Blog Post 14 – Jacobson and Colón’s Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House authorized graphic biography

            I read Archie comic books when I was a kid.  I enjoyed them, but that was fiction.  And they were about silly topics.  Jacobson and Colón’s graphic novel, however, brought Anne Frank’s non-fiction life alive for me. 

This graphic novel offered a pleasant blending of historical data with possible sidenotes about Anne Frank and her friends and family.  For example, on the morning of May 10, 1940, Anne is depicted to be awakened by noises outside their apartment in Amsterdam.  This event occurred when Anne was nearly 11 years old, therefore, more than two years before she began keeping her diary.  Her parents stand at the window, and her father told her the noise was from attacking German planes.  The caption for the next frame stated that on that day, the “German forces invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg” (p. 49).  Even though Anne did not write in her diary during this time, it is completely plausible that a child would wander out of bed, asking parents about noises.  This scene helped me remember that non-fiction events happened to real people.

I think reading graphic novels is similar to listening to audible books.  There was a time that I didn’t consider listening to audible books as “real” reading.  I probably felt the same way about graphic novels—if I’d encountered any.  I have, however, changed my tune.  I now think that audible books promote a different set of skills that reading words with one’s own eyes cannot.  Being able to listen well and to attend to the speaker are tremendously valuable skills which are used by all hearing-able people.  Graphic novels also teach additional skills, more than simply reading words on the page.  They also promote “visual literacy,” a necessary skill in today’s world of traversing websites, working with collaborative media, and playing video games (Scholastic, 2018, para. 15).

According to Jacobson and Colón, after publishing Anne’s diary, Otto Frank received many letters from young fans.  He replied back to them, often closing with “I hope Anne’s book will have an effect on the rest of your life . . . . [and] you will work for unity and peace” (p. 139).  Both Anne’s diary and this graphic novel have for me.

References

Jacobson, S., & Colón, E. (2010). Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House authorized graphic biography. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.

Scholastic. (2018). A guide to using graphic novels with children and teens. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/guide-using-graphic-novels-children-and-teens/