Visit www.PhyllisJohnson.net for more information about this author.
THE BOOK
With a heart and soul that was years before her time, Anne Frank has haunted us and inspired us all. Her writings were a declaration of principles and ideals; Anne’s way of dealing practically with a world bent on destroying her and everything she once knew.
Although there are many biographies about this extraordinary person, Being Frank With Anne takes a unique approach to Anne's story, through poetic interpretation.
Being Frank With Anne is a teen (young adult) book, but will appeal to all ages.
This interpretive work will have a profound affect on teen readers. They will easily relate to young Anne who readily exposes the typical thoughts, emotions and perspectives of her age group.
She was curious about sex, critical of her parents, moody, doubtful about religion and often in conflict with her own self. She had typical adolescent dreams and fantasies. She wanted to return to a simpler time of parties, bike riding, boyfriends and trips to the ice cream shop. She dreamed of being a famous actress or writer.
It was through her diary that Anne Frank could find her sense of self and cope with her world.
It is through Being Frank With Anne that the reader will gain a deeper insight and stronger connection to Anne’s world.
ORDERING INFORMATION
This book can be purchased on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com, or in quantities directly from the publisher.
PUBLISHED BY COMMUNITY PRESS
239 Windbrooke Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23462
757-416-7272 phone // 757-416-7292 fax
www.communitypresshome.com
ISBN 9-7809-7908-7820
PAPERBACK 140 pages 6 x 9
POETRY / HISTORY & CRITICISM / JUVENILE NONFICTION / POETRY / GENERAL
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE $14.99
Retail price is not printed on the cover.
Wholesale prices available for educators, book groups, etc. Free school lesson / activity plan available. PDF format.
Wholesale purchasing and distribution through Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Reading Groups may purchase directly from Community Press at deeply discounted prices. Please call visit their website for details.
Book returns are allowed for qualified book retailers that purchase through Publisher's wholesale distribution sources.
THE AUTHOR
Phyllis Johnson’s unique way with words have been featured in many popular newspapers and magazines. In her latest work, Being Frank With Anne, Phyllis Johnson reveals a pensive, empathetic mode of writing. Her hope is that readers will further inspect the feelings and emotions found in the words and between the lines of Anne Frank’s diary, a book that has both inspired and haunted Phyllis since childhood.
Phyllis resides with her husband and two daughters in Virginia, living life to its fullest and actively promoting her books through her many affiliations and media contacts
MEDIA INFORMATION
Phyllis Johnson is available for booksignings, interviews, reading group visits and more. To contact Phyllis: EMAIL pjwriter7@aol.com PHONE 757-335-2237 You may also contact Community Press for information and assistance on their website : www.communitypresshome.com in the MEDIA ROOM. There you will find my photos, cover images, book excerpts, reviews and more. All files are in downloadable, print-ready form. If the Publisher does not have what you need, please let contact me directly.
REVIEWS
Reviews for “Being Frank With Anne”
Phyllis Johnson has penned a unique, insightful, and deeply reflective work of art. Her exceptionally innovative poems use familiar language to uncover profound themes lurking behind one of the most famous pieces of literature in history. This wonderfully original and startlingly insightful approach rapidly reveals the heart-breaking humanity behind Anne Frank’s original words, bringing us closer to her as a living person – her hopes, her fears, and her dreams Instantly readable and utterly engrossing, this book creates images that will linger in the mind of the reader long after the final page has been turned. -Dr. Rich Allen, Educational Psychologist
“Johnson’s poetic insights into Anne Frank’s incredible and heart-wrenching experience make for powerful reading. For those who have read the diary, this will deepen understanding. Those who read being frank with anne first will want to share it with someone and then locate a copy of the diary. Students are bound to find this small but captivating volume a great companion to their classroom study of the diary. Teachers will want to incorporate this book into their lessons and everyone who reads it will experience the sights, sounds, and smells within that hidden place that has become part of the world’s conscience.”
-Ron Nash
“Powerfully moving poetry”
- Prof. Bill Ruehlmann, Virginia Wesleyan College
"Phyllis has presented another approach to the Anne Frank story. A unique and memorable experience.”
- Mark Weston, playwright of “Harry and Eddie, the Birth of Israel“ a play starring Ed Asner.
"Looking at the poems took me back to when I read the diary as a girl."
--Natasha Trethewey, 2007 Pulitzer prize winner for poetry
"A unique approach to the diary. Many of the facets are interesting and moving. Anne would like it very much."
--Buddy Elias, of Anne Frank Fonds in Switzerland
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Excerpt from
BEING FRANK WITH ANNE
Yellow stars in heavy rain;
door of gray to a new endeavor,
colored by hopes time and again
the Secret Annexe
wouldn’t be forever.
Chiming clock,
faithful,
feassuring.
A celebrity collage
applied with paste
serves to glue your
sanity in place.
Burnt peas in
anxiety soup.
Strips for curtains
and stripes of sunlight.
Oppression-
no coughs
and no exits in sight.
A card index
for books,
a memory index
for life on the outside.
Now inside,
in a house just sold,
your secret threatened
like your share of butter.
The future is not so
sweet and smooth as the
butter you crave on your plate.
A kind of hodge podge vegetable soup.
each having his or her own colors and tastes.
Each complementing the other,
they blend in this sink or swim lifestyle.
Each bobbing for air or attention
and a fair share.
Some settlers, some stirrers, some
sinkers.
*
Fights over rations
drown out rumbling tummies.
There’s a sourness
over Mummy’s birthday sugar.
Jealousy reared green and ugly.
Your own disappointment
grows like ivy on a trellis.
Peter’s cat, Boche,
has spent his ninth life.
Perhaps a meal
or a fur hat.
Your pantry
has spent its best.
Now it’s boiled lettuce
or rotten potatoes.
Your lifestyle
has spent its normalcy.
Now it’s confinement
and desperation
to find humor
in dangerous situations.
*
“Contradictory”
you’ve been dubbed.
like a budding tree,
its roots come from
a deeply embedded
split personality.
The quick, witty Anne and
the slow, and solemn Anne.
The latter being
hidden from view.
shown only to yourself.
If only you could
be your true self
to the world.
If only you could let them
know the whole, beautiful you.
*
The raid on the
Annexe
that was no longer
secret toppled
your security
and home.
Concentration camps
were the fate of all and Pim
returned alone.
Like part of your soul,
Your diary
became an immortal
mark on your world.
Even after your death in
March 1945
at Bergen-Belsen .
Anne, you are
with us still