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MO Day #16 Linda Marshall Counts the Ways

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How to Tell a Story? Let Me Count the Ways…

By Linda Elovitz Marshall

Ever have an idea for a story? It’s a great idea, you’re positive of that! It’s the best idea…ever!

But, then, you begin research. Oh, no! Your great idea has been told…and told…and told. Is there any reason that YOU should tell it again?


Maybe there is…


Maybe you have a different perspective, a different way of engaging the reader.


For example, I wanted to write about how Anne Frank became a writer. What made her write? Why did she write? I wanted young people to know why she’s important. I wanted young readers not only to see Anne as a victim of humanity’s most horrific genocide, but also to see Anne’s strengths. I wanted readers to see how Anne, silenced by the Nazis, used her writing as her voice…and, albeit posthumously, broadcast her soul to the world.


I hope that we’ll all have the courage of Anne Frank – that we all have the courage to write about truth, to speak truth to power. That, in these days of book banning, we speak our souls. We share our souls. Down to our very bones.


Here are a few of the many books that celebrate Anne’s power. May there be many more. And may we never forget.


ANNE FRANK: The Girl Heard Around the World, by Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrations by Aura Lewis, Orchard Books/Scholastic, Inc. 2020. This picture book biography, with alternating color and muted-tone illustrations, poignantly portrays Anne’s childhood, her writing, and the horrors of the Nazi regime. “She would not let her words be drowned…For two years in hiding, Anne wrote what she could not speak…”



Who Was ANNE FRANK? By Ann Abramson, Grosset & Dunlap, 2007. Part of the “Who WAS/Who IS?” series, this chapter book biography tells Anne’s story in an easy-to-read format. Interspersed with the main text are side-bars with additional information.






ANNE FRANK’S CHESTNUT TREE by Jane Kohuth, illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles,

Random House, 2013. For young readers, this book tells of the famous chestnut tree – just outside the window of Anne’s hiding place – and how the tree gave Anne hope…and gave her a glimpse of the healing power of nature.




MIEP and the MOST FAMOUS DIARY: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank’s Diary, by Meeg Pincus, illus by Jordi Solano, Sleeping Bear Press, 2019. This picture book biography tells the story of Miep Gies, the very brave woman who helped protect Anne Frank’s family and rescued Anne’s diary from the Nazis.



Bio: Linda came to writing for children after several other careers: preschool teacher, parenting educator, cultural anthropologist, freelance writer, bookstore owner, sheep farmer. A graduate of Barnard College/Columbia University, Linda and her husband raised their four children (and sheep, rabbits, chickens, and an occasional goat) in a 250-year-old house in New York’s Hudson River Valley. They now divide their time between NYC and the Adirondack Mountains. Linda loves swimming, hiking, and ice cream - in that order.


Twitter: @L_E_Marshall

Instagram: @L_E_Marshall

Facebook: LindaMarshallBooks




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