Searching for Anne Frank

Provides a glimpse of life during World War II in both the Netherlands and the United States through the correspondence of Anne Frank and her Iowa pen pals. In the fall of 1939, ten-year-old Juanita Wagner of Danville, Iowa, picked a name from a list of pen pals provided by her teacher. She chose a girl her own age who lived in Amsterdam. The girl's name was Anne Frank. Through firsthand reports and interviews with Juanita's sister, Betty, friends of both Juanita and Anne Frank, as well as never-before-published photographs, Susan Goldman Rubin weaves the story of two girls -- one in America and one in the Netherlands -- against the backdrop of pending World War II, its brutal reality, and its aftermath. In alternating chapters, Goldman Rubin describes the lives of Juanita and Anne before the war begins, then continues to tell their stories, as well as those of their sisters, Betty and Margot, as the war progresses. Juanita, Betty, and their mother witness the war from afar, aware of its presence only through radio, film clips, rationing, and watching schoolmates and friends leave for armed service. In tragic contrast, Anne, Margot, and their parents go into hiding, are discovered, and are sent to concentration camps. Only Anne's father survives. Although the girls only had the opportunity to correspond briefly, their letters and contrasting experiences offer a poignant and timely look at lives during wartime. The existing correspondence between Anne and Margot Frank and their pen pals in Iowa is on permanent display at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California.