When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary

In collaboration with the Anne Frank House, Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, for adults) presents a thoroughly researched fictionalized account of Anne Frank’s life. Starting in 1940 and leading up to the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1942, the author chronicles the years during which Anne lived happily with her family in Amsterdam. Following the Nazi Party’s takeover of Germany and her family’s subsequent move to the Netherlands, Anne’s biggest concerns involve her mother’s “disapproving when Anne talked too much or acted as if she knew the answers to most questions” and her own insecurities surrounding her older sister’s seeming perfection. But Anne is buoyed by her beloved grandmother and her father’s continual nurturing of her curiosity and creativity. Via lyrical and chatty third-person narration, Hoffman crafts a sympathetic three-dimensional rendering that showcases new facets of a figure whom readers may only know one side of. Depictions of historical events such as Germany’s defeat of the Netherlands heighten the novel’s tense atmosphere. Though the conclusion is inescapable, the moments of joy Anne and her family experience throughout serve to emphasize Anne’s belief that writing “could make people understand you.” Ages 8–12. (Sept.)