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Diary of Anne Frank, a la Shmoop. We diaries have it pretty rough. We get stolen

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by little brothers, slathered with stickers and hidden under the bed with all the reeking

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shoes and mutant dust bunnies. ...

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But Anne truly appreciated me from the minute I came into her life. I was her secret keeper,

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and her best friend.

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Anne wrote letters to me and named me Kitty, and treated me like an actual person, which

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was kind of cool. Except for the pigtails. Anne was a real smart cookie, even if she

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was a bit of a chatterbox. All the middle school guys wanted to be Anne's man, but it

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was dashing Harry Goldberg who finally swept her off her feet. He was an older man, too...16!

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Dating was tricky, as it always is when you belong to a persecuted ethnic group that isn't

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allowed to use public transportation and must be indoors by 8pm.

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Holland in 1942 wasn't the greatest place to be Jewish, but not everyone was jumping

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on the Hitler bandwagon.

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When the Germans summoned Anne's sister, Margot, her fatherÕs coworkers helped the family

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escape to a hiding place: the Secret Annex.

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The Annex was made up of a few rooms hidden inside Mr. FrankÕs old workplace. There was

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a slick moving bookcase and everything!

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The Franks and their girls gained some roommates when the Van Daans <Van Dons> showed up with

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their son, Peter. Ê

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Each family had a few rooms and access to bathrooms and a sink, but none of them could

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leave the building or raise their voices, for fear of discovery.

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Of course, with 7 people living in a cramped space, there were more than a few fights.

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Next to the angelic Margot and the quiet Peter, lively, sassy Anne seemed like a real problem

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child. So, my unlucky owner became everybodyÕs punching bag, which was totally unfair. É

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Homegirl had an attitude, to be sure, but she was hardly a juvenile delinquent. ItÕs

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hard to be good all the time when your daily activities consist of doing homework, listening

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to the radio, and peeling potatoes. Oh, and personal space? Forget about it.

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When a dentist named Albert Dussel <DOO-sull> joined them in the Annex, the family put him

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in AnneÕs room, giving Anne her own personal live-in critic.

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Yep, it was lonely being Anne, until she started seeing Peter Van Daan. Well, okay, she saw

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him every day, but all of a sudden, he seemed different. É

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They became fast friends, and then something more, and then went back to friends again.

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Which was probably a good thing, because a messy breakup would have gotten them captured

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for sure.

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The Annex crew was completely dependent on their helpers, Mr. Koophuis <COPE-house>,

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Mr. Kraler <Crawler>, and Elli <Ellie>, who risked their lives to keep the families safe

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and secretly bring them food.

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Burglars broke into the building again and again, and it was hard to get a decent nightÕs

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sleep with all the planes shooting at each other and dropping bombs.

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There was a bright side, thoughÉThe radio brought news that the tide might be turning

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against the Germans, and Anne dared to dream that she might be sitting in a regular classroom

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sometime soon!

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Anne didn't write anything in me after Tuesday, August 1, 1944. The Franks and Van Daans were

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sent to concentration camps, and my best friend died in Belsen, Germany.

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I still keep her secrets, and now I share them with the world.

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