Annexed by Sharon Dogar

Reviewed by Lori
Annexed
Title: Annexed

Author: Sharon Dogar

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 45764

Description: The incredible story of Anne Frank told through the eyes of Peter, the teenage boy who was locked in the Annex with her.

Rubric Rating:  Level 1 - Leave It

Why I Read It: I like reading literature based around the WWII time period.  I've read Anne Frank's diary and I've visited the annex so this title really appealed to me.


Lori's Notes:  I did not like this book.  I had such a hard time slogging through this novel.  I loved the concept - the story of being annexed with Anne Frank by Peter Van Pels but I hated that the author was attributing thoughts and feelings to a real person.  I felt that this denies who that person really was.  I would have liked the book a lot better if written by the table (many conversations and actions happen in the kitchen) or by the cat (it can follow characters room to room) and we can't ascribe any feelings/values to them.  I also found the language to be too introspective and poetic to have truly come from a 15-year-old boy.  The story does follow the same events as in Anne Frank's Diary.   Ideally, I should have read that book again before reading this one.  I found myself many times putting this book down in favour of something else and I really struggled to finish it.

Recommended Readers: Grade 9 and Up.  Anyone who is studying Anne Frank's diary might like this novel as a counterpoint.

Themes: WWII, Anne Frank, Annex, Coming-of-Age, Situations of War, Secrecy/Hiding, Value of Life, Holocaust, Fiction vs. Non-Fiction, Recount.

Cross-Genre Links: 
Movie: The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
TV Series: Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001)
Web Search: Peter Van Pels
Documentary: Anne Frank Remembered (1995)
Website: http://www.annefrank.org/en/

Post Reading Discussion Questions and Activities: 

  • Who is Annexed in this book?
  • How does the story change when written from a different perspective? Or does it change at all?
  • The author creates a fictional account of a non-fiction event (Peter Van Pels perspective of living in the secret annex with Anne Frank). How does creating a fictional story for a real person differ than creating a story for a fictitious person?  
  • Write a diary entry for any of the other characters or objects who were in the secret Annex with Anne.
  • Describe what it would have been like living in the Annex.  



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