That is a devastating quote on Anne Frank’s diary. (And a great read from The Smithsonian — thanks for the link!) I don’t see it quite so cynically as an attempt to flatter ourselves — more an attempt to add a positive note to a story that probably should have none. Right now a kid’s book about Anne Frank is my 6-year-old’s favorite book, and it’s made me reflect a little more about what young kids can take from this story.

Good on you for admitting to V. C. Andrews (I would have been tempted to leave that on the editing room floor). I, too, was a very early reader, but most of my formative childhood reads were genre-heavy fantasy or sf rather than enduring classics, with the exception of Fahrenheit 411. To make four: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Sorcerer’s Heir (by the obscure and underrated Paula Volsky), and The Lord of the Rings.