The Diary of a Young Girl question

I think she had more important things to think about.

One of the best selling books of all time. I really don't think the title needs to be more "appealing"...

You have to remember, this isn't a book in the standard sense.

It wasn't written for others to read, it's a diary. Something that was private and was a way for her to deal with her feelings/experiences. (Like most anyone who has a diary.)

The diary didn't become famous because it's well written, it became famous because it's a very unique view of the horrors of the holocaust.
It's a young girls view, the date of the diary will more than tell you what topics are going to be involved.

But the main thing about her diary, is that it's "her view".
So the title of the diary, being exactly that " a diary of a young girl" is perfect, honest and adequate. It just happened to be in a major point of human history.

I could ask, OP, why it needs to have "Jewish" in the title?
Is that really the point to take out of it all, that she was Jewish?? \=

I think the title is perfect. It very clearly tells you what will be in the book; The musings and feelings of a young girl. Yes it was written mainly while in hiding during the Holocaust, and obviously she touches on that but the story is about the everyday struggle of emotions going through a female on the cusp of her sexual awakening. (Totally irrelevant but I love this book.)

This is the perfect title in so many ways, firstly, because it does not give her away. You have to read it to know who she was and that is synchronous with her personality. Secondly, its great that it does not have Jewish or world war in the title, otherwise the readers would be limited to people who are interested in reading about Jewish history or about world war. When in fact, the book should be read by one and all. Thirdly, its just a ordinary title of an ordinary girl, who showed extra ordinary strength and went through so much. And her writing is so extra ordinary as well. It could not have come from any other person.

The title fits the book perfectly. Ann wrote as a young girl making notes in her private journal/diary. She didn't seek fame or to be sensational shemerely wrote her own account. In fact the only wish Ann wanted was for everything to be normal again.When her father found her notes he had a part of his daughter back. WHY on earth would he after the trauma of the attic life/Camps/Death of his wife/children would he think ooh how can I make this exciting? It wasn't exciting it was HORRIFIC & even now evokes anger & WHY? did this happen questions?
For me its almost insulting the memories of a young innocent scared girk for not making it a sensation!

You're focusing on a triviality. Focus on the themes of this diary and the context in which it was written.

She didnt write it to be published anyway...It was a diary and she never knew it will become this famous...was the name really selected by her or the first publishers decided the name?Not sure...

I know her father worked on this diary for years. "Letters to Otto" is an interesting book which outlines the editing and production of the diary.

Well, first of all, it was not Anne who chose the title.She wouldn't even have considered the possibility that her diary would be made into a book someday.
Also for such a book, I really don't think an appealing title is necessary.

I agree with all of the above comments. The book does not require a sensational title. It is read with reverence, sympathy, horror and sadness.

The title reflected who she was. She was a young girl. She happened to he Jewish. She happened to have dark hair and love movie stars.

Also, as said above, she had more important things to think about, and writing was her way of coping. If you were Anne, chances are you would have wanted there to be no war, no concentration camps, no coldness, nakedness, humiliation... Go read The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank. You'll find many thing she would have wished for more than for a different title to her diary.

Karma wrote: "Perhaps, "The diary of a Jewish girl"?
What do you think?"

What the heck have you been smokimg or breathing?

The original Dutch title, chosen by her father who was the only one of her family who survived WW2, was "Het Achterhuis" named after the place where she and her family were hidden during the war, at the back of a house in Amsterdam. A suitable subtitle would have been "The diary of a young jewish girl who died during WW2" or something like that. Anyway, a book that deserves to be read regardless of the attractivity of it's title or cover ...

Tragically, she was not around when the title was chosen.

When I took Literature of the Holocaust in college, one of the things my professor pointed out was that part of Anne's popularity was that she wasn't an especially religious Jew and therefore had more universal appeal.

I think if this diary was written with obvious intentions to entertain others, it would have lost it's poignancy. The plain title fits what it is, a peek into the world of girl unfortunate enough to live through a tragic moment in time.