Remembering Anne

“Even when there is evil in the world, even when it is impossible to have hope, it is still possible to be brave and to have dreams.” – When We Flew Away

One of the strongest voices from history is the young teenager, Anne Frank. Anne lived during one of history’s darkest times and recorded a few years of her life during the second world war in a journal which she dubbed Kitty.

This young girl was only thirteen at the beginning of her diary. She experienced so much cruelty and hate at such a young age but is remembered through her writing for her hopeful and inspirational heart.

In modern days, it’s natural to take so much for granted. Humans naturally take what we have for granted and we don’t realize how much we actually have until we lose it. Looking at Anne Frank, she knew how much she had. She was always aware of the danger of losing it. But she never stopped hoping.

When We Flew Away is a novel by bestselling author Alice Hoffman which reimagines the life of Anne Frank before her diary. What could Anne have been like as a young child? What were Anne’s relationships with her friends and family? These are both questions among others that the author imaginatively answered using research and examining Anne in the famous diary.

In the book, before the war started Anne was just like any teenage girl. She had hopes and dreams, thoughts and insecurities, questions without answers, and so much more. Soon after the war began, everything seemed to crumble. Her family’s thoughts turned to survival. The future became a question. They were no longer sure if they still had a future ahead of them, and if they did, what was in store for them?

The book ends shortly after the Frank family goes into hiding.

From here, we know that they ended up in concentration camps. Anne, her mother, and her sister did not survive. Anne tragically died of typhus shortly after her sister. Only her father lived to see the end of the war, and he made the decision that greatly impacted the world to publish Anne’s diary.

Decades after Anne was lost to the cruelties of war, her words still clearly ring out , just as powerful as ever.

I love this book. I previously read Anne’s diary and found it inspirational and heartbreaking at the same time. Alice Hoffman did a beautiful job at recreating the parts of Anne’s life that still remain a mystery to us. It’s written in a way that middle schoolers could easily read it, but readers way beyond that would enjoy it as well.

Content warning:

War, violence.