The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank by Ellen Feldman – 264 pages

On February 16, 1944, Anne Frank recorded in her diary that Peter, whom she at first disliked but eventually came to love, had confided in her that if he got out alive, he would reinvent himself entirely. This is the story of what might have happened if the boy in hiding survived to become a man.

This book takes the ultimate position on the What If? Many times throughout this author’s excellent telling of the fictionalized account of what if Peter van Pels, a.k.a. Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank had survived the war. Wonderful piece of revisionist fiction. At points in this story I had to remind myself that this was fiction as the authors portrayal of Peter and his survival was so well told. This book is great for discussion.