Starred review from June 25, 2018
The classic, original text of Frank’s diary is, as Folman writes in his adapter’s note, impossible to improve upon; instead, he and Polonsky (cocreators of the film Waltz with Bashir) focus on illuminating its humor, insight, and supporting cast in this spirited graphic adaptation, authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation. German Jews living in Holland, Anne and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annex” behind her father’s business in 1942. The sequential art allows readers to get a visual diagram of the apartment shared by Anne and seven other residents. Outside, every allied victory ironically makes the Franks’ lives harder, as Nazi occupiers clamp down on dissidents. Inside, Anne, drawn with large dark eyes, blooms like the hardiest, loveliest weed—a moody teenager whose wit, self-awareness, and rich fantasy life take center stage. In one dinner scene, Polonsky draws Anne’s mother as a sheep keening for “those poor people starving in the Eastern camps,” while her angelic, bespectacled sister, Margot, is an owl who insists, “I feel full just by looking at others.” The narrative devotes ample time to Anne’s romantic feelings and sexual questions. The adaptors of her story take her seriously, but not more seriously than she took herself. The beauty of Anne’s life and the untarnished power of her legacy—here further elevated by Folman and Polonsky—are heartening reminders of the horror of her fate.
July 15, 2018
An illustrated abridgement of the Nazi-era classic.Anne Frank (1929-1945) as graphic-history heroine? Adapter and composer Folman and illustrator Polonsky (Animation and Illustration/Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design) worked together on the Oscar-nominated, animated documentary Waltz with Bashir. According to Folman, they were approached by the Anne Frank Foundation about adapting the diary into both "an animated film for children" and a graphic novel that would introduce it to a new generation of readers. He then faced a "significant challenge"--to render the whole diary in graphic form might take a decade to complete and some 3,500 pages, while a more manageable "edit" could feature only 5 percent of the original text. Though he opted for the latter course, the abridgment retains the spirit of the whole as the perceptive and increasingly self-aware teenager navigates the usual tensions of adolescence--puberty, romance, family issues--within a nightmarish retreat from the Nazi atrocities intensifying outside their secret hideout. She feels guilty about any everyday cheerfulness she experiences in the face of so much death and destruction, and she succumbs to bouts of depression despite her typical resilience. "Even deep sleep brings no redemption," she writes. "The dreams still creep in." Those dreams bring out the best of the illustrations amid the depictions of the everyday confinement in which Anne, her family, and others are hiding. They were captured toward the end of the war, after the end of the diary, when the gas chambers were on the eve of being dismantled. Though she wasn't aware of her fate, Anne writes with much awareness of not only herself, but a potential readership, with the literary aspirations of someone who feels she has "one outstanding character trait...a great deal of self-knowledge. In everything I do, I can watch myself as if I were a stranger."A different format distills and renews Frank's achievement.
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Starred review from October 15, 2018
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* Adapting a remarkable primary source like Anne Frank's diary is no small feat. How do you summarize and visualize such a remarkable document of the Holocaust? As if that weren't challenge enough, how can you capture the inside of a young girl's head, her insecurities, dreams, and fears? This graphic novel adaptation takes many risks. The first of many, and its saving grace, is its loyalty to Anne's own voice. Often witty, ironic, even snarky, Anne's writing has an acerbic sense of humor. This adaptation is first and foremost a remembrance of that Anne who, despite living a life marred by tragedy, tried by indignities, always held true to herself. Light touches of historical context, woven in through diary entries, provide necessary background without coming across as overly didactic. The whimsical nature of Polonsky's illustrations, which play upon Anne's active imagination during her time in hiding, are unexpectedly moving; though we never lose sight of the gravitas of Anne's story, these forays into fantasy, which show Anne escaping from the harsh present into a future that will never come, serve to remind us of the truly human face of genocide. This is an exceptionally graceful homage to a story that deserves to be told for years to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
September 1, 2018
The diary of Annelies Marie Frank (1929-45) has been translated into more than 60 languages and is required reading for millions of students. Her musings on her burgeoning adolescence in hiding from the Nazis are at once immediately recognizable and absolutely tragic. This graphic adaptation, the first to be authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation, from Folman and Polonsky, who previously collaborated on the animated film Waltz with Bashir, stays true to the indomitable spirit of Frank's words while bringing fresh eyes to her circumscribed existence. Anne is drawn as cute and expressive (picture any smirking photograph of her on a book cover), while her housemates are seen through critical eyes, often as less than pleasant animals. Visions of her carefree past, bad (and very real) dreams of Nazi persecution, and hallucinatory moments staring down questionable foodstuffs emphasize the realities of both her interior and external world. VERDICT Evocatively crafted, this comic brings Frank's world to life for all ages but takes care to respect and prioritize the primacy of her story in her own words. [See Prepub Alert, 4/30/18; previewed in Jody Osicki's "Graphically Speaking," LJ 6/15/18.]--Emilia Packard, Austin, TX
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 15, 2017
The only graphic novelization of Frank's diary authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation, with art by award-winning Israeli children's book illustrator Polonsky, this work is billed as a way to introduce a new generation of young readers to this iconic story but will likely appeal to readers of all ages. Oscar-nominated Israeli director Folman is working on an animated Anne Frank feature to be released in 2019.
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from August 1, 2018
Gr 8 Up-Authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation, this volume beautifully brings to life the inhabitants of the Secret Annex. Although this account has not been adapted verbatim, owing to length, Folman and Polonsky effectively convey the material, and the visuals capture the heartbreak of families in prolonged hiding. Many illustrations are fanciful, evocative of Anne's intense daydreaming. At the heart of her diary is Anne herself: self-aware, gutsy, and unpretentious. Readers see her mature over the years. A particularly arresting passage portrays her internal struggle in the form of "two Annes": the everyday girl and the serene paragon she strives to be-a compelling theme that emerges throughout the work. Frank's diary has long been an important work for children and adults alike; this graphic adaptation adds even more meaning for newer generations' introduction to Holocaust literature. VERDICT A necessary addition for graphic novel collections.-Michael Marie Jacobs, Darlington School, GA
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.