The Diary of a Young Girl question

I read Anne Frank when I was 9. My father did not believe in censorship. He believed as long as I was reading it did not matter what I was reading. Because of this my reading level was always high despite the fact I was battling dyslexia. If you are worried about the content keep an open dialog with your child.

I read this book when I was 8 years old (in 3rd Grade)
I found it quite OK. It did not spark my interest though. But, when I read it in Grade 5 (when I was 10), I was like WOW, this is a true epic of a innocent girl!

I didn't read this book until I was about 18 and on my way to visit Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House. However, I imagine it would probably have the most effects if the girl reading the book was the same age Anne Frank was at the time she wrote it.

I was 10 when i read it, i loved it

I read the book for the first time when I was maybe 9, even though I knew it was a biography, in a sense, I had a weird moment when I actually realized that these were the writings of an actual person.

I read this book in 6 or 7 grade.
But recently I have watched the movie and I want to re-read this book for couple of years.

I can't remember when I read it, maybe when I was about 12(ish) or maybe a bit older. I had seen the old movie from 1959 so I borrowed the book next.

I of course already knew the history behind it so it didn't have that strong an effect to me. I think I had also already read Uncle Tom's Cabin and was well aware of Stalin's executions and forced labour camps (where people of my ethnicity died by the tens of thousands) so in a way it was just another part of history to me.

I read it in 7th grade, and I feel that was the right time
(emotionally) for me.

my son is 11, and in yr 6 at school, he has just read this as part of their war topic.

I was about 7 years old. I was a very advanced kid. It was a great lesson for kids these days.

Read this book in 4th grade and gosh, thank goodness I didn't finish it. I reread it in 7th grade for school, and gosh am I glad I didn't read the whole book when I was 9. Kind of surprised that this book was school required, considering there's some content that I think is a little "inappropriate" for kids. I mean, Anne does talk about sex quite a bit. And a lot of it disturbed me. So, I don't know, maybe its just me, but I don't think kids should read this til' at LEAST 7th or 8th grade.

I read it when I was in 9th grade. When I was looking for a nice book in library, I came across Anne Frank' Diary. The name sounded so familiar. I declined the book first because of it's size and the preview that mentioned about World War 2. I thought it would be war - is and something, but I ended up borrowing it. It was worth it, though.

I was young and my daughter was in 5th grade when asked to read it.

I knew that book since I was maybe 9, but I read it when I was 16.
I think you can understand why this book is important when you're older and when you had a few history courses haha :)

I think I read it for a school summer reading assignment the summer before 9th grade. Looking back, I wish I had read it earlier on my own. :3

I think i read it at 14 or 15, and it was a revelation to me.

I read it again at 33 and still i think that she was quite beyond her years,

My class didn't study it (I think we should have ...) but I read it when I was in grade 8. I tried to read it when I was younger (when I was just getting into chapter books) but it didn't intrigue me than. Read this book when you will have an appreciation for it.

I don't remember when I read it but it was for school. I think I was 12 or 13? After I read it I was very interested in the Holocaust, I mean I knew about it, we all heard about it but this was real and I stated reading a lot of book regarding it, and learning from it. I also was into "diary-like" book, so I read the Journal of Zlata (I am translating the title) and so on. Very interesting to see the perspective of those that are in the war, in chaos themselves.

My daughter is 11 and she just read it. She loved the book! She is very mature for her age....

Some time in Primary School

I used the script version of this (the play) to teach about Anne Frank and the Holocaust. Students were initially very interested, and I think they were somewhat tantalized by the notion of reading another kid's diary, even if it was from a long time ago. Here's the other thing that was interesting to me: they were shocked by the ending. I had high poverty teenagers whose parents told them which gang they were supposed to get jumped into as a matter of family pride. They had seen blood run in the streets. Yet to find out that in this story, there was no happy ending and the grown-ups were ultimately unable to protect the kids was deeply disturbing to them. Some of them took awhile before they believed this was true.

Read it in my early 40s... Never had the opportunity to read it in school...

I read it at 16. But then, I'm a French man. Nobody told us to read it at school. And it was considered more a girl's book than a boy's, which is wrong. This is good for anybody.

I read this book in 4th grade alone, and in 6th grade, I read it in a classroom. For me, it wasn't very challenging the first time I read the book.

Sixth or seventh grade in Catholic school

I was really young. 3 rd grade maybe. I was reading some pretty heavy stuff...

I got it for Christmas when I was in 4th grade, and I read it then. My Dad was a WWII vet who helped with the liberation of Dachau and also served as an MP at the Nuremburg trials, so he felt it was important.

I came across it in the school library when I was about 12. When I moved to Europe I realised we had been given a censored version, about 30% shorter than the full diary, that cut out all her wonderings about sex and some of the scarier stuff. I still read it every few years, to remind myself that my life may be less than perfect, but I can look out the window or go outdoors whenever I want to!

I read it when I was 13 and taking a 9th grade English course

I read this in middle school, I would say 8th grade. It had a huge impact on me.

I read this book in 4th grade and probably didn't understand some of the material and sayings. i have a high reading level though. It is good to talk to someone about the sadness of the content in the book so you don't get too depressed. I think late middle school (like 8th grade) or early high school is a good age because by then you know what the holocaust is and such. You would also be able to understand the material more.

In our school, 4th graders read Number the Stars, a book also about the Holocaust. That inevitably leads to many 4th graders reading this.

Anne was between 11 and 13 years old when she wrote it. I would say that is the age to read it for the first time. In school the first in depth study of WWII happens in fourth or fifth grade.

I read it in Middle School and I think again in High School.

I remember reading it in the fourth or fifth grade. But my sister was reading it for her class and I was such an avid reader, when she was done, I stole it for a few days and read it. Then reread it a few years later. I think it's typically sixth or seventh grade.

When I used to teach 8th graders, we read the play because it was provided in our text. Many of my students at the time would pick up the diary itself to read because we had read the play. In the school district where I teach now, they still teach the play in 8th grade, but use selections from the diary as well.

I was 7 or 8 the first time I read it. My mother read it with me together with some other books from the period.

I read it in 8th grade.

I think I was in about Gr. 8 or 9 when we read it in school...

(added). Actually, no. I remember the teacher discussing it with us. I was in Gr. 4 when we read it in school.

I read this in the fourth grade, but I think it depends on the teacher more than anything.

Grade 7 or 8 same age as the author, same time readers go from kids books to YA.

I read it in Jr High. At that time there were not as many graphic war and Holocaust movies, to get a sense of the danger they were in. I remember it being more about her crush on a boy.
The movie, based on a play about the book with Shelley Winters was terrific , but the Anne in the movie again was portrayed as a wistful girl.

I think I was in 6th grade, got it from a Scholastic book order.

I was in 5th. I asked my teacher if I could take it of her shelf. I truly loved it. Now that I am older and better equipped to analyze it, I am going to read it again!

We read the book in 7th grade in our Language Arts class. It coincided with the World War II segment for the Social Studies class. I also remember we took a class trip to the Holocaust Museum at the end of the Unit.
The play version hadn't yet been out at the time, so the book version is all I know. Also, for full disclosure, I haven't seen any of the TV or movie adaptations either.

I think I read it when I was 12 or 13. I remember reading the synopsis and just wanting to see how good it was.

I read this book in 4th, maybe 3rd but I was an advanced reader.

Susan wrote: "I read this book in 6th grade. I recommended it to a niece last year. She read the play version in 8th grade. I thought 6th or 7th grade was a good time since that is how old Anne was when she w..."

We read the play in my 9th grade English class. We went with the play because it provided a more accessible format (according to the teacher). I don't think there was any concern for "shielding" us from the contents but I was pretty oblivious to such censorship at the time. I was young and didn't care why one form or another was chosen.

...I suppose the fact that my instructor was also the Theater teacher may have had some impact on the choice of formats.

Because it is a set text for school.

I read this book when I was 14 beacause I knew that there was an extract of it in the school book, so it was a nice opportunity to look smart in front od my classmates...

I read this when I was 10.