Shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award 2010.
Costa Book Awards 2010 Judges' comment: "A brave re-imagining of a harrowing story and an iconic figure."
The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most treasured children’s books of the last fifty years. Anne’s account of the years she spent in hiding from the Nazi’s in Amsterdam during the Second World War vividly tells much about how she feels about the experience and something about how she views those in hiding with her including Peter, a young man only a few years older than her. In Annexed, Sharon Dogar sensitively explores Peter’s story; what he feels about the experience of being in hiding, about being a Jew and, in particular, about what he feels about Anne. Initially irritated by what he sees as a rather silly young girl, Peter soon finds himself falling in love with Anne’s vivacity, intelligence and strength of purpose. Looking back from his deathbed in a Nazi concentration camp, Peter’s diary is touching and sensitive. In speculating and embellishing from some known facts and asking many ‘what if’ questions, Sharon Dogar has taken on a difficult task through which she has created a fascinating and inspiring story. It's a story rooted firmly in history and it asks a question of us all: Are we listening? 'Is anybody there?' Peter cries from the depths of his despair in the camps. Read it, and you will be.
From the author, Sharon Dogar:
'Annexed is an imaginary tale, based on history, in which I try to imagine what it might have beel like to actuallly have lived with Anne Frank; to have become the target of her love; and to be so cruelly torn apart from her'.
From Charlie Sheppard, Editor at Andersen Press, which has two titles - Annexed and Out of Shadows - shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book of the Year Award 2010:
‘There’s so much serendipity and luck in publishing and I think this story just proves that. These books were the first two I bought for Andersen Press. I couldn’t quite believe they’d landed on my desk in my first few weeks in the new job. Both of them changed the way I think, and for me that’s one of the most important things a children’s book can do. But both of them had been rejected by other publishers before they reached me. Wrong desk, wrong time. To have been able to work on these two incredible books has been an honour and a highlight of my career, and to have both of them recognised like this feels like a fairytale ending. I just hope Klaus [Publisher Klaus Flugge is Charlie's boss at Andersen Press] realises that these wonderful novels are one-offs and I won’t have 2 books on the shortlist every year!!’
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Recommendations: |
Everyone knows about Anne Frank and her life hidden in the secret annex - but what about the boy who was also trapped there with her?In this powerful and gripping novel, Sharon Dogar explores what this might have been like from Peter's point of view. What was it like to be forced into hiding with Anne Frank, first to hate her and then to find yourself falling in love with her? Especially with your parents and her parents all watching almost everything you do together. To know you're being written about in Anne's diary, day after day? What's it like to start questioning your religion, wondering why simply being Jewish inspires such hatred and persecution? Or to just sit and wait and watch while others die, and wish you were fighting.As Peter and Anne become closer and closer in their confined quarters, how can they make sense of what they see happening around them?Anne's diary ends on August 4, 1944, but Peter's story takes us on, beyond their betrayal and into the Nazi death camps. He details with accuracy, clarity and compassion the reality of day to day survival in Auschwitz - and ultimately the horrific fates of the Annex's occupants.
Annexed features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Recommendations
Annexed is available in Paperback, Hardback
Annexed was written by Sharon Dogar and published by Clarion Books an imprint of HMH Books
Annexed has 352 pages
