The Diary of Anne Frank (the critical edition) written by Anne Frank

            For my second book review I read The Diary of Anne Frank. Unlike my first review, this book was nonfiction and a classic.  I think this book has changed many things since it was published, and I am glad I read it.  The Diary of Anne Frank starts before she goes into hiding. She explains about her life, how she emigrated from Germany, and her family. She talks about how her family lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As the war gets more serious she talks about how she changed schools and is now going to a Jewish school. Although things are hard she concentrates on her family life and how she is close to her dad, but dislikes her mom. Going into hiding was quite abrupt for her family and she was not expecting it. But she obeys anyway and knows that if she didn't it would be dangerous. When she goes into hiding she does not think she will be there for more than a year, but she is wrong. During the first few months she talks about her dreams to become a writer and how she is looking forward to going back to her life. She isn't extremely worried about her accommodations, but is missing her house, cat, and friends. Also her and her mom are disliking each other even more. As time goes on there family is joined with another family called the Van Pels and even later a man named Pfeffer who Anne Frank dislikes and has to share a room with. As time goes on Anne Frank becomes good friends with Peter, the Van Pel's son, and better friends with her sister Margot. at the end of the Diary when the food supplies start to go away and the war comes closer, She starts understanding her mom more, and realizes many things about her self. Her last diary entry is from August 1, 1944 three days before they were captured.
             I think that one of the main theme for this book was a girl discovering herself. One example of the main theme is from a diary entry written Saturday afternoon, January 22 1944, "How is it that I am always quite different from what I am inside?"(page 460)  I think it shows how she realizes as time goes on how she really is inside.  Another time in her diary, she supports my idea for one of the main teems in a diary entry from Monday evening, November 8, 1943, "If you could read my piles of letters one after another, you would certainly be struck by the many different moods in which these were written." (page 415)  I thought that by writing that it showed that although she was stuck in hiding she still lived and acted to the fullest extent.  The final thing that I think supports my theory is the last diary entry she ever wrote.  In it, she says, "And finally I twist my heart around again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside and keep trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, if...there weren't any other people living in the world."  (page 699)  I think that all these entries support my idea that the main theme is a girl discovering herself.

            I would recommend this book to my classmates.  I think that this book is important to read and if you have not read it yet, you should read it.  This changed how I think about World War II, writing, and the way I read books.  I would definitely recommend this book to others.