A FRIEND CALLED ANNE: One Girl's Story of War, Peace, and a Unique Friendship with Anne Frank
by Jacqueline van Maarsen, retold for children by Carol Anne Lee
Viking
ISBN: 0670059587
Ages 8-12
176 pages

Teenager Anne Frank faithfully kept a diary while her family was in hiding from the Nazis during the Second World War. Their hiding place was eventually discovered, and Anne's family was immediately sent off to concentration camps. Sadly, Anne died of typhus in 1945 just a few weeks before the camps were liberated. Anne's father, the only family member to survive, believed that Anne's diary must be published to let future generations know what really happened. The famous diary is still widely read today; it gives us a realistic look at a very dark time in the history of mankind.

This book tells the story of another brave young girl: Jacqueline, Anne's best friend at the time the Frank family went into hiding. Jacqueline is mentioned in Anne's diary as "Jopie." Jacqueline's story is quite different from Anne's because Jacqueline has lived a long and full life. Her father was Jewish, so their family registered as Jews and lived under bleak conditions in occupied Amsterdam. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews and sending them off to work/concentration camps, Jacqueline's mother, who was not Jewish, risked everything to get documentation proving that Jacqueline and her sister were not Jewish. No doubt, Mrs. Van Maarsen saved her daughters' lives.

Jacqueline's family suffered many hardships during the war. To live in a country that is occupied by the enemy is to know hunger and constant fear. Some of Jacqueline's countrymen actually believed in the Nazi cause. Some felt the Nazis were wrong but were afraid to help the Jews. Still others, like the people who supplied Anne's family with food and necessary items while they were in hiding, risked their own lives. It was very difficult to know who could be trusted. Sometimes even family members and close friends were suspect. All people could really do was to hunker down and cope as best they could day by day, hoping that the horrors of war would be over soon.

After the war finally ended, Jacqueline was reunited with Anne's father, Otto, who had a surprise for her --- a letter of farewell Anne had written just before the family disappeared into hiding. All those years the letter had been safely hidden in the pages of Anne's diary!

Although Anne is still famous because of her diary, which has become something of a classic, Jacqueline was a shy person who preferred to remain unknown. For many years she avoided any publicity at all. Eventually she did write a book about her experiences. These days she gives talks about her friendship with the famous teenager Anne. In these talks she reminds people just how wrong discrimination really is.

   --- Reviewed by Carole Turner

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