From the Bookshelf of Baltimore County Public Library Summer Reading BCPL SRC …

[close] I really enjoyed hearing the other side of the story in this book. I had read Anne Frank's Diary a long time ago, but it was interesting to read about one of the women who helped Anne's family while they were in hiding and what it was like for her "on the other side of the bookcase". It was just as stressful for Anne's helpers trying to find food for the families in hiding and trying to keep their secret from the outside world as it was for the Frank family secluded in the Annex. Meip worried about her friends, but also got a taste of how isolating and scary it was to stay in hiding for so long when she and her husband stayed overnight with the Franks one weekend. This book tells more about what was happening in Holland during the War and the difficulties the Dutch faced trying to survive during the war years. It shows how angry the Dutch were with the Germans for taking away their freedom at large, as well as that of their Jewish population. Up until the War the Dutch had always had a reputation for tolerance (and still do), but during this time period, the Germans tried to crush this spirit and take all Dutch people's sense of freedom away. This book does an important job of showing how Hitler's policies affected everyone, not just the Jews.