Annexed

Annexed
By Sharon Dogar
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. 341 pgs. Young Adult

Peter Van Pels and his family are stuck hiding in an annex with the Frank family. At first, Peter is irritated by Anne Frank and is lost in thoughts of his girlfriend, Liese, who has been taken away by the Nazis, but eventually he finds himself drawn to Anne even as he struggles to find out who he is.

This book has gotten rave reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, VOYA, and PW, but I didn't find myself loving it. On the one hand, Peter's musings about who he is and his desire not to be defined as a Jew simply because others choose to label him as such are thought-provoking, I found Peter's main fear (that he'd die a virgin) to be a little over the top. It could be a realistic fear for a sixteen-year-old boy, but as an adult female, I found it to be a little too detailed and drawn out to make it enjoyable.

AE