Olivia Boser, NJ Winner Level I (Grade 6)

Letter to Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, authors of Anne Frank and Me

Dear Ms. Bennett and Mr. Gottesfeld,

My name is Olivia Boser. I am half Jewish and half Christian (but am being raised as a Jew, though I celebrate Christian holidays) and I truly loved (as in, can’t-put-it-down, read-it-over-and-over loved) Anne Frank and Me.

The book made me realize how much of a horror the Holocaust really was. I have read several other books on the Holocaust, heard about it in Social Studies, and am learning about it in Hebrew School. But none of this — not Number the Stars, not my textbook, not The Devil’s Arithmetic, not even the real diary of Anne Frank itself — told me what the Holocaust was really ABOUT. It wasn’t the burning, or Hitler’s Nazis, or even the millions of murders. It was about real people who were scared. It was about little girls like Liz-Bette, who couldn’t play outside. It was about teenagers like Nicole, who weren’t allowed to hang out with their friends in a café. It was about mothers and fathers who tried to keep their kids from getting scared, but had to learn that they couldn’t keep all the evil in the world away. They had friends, and boyfriends, and annoying parents, and bratty kids, and unwanted tag-a-longs, and talents, and faults, and everything that we do now. I could relate to Nicole and Liz-Bette because, in a lot of ways, they’re just like me.

It also made me think that, hey, if Nicole could change a person’s whole life just by writing diary entries and having her friend leave them around town, then we can all change the world. Everyone can make a difference, big or small. She did what she liked, writing. If we all did what we loved and shared it with others, maybe we could be changing someone’s life like Nicole did. Sometimes a person’s talent can really make me happy, like if I go see a movie with a good actress in it, or read a great book or magazine article. Life would be a whole lot better if everyone woke up in the morning and thought, What could I do with my talents to make someone else happier? like Nicole did after finding herself in Nazi-occupied France.

I really did love the book a lot. I read a book every two or three days, usually, and this is one of my favorites. Now I am obsessed with time-travel books! Thank you for writing such a great book.

Sincerely,
Olivia Boser