Escape From Warsaw (Serraillier)
Fictional retelling of real people/events; medium length YA book. Three Polish siblings who survived alone in Warsaw for the last few years of the war and along the way take in an orphaned boy; at war's end they head to Switzerland to find their parents. Not so brutal or graphic, but it does show the deprivations and survival aspect in an area that was leveled by the war. I found this to be very powerful -- amazing how children survived on their own. Plus you get both the experience of living during the war, and see how devastated Europe was after the war.

Endless Steppe (Hautzig)
Fictional retelling of real events; medium length YA book. Russian family sent to a Siberian camp during WW2, so more about surviving a harsh environment situation and little to nothing about WW2 politics or events.

After the War (Matas)
Historical fiction; short, fast-reading YA book, set just at the end of WW2. A teen Jewish girl in Europe tries to find her family; when she learns none have survived the concentration camps, she heads to Palestine, as the nation of Israel struggles to form. Just adequate in the writing, but really worthwhile due to the subject. Both the terrible devastation of Europe and the fact that sometimes survivors could not find one another, plus the formation of Israel.

A few other fiction possibilities:
- Number the Stars (Lowry) -- gr. 4-6 level, short book; Danish family helps Jewish neighbors flee to Sweden
- The Devil's Arithmetic (Yolen) -- gr. 5-8 level, short book; contemporary Jewish teen transported back in time to a concentration camp
- Salt to the Sea (Sepetys) -- gr 8+ level; long book, but fast reading; Polish and German civilians fleeing the coming Russian soldiers at the end of WW2 and fearing reprisals; follows 4 fictional characters, but ends with the real-life event of the sinking of a hospital ship, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives

A few non-fiction autobiography/biography possibilities of surviving a death camp:
- Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust (Zullo) -- gr. 4-8 level; shortish book
- I Have Lived a Thousand Years (Bitton-Jackson) -- gr. 7+ level; medium-length book -- this is probably the closest substitute to Anne Frank -- memoir of a Jewish teen girl who survived a death camp
- The Hiding Place (Ten-Boom) -- gr. 8+, medium-length book; autobiography of Corrie Ten-Boom, whose family hid Jews in Denmark, where discovered, and sent to a death camp and how their faith sustained them; as Christians, our family found this incredibly inspirational

[alisoncooks]

I was going to recommend The Hiding Place, esp if your family is Christian. Oldest DD will be reading it next year. 

I recently read Making Bombs for Hitler, and I've added it to DD's reading list. 

[Selkie]

My now-16 y.o. dd read Anne Frank a couple years ago and found it to be a long slog of a read. She is a voracious reader, the kind of kid who reads anything she can get her hands on, but she strongly disliked this book. I read it along with her and had to agree that it was tough to get through.  

I haven't read Night, so I can't compare the two.

[FairProspects]

Maybe consider the play version of Anne Frank? There is more of a narrative to the play.

[Lori D.]

5 hours ago, beckyjo said:

Anne Frank would be my choice of the two although it's not my favorite book to read - it's referenced a lot so it is important.

 

2 hours ago, OKBud said:

It's referred back to all. the. time. though. I's assign it for that reason alone...

Just my opinion: I totally agree that it's important to understand who Anne Frank was because SHE is an important historical figure (putting a voice and unique personality to a young person of the millions whose lives were cut short by the atrocities of the Holocaust) and SHE is mentioned a lot.

In contrast, her WRITING (the work of literature -- the contents of her actual diary) are NOT referenced a lot. I do see a few quotations from her diary used fairly frequently. I would suggest that if your and/or your student are not interested in delving into a study on memoir or journals and would prefer other ways of digging into the Holocaust or WW2, it would be perfectly fine to just read ABOUT Anne Frank and her times, and be familiar with some of her words that are quoted -- and that would be enough.

FWIW, here are a few of the Anne Frank quotations I have seen:

- "I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."
- "I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains."
- "Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl?"
- "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
- "Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."

[Tanaqui]

Honestly? Neither. Those are some heavy hitters, and for a reluctant reader I'd pick something... well, lighter. If you're determined to have her read something about the Holocaust, there are options that are both shorter and less graphic. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Number the Stars, Hitler's Canary (I prefer this to Number the Stars), My Family for the War, Anya's War, The Upstairs Room, A Faraway Island, The Endless Steppe, Someone Named Eva, Lisa's War, Journey to America. If she's willing to read about slightly younger characters, then even When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Behind the Bedroom Wall, or Lydia, Queen of Palestine.

[Alte Veste Academy]

The Boy on the Wooden box, which is a memoir written by one of the people Schindler saved. https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Wooden-Box-Impossible-Schindlers/dp/1442497823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529386010&sr=8-1&keywords=The+boy+on+the+wooden+box&dpID=51Atzgl6vnL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch 

I personally find the premise of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas disturbing on many levels and would avoid that one.

[J-rap]

Tanaqui listed some great options.  If your dd is deeper-thinking and doesn't mind slower-moving books about someone's internal life, she might really latch onto Anne Frank.  But, there are a lot of others that move more quickly and talk more about what's going on and less about private thoughts.  Maybe stop by your local library with your dd and look in their biography section for that time period.  I'm sure your dd will find at least a couple that are compelling and appropriate for her age.

I've never understood why people recommend The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, because there are so many -- literally hundreds -- of amazing biographies out there that give insight into the Holocaust, so why do you need a made-up novel to tell the story?

This is a particular interest of mine and I've read a lot of related biographies about it, but they've all kind of blurred together!  If I think of it tomorrow, I'll try and look up some names of the ones that my children read at that age.

[Momto6inIN]

Night was amazing and my 18 year old D'S was able to dig into the spiritual ramifications of it but no way would my 14 year old be able to grasp the utter desolation of soul that Elie Wiesel describes.

[shinyhappypeople]

Your reviews have been helpful.  Thank you!  DD is an old soul.  She likes (ok, doesn't hate) biographies and non-fiction.  Fiction of any sort is a harder sell for her.  She reads well, but very slowly.  I have a lot to ponder.  

[Junie]

I read Anne Frank when I was in high school.  I, also, thought that it was boring.  I have not read Night, but it was on my list until a few minutes ago.  It sounds too graphic for me.

The Hiding Place is a wonderful book that shows concentration camps without a lot of graphic violence.  

My dd13 recently read Yours, Anne: The Life of Anne Frank by Lois Metzger.  It is a young readers version of Anne's diary.

[Melissa in Australia]

I remember reading  at around 11 a book about a young Jewish girl with long blond hair I think it was called Elli 

i still find reading diaries boring and have found Anne Frank  booring

Night is a book that I have assigned to my older teens 16 or so

[Tanaqui]

Quote

She likes (ok, doesn't hate) biographies and non-fiction.

 

Okay, then I'd strongly consider either The Hiding Place, The Endless Steppe, or The Upstairs Room, all of which are memoirs. If she's okay with something slightly more fictionalized then that adds Hitler's Canary and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - though, again, that second book is definitely geared for a slightly younger audience. Those are based on real life as well, but I believe details were changed slightly to make tighter stories.

The Upstairs Room is written in an odd way, stylistically, and might not be a great read for somebody who reads slowly. The Hiding Place is a good book, but it starts in the author's young adulthood - your daughter may have an easier time relating to somebody closer to her age. The Endless Steppe ends when the main character is about her age, so that's a good choice, and Hitler's Canary is quite short, so that's a good choice too if she might want a book she can just run through quickly. Pink Rabbit... like I said, the main character is about 10 throughout the book. It's the younger, easier choice.