Genre: Young Adult, Historical
Fiction
Source: I purchased a copy.
I grew up with the story of Anne Frank and her diary. I was
thrilled when I was younger to discover we shared the same birth date. For these reasons I decided to read this book
that is wonderfully told from Peter Van Pels point of view. It was interesting to note that Peter saw
Anne as a very annoying child until they had shared the annex for a couple of
years. We then find his opinion of her changing. He has begun to fall for her.
I kept wondering, if they had both lived, would they have ended up together?
Anne tried to look at the good in people and God, whereas Peter kind of took
the other road. Anne always expressed herself through her writing. Peter liked
to express himself through his drawing.
What is interesting about this book is that we look at Peter’s life once
he is sent to the concentration camp. No, we don’t really know his story. The
author has done a lot of research into what it would have been like. She based
it on the accounts of survivors. It is
often hard to tell what is actually true and what is fiction because the
writing has so beautifully intertwined the facts with fiction. I did enjoy the end of her book where she tells
the reader what happened to Anne and those who spent all of that time hiding in
the Annex. This is definitely a book not to be missed.
