Ernie Colon

Sid Jacobson

Draws on the archives of the Anne Frank house to relate her life in graphic novel format.

The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography

Anne Frank

Ernie Colón

Drawing on the archives and expertise of the Anne Frank House, the best-selling authors of 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation cover the short-but-inspiring life of the famed Jewish teen memoirist, from the lives of her parents to Anne's years keeping her private diary while hidden from the Nazis to her untimely death in a concentration camp. Simultaneous.

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

For more #DutchKidLit reviews and books in translation suggestions for children and Young Adults, see all my posts as Guest Editor at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative during #WorldKidLitMonth September 2021!

The first graphic novel treatment of Frank’s life to be approved by the Anne Frank House, Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography, was created through a partnership between the Anne Frank House and the creative team of Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón who had earlier adapted and illustrated the best-selling The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation in the United States. Frank’s graphic biography was first published in Dutch and from the outset planned to be made available at the Anne Frank House in five languages: in the Netherlands by Uitgeverij L, in Great-Britain, Australia, and then the US, Canada and several English-language countries by Macmillan/ Hill and Wang (view the Teacher’s Guide here), in Germany by Carlsen Verlag translated by Kai Wilksen, in France by Les Editions Belin translated by Paul Simon Bouffartigue, in Italy by Rizzoli/Lizard and in Spain by Norma (I have included translator names when I could locate them). The graphic biography was written with key texts and illustrated with direct connections to photographs held by the Anne Frank House collection. The Anne Frank Foundation director at the time, Hans Westra, described the process of creating this work: “Sid Jacobson wrote the story, working closely with the Anne Frank Foundation. We handed over all the information we had about the two years in hiding, the family and Anne herself to the writer. Then, Ernie Colón did the illustrations, largely based on historical photographs in our possession.”

As a result of the careful reading and consideration of primary source texts and images, the biography comes alive depicting a thorough chronology of Anne’s life including selected historical events that impacted her family and their survival, as well as the return of her father Otto, who was the only Annex survivor, and the subsequent decision to find a publisher for Anne’s diary, ultimately leading to the creation of the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam.

There is also an animated book trailer for the biography, perfect for sharing with students in library or classroom lessons: Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography book trailer

This biography is highly recommended for readers ages 14 and up who have more context about the Holocaust and the plight of Jews during the Second World War, as well as sharing a growing awareness of the struggles of adolescence that every new teenager has at some point in their lives. It is important for readers, parents, teachers, and librarians to understand that just because Frank’s biography is in comics format, it is not a simplified story in terms of themes and contexts. It remains a deeply moving and sophisticated life story, and this is nonfiction graphic narrative storytelling at its best, with a more traditional line and palette to the artwork, evoking a 1940s feel, and realistic pacing and panels. It shares important insights into Anne’s frustrations with adults and her anxieties about the war, her relationship with her mother in particular, a pressure-cooker situation heightened almost to the breaking point by claustrophobic proximity not only to Anne’s father, mother, and older sister Margo, whose seeming perfection grates on Anne, but also the Van Pels family, whose constant interference in Anne’s life, complicated by Anne’s close relationship with their son Peter, added a further level of stress to a terrifying situation.

Anne Frank The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography

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