Annexed

Gr 7 Up—Based on Anne Frank's diary, Sharon Dogar's compelling story (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) is told from the viewpoint of Peter Van Pels, the 15-year-old boy whose family joined the Franks in hiding in an annex in Amsterdam during World War II. The close quarters and rationed food shared by eight people makes life difficult. At the outset, Anne drives Peter crazy with her energy and enthusiasm, but as the story progresses an adolescent attraction takes hold. The two spend a great deal of time together in the attic of the annex and confide in each other their thoughts on the ethnic cleansing of the Jews and what will ultimately become of them. Once the families are betrayed, the story continues beyond where Anne was forced to abandon it. We follow Peter to the concentration camps where he is separated from the Frank women and his own mother and experience life there through Peter's eyes until he, too, becomes a victim of the Nazis. The main narrator pulls listeners in with an urgent and whispery tone that highlights the danger faced by Peter and his family. The full-cast narration is pitch perfect and brings us a vivid sense of each character as an individual, in stark contrast to their lack of individualism in the hands of the Nazis. The narration is one of the best uses of a full cast since Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. Every library should have this audiobook as an example of excellence in narration and because this story of prejudice and hate can never be repeated too often.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA