The Diary of Anne Frank: Recommended Reading for Adolescents

Below, we’ll explain the reasons why The Diary of Anne Frank should be on the reading list of every child, teen, or adult.

In case you’ve never read this marvelous piece of art

The Diary of Anne Frank is the tough and daunting story of a young Jewish girl during the time of the Holocaust. We can summarize the fascinating story that hides within the pages of Anne’s diary.

The story takes place between the years 1942 and 1944. The diary ends abruptly, as Anne and her family were forced into Nazi concentration camps. Finally, in 1945, Anne died from Typhoid fever just days before the liberation of the camps.

There are few books in existence that show the events that surround a war from the eyes of a child. And Anne’s writing reveals how, despite everything, children are not detached from the world around them. At the same time, the book demonstrates all that innocent children had to suffer and endure as a result of the political conflicts that existed at the time. And today, children continue to suffer as a result of the same types of conflicts.

The Diary of Anne Frank, a piece of history from the eyes of a child

It’s impossible for anyone to read this diary, written by a 13-year-old girl, without feeling moved by its intricacies. As we mentioned above, depending on the age a person discovers this story, he or she will experience different feelings.

Without a doubt, children ages 8 and up – the minimum recommended age for reading Anne’s diary – aren’t completely aware of how cruel and how real this part of history was. The main reason is that youth often consider any event that took place more than a few months ago to be ancient history.

However, despite this, this is an incredible book that allows young people to discover a tremendously important historical event. What’s more, they can see it through the eyes of a young girl, which makes the story much more relatable for them.

The Diary of Anne Frank as a pedagogical tool

The Diary of Anne Frank is a terrific pedagogical tool for teachers to use in the classroom. Besides discovering all that we mentioned above, this reading will help youth compare their own lives today to all that Anne had to encounter.

This classic piece of literature is a great option to use in the classroom as a way to encourage student writing. It’s a good idea to point out that the 13-year-old author wasn’t even sure about starting to tell her story. And to date, over 30 million copies of her book have sold in 60 different countries. And her writing has been translated into over 70 languages.

We should teach children the importance of writing about anything that’s important to us. In fact, even things that don’t seem so important at the time are worth writing about. You never know if your writing may one day lead to a world-recognized classic like Anne’s.

The values that The Diary of Anne Frank teaches us

What’s more, this reading teaches very important values that all people should learn and apply:

• The importance of the rights of every individual.
• Learning to share.
• The value of family.
• Hope, above all else.

In each diary entry, Anne expresses everything she feels about the events that take place around her. And one of the values that this valiant protagonist demonstrates is gender equality.

Aspects like peace and freedom, along with the hope that we already mentioned, are just as important today as they were when Anne wrote about them.

Without a doubt, this spectacular book will continue to be a literary icon despite the passing of time. It will always show us a part of history that, while dark, is a period we can never forget about. At the same time, Anne’s youthful writing style is simple and easy for children her own age to understand. Therefore, children will always find it easy to lose themselves in her story and reflect upon it.