The House on the Canal

Starred review from October 7, 2024
Today, the tall narrow house on an Amsterdam canal is known worldwide as both a museum honoring the life of Anne Frank (1929–1945) and the Frank family’s hiding place. But as previous collaborators Harding and Teckentrup (The House by the Lake) convey, the house is also part of a “remarkable history” that spans four centuries and myriad reasons for seeking shelter. Beginning with the “little piece of marshland” on which the residence would stand, and tracing periods of sitting vacant and housing businesses, the recounting limns four sets of the home’s residents as small inset dates track the years. Making their lives as nearby church bells ring “four times every hour” are a 17th-century haven-seeking mother with 12 children; a well-connected 18th-century merchant; an early 20th-century ironmonger’s family; and, in poignant, haunting pages that form the book’s final section, the eight people who took refuge in its “hiding place” during WWII. The work’s large horizontal format showcases mixed-media images that combine the feel of engravings and old photos with layers of translucent color and texture, creating a sense of incidents being summoned, connected, and pondered via collective memory. Back matter includes further historical detail. Ages 7–10.

Starred review from December 1, 2024
The house at 263 Prinsengracht--where Anne Frank and her family went into hiding during World War II--has witnessed centuries of history. Marshlands gave way as the city of Amsterdam expanded and a canal was built. The titular house was constructed nearly 400 years ago, "with strong brick walls, sturdy pine floors, and a green front door." Some found a haven there in dangerous times; others found joy and laughter. The building's fortune waxed and waned through neglect, fire, and restoration. It housed a series of workspaces and even a horse barn. Then, in the worst of times, a man rented the house for his business. When Amsterdam was no longer safe for Jewish people, the man, his family, and four others took refuge there, remaining silent and still and depending on trusted friends for supplies. The man's younger daughter wrote a diary, chronicling her days and dreaming of a golden future that was not to be. When the man returned alone, a friend gave him the diary; he shared it with the world. Not naming the people and places in the narrative itself (though an opening note and detailed backmatter offer more information), Harding employs highly descriptive sensory language, heightening the emotions. Readers will emerge simultaneously awed by the passage of time and personally affected by the stories told. Teckentrup overlays her bright, exquisitely detailed sepia-toned depictions of the house and its environs with a misty haze; the results are hauntingly beautiful. Deeply moving, powerful, and breathtaking.(Informational picture book. 7-10)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2025
Grades 2-5 Adding rich historical context to the story of Anne Frank, this chronicle of the Amsterdam house where she was hidden opens with an atmospheric marshland scene in 1580, then depicts the canal's creation and the construction of a house and its annex in the 1630s, referencing many of its ensuing occupants, from human families and horses to, in 1941, a Jewish spice merchant with a daughter who had "a sparkle in her eye and a pen and notebook in her pocket." Over the years, the house survived fire and abandonment until, a few years after the daughter was taken away, leaving behind the diary in which she recorded her experiences and "golden dreams of tomorrow," it was finally restored to become the iconic memorial it remains today. In Teckentrup's neatly drawn illustrations, the house and its changing furnishings seem more real than the indistinct figures that come and go, with the structure properly taking on a dual role as both character and setting for its story. Harding fills in many names and other details in a systematic afterword.

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