A Texas middle school teacher in the Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District has been fired over a book she assigned to her eighth graders. The name of the book may surprise you: it’s Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation. This version of the world’s most famous diary is official: it was actually commissioned by the Anne Frank Fonds, the foundation that holds the rights to the original diary and its publication.
Anne Frank was a Jewish girl living in Holland during World War II who was forced to go into hiding with her family and four other Jews to escape the Nazis. They successfully hid for two years, until they were betrayed and arrested in August 1944. All eight were sent to concentration camps, and only one survived: Otto Frank, Anne’s father. Anne’s diary was found in the family hiding place by a friend after the family’s arrest, and returned to her father after the war. Touched by his child’s writings, Otto Frank had them published, and the rest is history.
Middle School Teacher Fired Over Anne Frank’s Diary
So why would the real-life account of a teenage girl in hiding from the Nazis cause a teacher to get fired? When I heard about the teacher’s firing, I was perplexed, so I checked the book out from my local library. I read the entire thing in just an hour or two. What I found was a beautiful adaptation that stays true to Anne’s words with illustrations that bring her and her struggles to life. Also notable is the way it humanizes not only Anne but the seven other people she was in hiding with for two years. The illustrations and the shortened length make this adaptation an ideal way to communicate the importance of Anne Frank’s diary to younger readers.
So, what was the objection all about? The answer is: two specific passages in the book that were originally edited out by Anne’s father, Otto Frank. Whether the contents embarrassed him or whether he just wanted to protect his daughter’s privacy, we do not know.
The first short entry has Anne recounting a sleepover with a friend when she asked if they could show each other their breasts. She then says whenever she sees a female nude statue she is “in ecstasy.” To me, this just seems like a young girl going through puberty and being curious and excited about what her body will become. No big deal. But some parents object to Anne’s seeming attraction to another female.