***SOME MILD SPOILERS BELOW***I'm not quite sure what to think of this book. There are things I loved about it, but also some things I didn't love.The one thing that really bothered me is that when Nicole arrived in Paris (I don't want to say time travelling, because she didn't necessarily time travel. More like she ... lived a second life?) at first she remembered her life in America and her family, etc. but after a few pages, she just didn't. I don't know if this was then to immerse the reader into the life of Nicole Burnhardt (French Nicole) rather than the life of Nicole Burns, (American Nicole) but I mostly found it confusing and found myself constantly asking why didn't she remember Nicole Burns? Why did she not care about her life back in America? Did she actually forget about her American life? I feel like if Nicole Burnhardt never remembered Nicole Burns it would have been a greater impact then when we came back into America and the story of Nicole Burns. (Another thing I liked, as morbid as it sounds, is the fact that Nicole Burnhardt and her sister went to the gas chambers. I've read a lot of stories about Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and of people who died in them, but not many stories of people who immediately died in the gas chambers. I think it's important to show stories of those people as well.)Ultimately, I feel like the fact that Nicole Burnhardt and "Girl X" ended up to be real was kind of silly, and didn't necessarily add anything to the plot. However, I do like how it ended. That Nicole Burns started as a teenage girl with her own teenage girl problems, but didn't care about things like Anne Frank and the Holocaust, and didn't believe that these parts of History were important today. But by the end Nicole Burns was a teenage girl with her own teenage girl problems, but recognized the fact that the Holocaust was something that, no matter how horrible and uncomfortable it may be, is something that needs to be talked about. That stories, like Anne Frank's, are stories that need to be told. Never before as the phrase, "Lest we forget" been more applicable. We cannot forget - we should not forget. On to some good things about the book - after Nicole Burns is back in America, she goes to talk to her teacher (who was her mother in Paris) about how Nicole Burnhardt was real, and how she was in the Holocaust. Her teacher then opens up a book - a real book, mind you French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial - and shows Nicole many children like her, one with her name, one with a little sister like her. I found this message the most important one in the book, that all the people who suffered in the Holocaust, Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, etc. were human, just like us. And, in another life, it could have been us.Though the book talks about Anne Frank throughout, we only have two very brief scenes with the "actual" Anne Frank in the book. Nicole Burnhardt ends up being on the same transport to Auschwitz as Anne, and therefore arrives the same time as Anne. Though Anne goes one way while Nicole goes the other. I thought they narrated Anne fairly well. The only thing I didn't like about Nicole and Anne's diologue is that suddenly Nicole Burnhardt remembers who Anne Frank is. (Again, this made me question things like, why does Nicole not remember her American life? Does she remember?)Overall I thought this book was an important book to read, it can allow someone to learn about the Holocaust and the importance of knowing its history, without throwing a text book in their faces. It can allow them to realize that this could have happened to them, though in a different life.
Anne Frank And Me is about a young girl named Nicole Burns, she lives in the year 2001 and is in the tenth grade and is starting to learn about Anne Frank and the holocaust. Her whole class and her are going to go on a field trip to the Anne Frank in the World Exhibit. Once they are there they get fake identities that they will be for the day. They are suppose to act like they are in the 1940’s during the Holocaust.When they are there a man starts to shoot the museum. Nicole is with her best friend Mimi and they both get hurt when Nicole wakes up she is in the 1940’s and she is Jewish, she is very confused and it turns out that her parents are her english teacher and her principal but they have no idea watch she is talking about. Her parents tell her that she was dancing on the stairs and got a concussion Nicole is trying to tell them that she is an American from the future but they just laughed and said that she was Jewish and she lived in France. Nicole quickly realizes that she is Nicole Bernhardt, her fake identity. After a few months have passed Nicole says that her 2001 life was just a dream and that she really is Nicole Bernhardt. One day the Bernhardt family is betrayed and Nicole gets transported to Auschwitz. While she on the train she comes face to face with Anne Franks. Nicole tells her she is from the future and that she is learning about Anne Frank. She tells Anne that her father is going to publish her diary named Kitty. But Anne tells Nicole that her diary got left behind.
What do You think about Anne Frank And Me (2002)?
This book was a clever and thought-provoking story. When I first picked up the book. I thought it was going to be super cheesy book about a time machine but it wasn't at all! By the end of the book I was shocked and curious about the holocaust and I wanted to know more. Towards the end of the story of Nicole in Germany, I was stunned and very shocked. I really connected with the book even though I wash't alive during the holocaust, it felt like somehow I was in the book with Nicole going through what she was at the same time. This book truly takes you through a journey of unexpected turns, disappointments, and wonder.
—Camri
Anne Frank and me is a fantasy woven into historical fiction. It is based on the premise that through a strange turn of events, a modern bloggosphere girl gets transported back in time to Vichy, France under the Nazis. In her time traveling journey, she not only meets Anne Frank but also realizes the superficiality of her own life.Although, some of the circumstances of the fantasy element of the story are a bit far-fetched, the historical details and prejudicial attitudes of the period that are portrayed in the book are compelling. This book could be especially meaningful for teens along with a study of the Diary of Anne Frank and other historical works about the Holocaust. The war-time violence that went along with the Holocaust is handled with care and mature teens should be able to deal with it. There is also some sensuality but it is in the context of teens forced to grow up too fast because of war-time pressures.
—Joseph Law
As someone who loves History, this was a GREAT book. There was obviously much research conducted prior to writing. Nicole travels back in time to occupied France in the 1940s. Instead of having the amenities she is accustomed to in the 21st Century, she now has the life of a 15 year old French Jewish girl...trying to survive the Nazi rules. The moral of this story is something terrible like the Holocaust could happen to anyone. It did not matter what someone's nationality or even religion was because anyone could end up dead. If they were Jewish they could be sent to concentration camps, if they weren't Jewish but hiding and helping Jewish people they could be killed or sent to camps. The lesson Nicole learns in the end is we take life for granted. An annoying little sister might not be so annoying if she was the only family you had left. School is not bad it's actually great Nicole is able to attend and go out in public because Jewish people were forbidden during from these every day activities in her travel back in time. It's the little things we all take for granted.
—Elaine
