The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank (Discussion Director)

For this literature circles meeting my group, Nina, Claire, Arabella, and I have read 180 pages of the possible 283 from The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank.

Question 1:
Why do you think Anne Frank's first wish, when they were first allowed outside again, was for them, the Frank family, to have a house of their own and to have someone to help with her work - or in other words as she mentioned on page 90 paragraph 1 with school?

Answer 1:
I think she just wanted her life to be back to normal. Which after an extensive time in the annex is understandable.

Question 2:
Why do you think Anne held her "escape bag" whilst the shooting was happening, on page 91 paragraph 5?

Answer 2:
I feel as though she held on to her "escape bag " during the shooting, even though she knew there was no chance of an escape, for reassurance. Or perhaps to hold onto something other than the idea of escaping, for there was nowhere to go.

Question 3:
Mrs. Vaan Dan is referred to as the biggest coward of all during an air raid, for she stated "A terrible end is better than no end at all", do you agree with Anne for stating so? Why or why not?

Answer 3:
I personally do not, people have the right to fear, some although choose not to show it, even though fear is something not as terrible as we make it out to be most of the time. After all, everyone is ought to be afraid of something.

Question 4:
On page 130, Anne admits that she doesn't discuss some issues she is facing with those around her, but fells the need to write about them instead. Would you agree that this is a better way to work things out with yourself, personally, as well as get the chance to really think about somethings. Why or why not?

Answer 4:
I would have to agree, because when you write things down you can really think about them and if after you've written about something and still feel really strongly about it you can confront someone else with your resolved feelings instead of unresolved ones.

Question 5:
On page 144 of the book Anne mulled over the fact that Kitty, her diary, might have feelings as that of a cow constantly chewing over old pieces of news, and wishing that Anne would occasionally dig up something new. After which she told Kitty that even she, herself, knows its dull that kitty should put herself in Anne's shoes. Do you agree with Anne that before judging someone, and their constant bringing up of old news, you should put yourself in their shoes? Why or why not?

Answer 5:
I agree, for example one may think that someone has no reason for acting a certain way, but that is often not true. Sometimes we become to engulfed in our own emotions, that we forget to think about those of others. After which we tend to judge them harshly, on only their action instead of taking in account their intentions as well, which we do for ourselves.

In this blog post I was not able to contribute the opinions of the rest of my group, because we did not get the chance to meet due to the going away of so many people for MUN and Knowledge Bowl and so many other things.

The Diary of a Young Girl-Anne Frank(Connector)

Ana, Nina, Arabela, and I are reading The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. We've read 180 out of 268 pages, and we are planning to read til the end til the next literature circle. Only Arabela and I attended to school today in our group, so Arabela decided to be the Travel Tracer, and I chose to be the Connector.

There were a several times I was reminded of myself during reading the book, but the first was when Anne explains how desperately she wants to go back to school again. I can feel empathy with her at this passage because I also have similar experiences. Everyone knows or at least I know that a school break starts with excitement and ends with longing to go back to school again. I always miss my friends in school.

The second was when Anne has a crush on Peter and flirts with him but is not sure if he really likes her. Almost always, I have a crush on somebody and I believe that is extremely normal. When I have a crush, I can't stop looking at him or thinking of him. And when we start talking and getting to know each other more and more, I have the strong desire to say I love you. I might be weird, but that's what I think. Sometimes he seems to also like me, but I try to think that he doesn't, because I may have just been misunderstanding and I've seen several other girls being closer to him. I can empathize with Anne.

The last one was when Anne starts to feel disconnected from "the Anne of last year". She says that she used to be a completely different person, and the Anne of last year seems like a childish baby when she examines her old self with the perspective of herself now. I also felt that way when I look back into last year. I look at my pictures and realize how much I've grown up, physically and mentally. But I still think I am very young since I'm not even 15 years old yet, and I'm in the early teens.

Milkweed2

Travel Tracer
Milkweed
Jerry Spinelli

This time we were supposed to read from the 15th till the 30th chapter. This fragment of the book begun somewhere in Warsaw, I'm guessing near the Ghetto, since Misha witnessed the Jews moving into it. He also noticed Janina, her family, Dr.Korczak and the orphans entering the building. After a while he visits his friend, Janina in the Ghetto.

Next, he get's caught with his friends in the stable. They're told to go to the Ghetto, where he introduces Janina to his colleagues.

The next day, he decides to sneak out. While walking through the streets, notices a few dead bodies.

After some time, winter comes. He was hanging out with his companions in the Ghetto. He discovers a hole in the wall and chose to sneak out with the others. They arrive at the Milgroms' home, where they unfortunately get captured.

During spring, Misha stayes at a parade in Warsaw, where he chases Himmel's car.

He sneakes out a lot to steal food for his family and friends. In summer, he sneaks out, but this time with Janina. He visits his friends close to the butcher shop, where he's been before.

Next, he creeps into some family's kitchen and almost gets caught. Another time, he tries getting to Janina's place, but the Jackboots shoot his ear off.

Janina and Misha take a stroll around Warsaw. They go on a sort of playground and visit a cementary.

Discussion Director

Hello everyone, today I'm going to be a Discussion Director. This time we had to read from chapter 15 to chapter 30. These are the questions that I thought of while reading: 

1. What was going through your mind when you read the part of the book where the Jews and Gypsies were moving to the ghetto? Do you agree with the Nazi's choice or not?
- Ewa: No I do not agree with their decision. because a) just because a person is different religion/culture doesn't mean they have to live in worse conditions than yo and b) the war shouldn't have even started in the first place. The thoughts that were going through my head were all mixed up. I felt sorry for the Jews and gypsies and found it horrible that the Nazi's are forcing them to live this way. 
- Jana: My thoughts were very similar to Ewa's. I felt bad and wish I could change the way they were treated. I do not by any circumstance agree with the Nazi's way of life. 

2. What are your thoughts on their way of describing the angel?
- Ashley: I think they are very naive and try hard to understand what they've never learned about and I think Janina needs someone to blame for all the unhappiness because she's little and can't understand why the angel hasn't really done anything to help her and her family and that's what upsets her. 

3. Why do you think Misha was so reluctant to have Janina follow along? Why was Janina insisting that she goes with him?
-Ashley: Misha was like Janina's older brother and he wanted to protect her. Her father even ordered that Janina stays in the closet they were staying at and doesn't follow Misha into danger. Janina found it entertaining to stay by Misha's side and go on these "secret missions" since she was the only one besides Misha who could fit through the gap in the wall. 

4. What event from the part we were supposed to read did you find most entertaining?
-Jana: I most definitely found the part were they were discussing angels most entertaining because it seemed so foreign to them and they were curious about it. Misha even tried his best to explain to Janina that an angel never dies.  

Illustrator - Ashley

We were supposed to read up to chapter 30 this week. I'm afraid we all finished the book two weeks ago.

I will update and scan my drawing later.

After being forced into the Ghetto and joining Janina's family, Misha started stealing food for his family. Being as small as he was, Misha could fit in a small space in between the walls. One night, Janina followed him! In trying to persuade him to let her come steal with him, Janina reminded Misha that he was her older brother. Of course, that made him even more reluctant. He pushed her and ran to a Nazi soldier hotel. While pretending he didn't see her, Misha stuffed a peach into his mouth. In not being let to join the food, Janina screamed. This image is of Misha and Janina hiding behind the fruit jars when someone opened the door to see if someone was there.

Most of my group mates knew my image, although Ewa asked at first if it was a jail cell.

Gwendy - Milkweed Literary Luminary

We have read 138 pages of Milkweed, our literary circles book. I have chosen five paragraphs or phrases that I found interesting in the last 15 chapters of the book.

1. 'They were Jews. I knew by the armbands they wore. Every Jew had to wear a white armband with a blue star. This was a big help in telling who was a Jew...'

I found this quote on Page 69, Paragraph 2. I found it very depressing that the Jews have to even wear armbands displaying their 'inferior' place in society and that just by looking at them you judge them without even knowing their personality. It's like nowadays how we tend to judge people based on their looks but at a much more terrifying scale. (They're identity is judged on first looks.)

2. 'Why don't you wear your armband?'
    'Why don't you?'
    'I'm not a Jew.'
    'Well I'm just a little girl. Who cares about a little girl? Besides, we live in the ghetto now. We're safe.

I found this quote on page 82, paragraph 4. I found it really sad and terrible because Janina thinks that the ghetto ( a place where all Jewish people in her community were forced to move to, so basically a prison ) is a safe and comfortable place for her and her family. Whereas, little does she know, the main aim of the Nazis is to imprison the Jewish in the ghetto and torture them.

3. 'What do oranges taste like?'
    'Like nothing else.'
    'What do they look like?'
    'Like  a little sun before it sets.'

I found this quote on page 88, paragraph 2. I find that it really portrays how little the boys have been able to experience and how unfortunate they are that they find oranges a luxury and even something surreal. This shows how rough their pasts have been, even though they are still very young.

4. She had become skinny and gray. She no longer worked at the uniform factory. She tilted to one side. Her hair was like a mop. She looked like rag dolls I'd seen Dr. Korczak's orphan girls carry. She coughed, and the force of the cough toppled her over.

I found this quote on page 107, paragraph 2. I thought it was a really good passage that describes the affect of the Nazis and their terrible treatment towards Jews. The woman in the context is Janina's mother and has obviously been terribly changed due to the happenings. (Something that points this out is how it mentions that she no longer worked at the uniform factory and therefore something stopped her; in this case the antisemitism surrounding her.)

5. 'Flops' were all over the place. The Jackboots hired them to guard the Jews in the ghetto. The crazy thing is, the Flops were Jews too. Jews guarding Jews? It made no sense to me.

I chose this quote (page 102, paragraph 4) because I found it extremely strange that the guards the Nazis chose to guard the Jews in the ghetto were actually Jews themselves. Whether this was because they had bribed them, because they were higher up in some ranking or because they wanted to see their own race suffer, I am unsure.

Overall, I am still really enjoying this book and gaining a lot of knowledge on the second world war. It's especially interesting to read the book from a naive boy's perspective at this time.

Summarizer (Ana) - Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

For this first literature circles meeting my group, Nina, Claire, Arabella, and I have read the first 90 pages of The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank.

June 12^th 1942, the day of Anne Frank’s thirteenth birthday, she had a journal waiting for her along with other gifts. Although, she found this one particularly special because it would give her someone to confide in, be to her the friend she never had. At first her journal would have looked like the one of an ordinary girl, even though after just a month everything in her life had changed. Jews were forced to a life in fear of that that wasn’t permitted by Hitler and his anti-Jewish laws. Jew bore badges in the shapes of yellow stars on the fronts of their coats, were obligated to be inside by eight o’clock, were not permitted: to go to places of entertainment, use trams, visit Christians, go to shops during hours other than those between three and five o’clock (and still could not go to any shop that did not have the place card reading “Jewish shop.”), or participate in public sports. Furthermore, as a result of Hitler’s anti-Jewish laws Anne’s family was forced into hiding in a secret annexe, along with the Van Daan family.  The two families were safe by comparison. Their miseries lied in boredom, hunger, and the stories they would hear of the outside. As a distraction Anne engages herself in the teachings of French and math. Soon enough the Franks and Van Daan’s are dismayed when a carpenter comes to fill the fire extinguishers and as a result knocks on the door and shoves it. A doctor by the name of Albert Dussel, who Anne finds “a stodgy old-fashioned disciplinarian” joins the Frank’s and Van Daan’s in the secret annexe. As their lives in the annexe continues, so does the bombing, but Anne cannot bear the loud noises that come with them.

Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl (Summarizer _Nina)

Hi everyone. This is my first blog post since we started The Literature Circles. My group consists of Ana Marija, Claire, Arabela and myself.  We are reading two books; “Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl” and Milkweed. Furthermore, the first novel we have chosen to start reading is in fact Anne Frank. Discovered in the attic where Anne spent the last years of her life, her remarkable diary has since become a world classic reminding us of the horrors of the war.  I will be summarizing the main events that have occurred during the 90 pages read.

In 1942, a thirteen-year-old Anne receives a diary as her birthday present. There she hopes to be able to reveal everything to it, since she feels that she has never truly been able to confide in anyone.  In order to enhance the friend for whom she has waited so long, and to prevent herself from writing bold facts she names the diary Kitty. Furthermore, she describes several of her friends and her everyday life until everything changes when the Nazis start occupying Holland. Afterwards, the Jews are as Anne describes it “strictly limited”. They are ordered to wear a yellow star to distinguish them from others; they needed to hand in their bicycle, couldn’t ride trams and learn to drive and amongst other things must strictly go to Jewish schools.  Quickly enough, the Frank family flee their home in Amsterdam to go into hiding known as the “Secret Annex” as they fear for their lives.  Nonetheless, the Franks share their hiding with one more family known as the Van Daan’s. During the period spent in hiding, the two families also experience hunger, boredom, and miseries that they would hear from the outside. In order to keep herself from thinking about this, Anne tries to engage herself in learning French and math.  Furthermore, after a close revelation of their hideout, The Franks and Van Dann’s are joined by Albert Dussel,  a doctor who Anne finds  “a stodgy old-fashioned disciplinarian.” Lastly, during this time there are bombs flying around everywhere and Anne simply cannot get used to this.

(Summerizer)The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

   In the literature circle, Ana, Nina, Arabela, and I are reading The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. We have read til page 90, and we are going to read the next 90 pages until April 23rd.
   On her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank's parents gives her a diary. She is excited to have a friend to confide all of her secret thoughts, since she felt isolated and misunderstood sometimes. She writes about her crush, her schoolwork, and her friends, just as an ordinary girl does. But within a month, everything changes. Hitler starts to conquer Holland brought anti-Jewish measures there. Jews are forced to wear yellow stars for identification, and are forced to only go to Jewish services, as Anne states, "Our freedom was strictly limited".
Anne's family decides to hide somewhere safer, and enters the "Secret Annexe" with Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan as companions. They feal very safe compared to others, and hears some miseries such as Jewish friends being hauled away by the dozens. Anne tries to distract herself from all the sorrows by studying French and math, but that method barely workd.
One day, a carpenter comes to fill the fire extinguishers, and hammers on the Secret Annexe. The members go white when the carpenter knocks the door and start pushing it, but then hear Mr. Koophius' voice, who is one of their protectors.
Albert Dussel, a doctor, joins the Secret Annexe members and starts living together. Everyone thought he was a nice person, but Anne finds him "a stodgy old-fashioned disciplinarian".
The bombing goes on, and it seems to Anne that she will never get used to the loud noises.